August 24, 2007 at 4:08 pm (Buddhism, Gaia, belief, civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, earthquake, environment, general, global warming, global warming fears, love, nature, philosophy, religion, science, spirituality, thoughts)
In Buddha teaching, human body are made of mind and matter. The matter are make up of four elements, ie soil, water, fire and air. Our Earth, is also make up of this four elements.
Thus, soil is our Earth’s skin, the water on earth is just like our bloodstream, and air our breath. The fire is our sun, evaporating water and regulating the weather.
Our earth regulates its own temperature, oxygen levels, CO2 level, etc, much like our own human body controls temperature and rebuilds its parts constantly. If our body regulation is inbalance, we will have fever. Similary if the earth temperature was not properly regulated, our earth will have fever. Human body are operate exactly like our earth. When human die, our physical body will return to our mother earth as soil, water, fire and earth. So, we are part of the earth. Human species are the only special with moral intelligence, therefore our mind, human being mind are the mind of Gaia (The Greek earth Godness). So, without love, morality and ethics from the individual person, it is difficult to devise a sustainable environmental.
Accordingly, if we take the notion that “The world is our body”, then Gaia is our mind and conscience. Without our love of our body – planet, How can we maintain our health ?
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August 18, 2007 at 9:51 am (Buddhism, Lord of Miracle, Mahayana, Sri Langka tsunami, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, belief, climate change, earth, earthquake, environment, general, global warming, global warming fears, inspiration, love, love other, nature, philosophy, religion, science, spirituality, thoughts, tsunami, 慈济)
After writing about the Lord of Miracle of Christ that happen in Peru 350 years ago, I recalled those email that I received about the miracles that happen in 2004 Dec 26 Tsunami in Sri Langka. It is true that many Buddha statues was escaped from the destruction by the wave of Tsunami. The point I wish to bring up is not about the Miracle of Buddha. The interesting story begin with this…
When the Tsunami hit Sri Lanka, there was a statue of the Buddha in the town of Galle, which didn’t topple when the waves rushed over it near the bus terminal. A Buddhist monk considered it as a sign. He said, ‘The people are not living according to religious virtues. Nature has given them some punishment because they’re not following the path of the Lord Buddha. The people have to learn their lesson.’
And a Roman Catholic priest cast the blame even wider. ‘This is a punishment from God, because everybody’s leading a wretched life’, he said. ‘All of us are to be blamed for the tsunami, there’s no sense of modesty or religiosity any more. People have gone so far away from God, it’s the message to say “.
A fishman from the fishing village said, ‘The mother has butchered her own children’, ’Either there is no God, or God must be cruel to do this.’
Many of the victims are asking, “Why us? Why me? Why my childrens ? Why my parents ? Other interesting features was the Christians and Hindus in India started co-operating with each other when a year ago they were fighting each other. And when Buddhists and Tamils in Sri Lanka started doing the same.
Is it true that altruism only trumps selfishness when we have to face a common adversity and drastic tragedy like this ?
Is it true that ’Pain and suffering are ‘God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ a quote from C.S.Lewis. Can’t we human work on the same goal on our climate change issues rather than fighting each others concept and argue about data ? Do we need a God’s Megaphone ?
Ref :
1. http://in.news.yahoo.com/050110/137/2ix3h.html
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August 17, 2007 at 5:29 pm (Lima, Lord of Miracle, Peru, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, earth, earthquake, environment, nature, religion, science, 慈济)
More than 500 people have been killed and 1,500 injured after a powerful earthquake hit the coast of Peru on16-Aug-2007. The quake - measured 7.9 on the Richter scale struck near the capital, Lima.
Peru has a long history of deadly quakes and tsunamis due to its location near a subduction zone, the area where two tectonic plates meet.
The last earthquake of magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale strike Peru in 23-June 2001, when 75 people were killed and 68 missing around the southern Andean city of Arequipa.
The most deadiest quake from Peru was in 31 May 1970 when 70,000 people were killed in ensuing mudslides in Huaraz in the central Andes. It registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. Damage was estimated at approximately $1 billion, and about 1 million persons were left homeless.
The second deadliest recorded earthquake in Peru struck Lima too in October 1746, almost destroying the city of Lima and Callo. 18,000 death. Callao, a sea-port town, a giant Tsunami hit the port. Callao was swallowed up by the sea and basically vanished.
In between this history, there is a story about a wall painting of Christ by a slave in 1651. The wall painting was not destructed by 2 majors earthquake prior to this 1746 earthquake. Because of this story, in every Oct month, the Peruvian will celebrated the Lord of Miracle.
Ref :
1. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/world/peru/history.php
2. http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1966Peru.html
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August 9, 2007 at 4:45 pm (civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, global warming fears, love, nature, penguin, philosophy)
Is global warming really happening ? Scientist and ecologist would know the easiest way to find prove is at the poles, namely the Arctic and Antarctica. Scientist found that the population of emperor Penguin is half what was thirty years ago, while the number of Adelie penguins has decline by 70%. Krill is the food for the Penguin has been reduced due to changes in the sea ice cover that was home for the Krill and overfished by the new vacuum technology in fishery which suck out the Krill even in deep sea.
Penguins are literally starving to death as a result of krill depletion. In the absence of some dramatic changes these species may be sacrificed on the altar of human progress.
According to experts we have ten years to reverse the current trend before the build-up for greenhouse gases becomes irreversible. Ten Years !
Ref :
1. Video of “March of The Penguin”, http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/
2. Above Photo is the courtesy of warnerbros inc.
16 Comments
August 4, 2007 at 2:09 pm (Tzu Chi, TzuChi, civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, global warming fears, nature, poverty, science)
So far, 19 million resident have to be displaced, 166 dead after heavy monsoon floods in India, Bangladesh.
“I have not seen such flooding in the last 24 years. It’s a sheet of water everywhere,” said Santosh Mishra, a resident of Gonda district in India’s Uttar Pradesh state.
In New Delhi, India’s Meteorological Department said unusual monsoon patterns this year led to heavier than usual rains. “We’ve been getting constant rainfall in these areas for nearly 20 days,” said B.P. Yadav, a spokesman for the department.
‘Compared to the 280 millimetres of rains we recorded during all of the last monsoon, we received 873 millimetres in July alone. It’s raining non-stop,’ said Mr Sharma.
‘There is just nothing left to eat,’ said drenched farmer Ashish Thakur in submerged Kaanti village in Darbhanga district.
‘People are fighting for food like dogs, I have no strength left,’ the farmer wept, hugging his two hungry children and shivering wife.
Is the heavier rainfall related to global warming ? Environment scientist claim that with each additional degree Celsius added by the global warming, the planet gets an extra 7% of water into its atmosphere. [3]
Ref :
1. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/02/asia/AS-GEN-South-Asia-Monsoon-Floods.php
2. http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_145110.html
3. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Global-Warming-Means-In-Fact-More-Rains-56209.shtml
4. http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/RMS/june99/papers/nachtnebel.pdf
5. http://www.livescience.com/environment/051116_water_shortage.html
11 Comments
August 2, 2007 at 3:45 pm (Buddhism, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, inspiration, nature, philosophy, science, thoughts, water scarcity, 慈济)
Restrain and conserve might not good for the economy, but it makes good economic sense. We always heard about “A dollar saved is a dollar earned”, the same concept apply. “A kilowatt-hour saved is a kilowatt-hour earned.”, “A kilo-liter water saved is a kilo-liter water earned.”
Whenever I was tempted to spend, I will think about the above phrase : Restrain ourself, restrain ourself and this definitely help us to reduce spending, reduce usage, reduce pollution hence reduce CO2.
This is what everyone of us can do to reduce CO2 and also prevent being trap into the debt slavery in this debt based monetory system society.
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July 28, 2007 at 4:33 am (civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, nature, philosophy, poverty, science, spirituality, wealth)
Some are asking, what civilisation, conservation got to do with global warming ?
Let assume there is an economy transaction between two peoples, say Tom and Jerry.
(before ) (after)
Tom + Jerry = (Tom + 3) + (Jerry – 3)
Jerry loss 3 units of wealth that gave to Tom his profits of 3 units. In the universe defined by Tom and Jerry, the units are conserved. It is a zero sum game.
But when nature is addded into the transaction
(before) (after)
Tom + Jerry + Nature = (Tom + 4) + (Jerry +2) + (Nature – 6)
The stated loss of (-6) suffered by the nature may take the form of : loss of oil, loss of forest, pollution, ozone, increase greenhouse gases. Tom gain (+4) because he pumping oil from the ground, Jerry gain (+2) because he furnished it to automobile for burning. What peoples have taken from the nature, nature has lost. One day, the nature cannot bear the lost anymore, it has to adjust itself from the losses. What will happen to Tom and Jerry ?
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July 26, 2007 at 4:49 pm (Sydney, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, ipcc, nature, science, thoughts, water scarcity)
Don’t think that water scarcity is only happen in rural area of India, China and Africa or only happen in under-developed countries. One example of the well developed city is in Sydney. Sydney’s water supply is one of the largest domestic water supply in the world. The capacity is as big as 9 times of London and 4 times of the New York city. The Warragamba dam is the world largest dam. Yet even with this capacious storage, it has proven to be insufficient. The authority still impose water restriction when the dam water reached certain level low.Ref : http://www.sydneywater.com.au/SavingWater/WaterRestrictions/
These include restrictions on watering lawn, using sprinkler system, washing vehicles, hosing in paved areas, refilling swimming pools, etc.
Many people of the industrialised world tend to think that the technology will protect them from water scarcity like rural area. For every degree of warm we create, we are heading toward a city like Sydney is now.
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July 25, 2007 at 2:21 pm (Buddhism, climate change, earth, environment, general, global warming, ipcc, nature, science, water scarcity)
In western England, the worst flood hit 60 years high hit counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. The flood has affected power stations and water treatment plants. The authorities said that in Gloucestershire, the western English county worst hit by the deluge, up to 350,000 people could be without running water for the next two weeks.
While in central and southeast Europe, people are struggling with the other extreme. Up to 500 Hungarians are estimated to have died last week as temperatures soared to nearly 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit).
Do we still need to prove or argue about global warming or climate change ? Do we have enough time to argue or prove it and stay ignorance about the issues while it is coming.
Well. Global warming is not coming, it arrived !
9 Comments
June 24, 2007 at 4:44 am (climate change, disparity, earth, environment, general, global warming, love, nature, philosophy, poverty, powerless, water scarcity, wealth gap)
When your finger slightly push the toilet flush, the amount of water that flush your toilet bowl is equal to a Somalian people consume for a day. And these people are walking up to 70km to search for that amount of water.
The easiness to access to water in our city make many of us around have neglected to appreciate this resources.
Transporting water from a far to help these unfortunate is much much harder than transporting foods. If we lost our water due to vapourisation and global warming. It will not be easy to get help from neighbouring countries.
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