I get these weekly wisdom emails and I thought I would post this. Very enlightening I think, especially if you are young. I was just thinking about this: I am almost 19, and in the year 2050, half way the 21st Century, I will be turning 64. So, in our lifetimes, people my age are going to set the stage for what the second half, and then the 22nd century, will be like. Let's clean this planet up!
~peace~
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Illnesses, personal, collective or planetary, are manifestations of our defilements. -stonepeace
Today's newpaper's main headline read, "Earth gets hotter as global warming takes hold." The subheading goes "2005 is on track to become the hottest year on record." In the article is written, "The temperature findings come on the back of other dramatic signs that the Earth is undergoing a big change... Many climatologists believe the rapid temperature rise over the past 50 years is driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human acitivities which have spewed carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The rise in temperatures could prove catastrophic if left unchecked - rising sea levels could overwhelm low-lying areas, drought could afflict others, and diseases could proliferate because high temperatures make it easier for viruses to incubate."
Am sure you heard of the issue before. But how many warnings do we need before the person on the street realises s/he's part of the problem? Halfway through writing this article, I realise someone had lowered the office air-conditioner's temperature way too low. I went to readjust it. As the Earth becomes warmer, we use air-cons more to cool down, which creates more heat for the the Earth, thus "urging" us to use more air-conditioning. This is but one of the most common vicious cycles - that spells the Earth's downward spiral into a living hot hell. Is the rise of Earth's temperature not a mark of our rise of unchecked greed for consumerism? Who are the consumers? Them? No need to think too far to push the blame. Us? No need to gather scapegoats to drown out the guilty party. It is you. Only when we each take up personal responsibility to care for the Earth, can the Earth heal. Will you join the collective conscience? It needs you to form a critical mass to turn the tide!
A fortnight ago, the papers' cover story read "Flu pandemic could strike 'at any time'". It said, "A human flu pandemic could sweep the world and kill up to 150 million people unless urgent steps are taken to combat the bird flu crisis in Asia." Since this warning, the virus had already spreaded to parts of the West. The moment the virus mutates unexpectedly to be able to infect human to human, the pandemic (much worse than an epidemic) might breakout - as the next "tsunami" of death! Now relate this to the last line of the first paragraph. While the Greenhouse Effect is global, the bird flu is becoming global. Is there a true vaccine against a virus at mutates? Karma mutates out of control too - unless we shape it with our compassion! The real guaranteed vaccination is via kindness to animals, by more abstinence from eating birds (aka our "mother sentient beings", surely related to us in our many past lives). Millions of chickens have already been killed ("culled" seems too polite a word) to "stamp out" the flu since 2003. Right now, birds are still being reared and killed, both in the millions, either out of fear of spreading the flu, and out of consumers' greed for their meat. Who has the power to cut the supply-demand cycle of their death and disease? Yes, you again.
The guilty for the problems of the world is no one in particular - because it involves everyone of us. We live in an intricately interconnected web of cause and effect. Every (in)action on Earth has an effect, be it big or small, direct or indirect, on the Earth itself. Now that you know this? Will you decide this is a guilt-trip I'm trying to pull, and give no second thought to it, or decide it makes sense, and be more mindful about energy (and food) consumption? Our consumption consumes the Earth, and thus consumes your home and yourself. Wanton consuming consumes your merits and generates negative karma too. Interlinked, being kind to the world is being kind to yourself. We have only one Earth - if us earthlings do not take care of it, who will? Let us remember the welfare of the bigger picture of home - our home planet, with all its family of inhabitants great and small.
- Shen Shi'an | News source : The Straits Times
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~peace~
_______________________________________________
Illnesses, personal, collective or planetary, are manifestations of our defilements. -stonepeace
Today's newpaper's main headline read, "Earth gets hotter as global warming takes hold." The subheading goes "2005 is on track to become the hottest year on record." In the article is written, "The temperature findings come on the back of other dramatic signs that the Earth is undergoing a big change... Many climatologists believe the rapid temperature rise over the past 50 years is driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human acitivities which have spewed carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The rise in temperatures could prove catastrophic if left unchecked - rising sea levels could overwhelm low-lying areas, drought could afflict others, and diseases could proliferate because high temperatures make it easier for viruses to incubate."
Am sure you heard of the issue before. But how many warnings do we need before the person on the street realises s/he's part of the problem? Halfway through writing this article, I realise someone had lowered the office air-conditioner's temperature way too low. I went to readjust it. As the Earth becomes warmer, we use air-cons more to cool down, which creates more heat for the the Earth, thus "urging" us to use more air-conditioning. This is but one of the most common vicious cycles - that spells the Earth's downward spiral into a living hot hell. Is the rise of Earth's temperature not a mark of our rise of unchecked greed for consumerism? Who are the consumers? Them? No need to think too far to push the blame. Us? No need to gather scapegoats to drown out the guilty party. It is you. Only when we each take up personal responsibility to care for the Earth, can the Earth heal. Will you join the collective conscience? It needs you to form a critical mass to turn the tide!
A fortnight ago, the papers' cover story read "Flu pandemic could strike 'at any time'". It said, "A human flu pandemic could sweep the world and kill up to 150 million people unless urgent steps are taken to combat the bird flu crisis in Asia." Since this warning, the virus had already spreaded to parts of the West. The moment the virus mutates unexpectedly to be able to infect human to human, the pandemic (much worse than an epidemic) might breakout - as the next "tsunami" of death! Now relate this to the last line of the first paragraph. While the Greenhouse Effect is global, the bird flu is becoming global. Is there a true vaccine against a virus at mutates? Karma mutates out of control too - unless we shape it with our compassion! The real guaranteed vaccination is via kindness to animals, by more abstinence from eating birds (aka our "mother sentient beings", surely related to us in our many past lives). Millions of chickens have already been killed ("culled" seems too polite a word) to "stamp out" the flu since 2003. Right now, birds are still being reared and killed, both in the millions, either out of fear of spreading the flu, and out of consumers' greed for their meat. Who has the power to cut the supply-demand cycle of their death and disease? Yes, you again.
The guilty for the problems of the world is no one in particular - because it involves everyone of us. We live in an intricately interconnected web of cause and effect. Every (in)action on Earth has an effect, be it big or small, direct or indirect, on the Earth itself. Now that you know this? Will you decide this is a guilt-trip I'm trying to pull, and give no second thought to it, or decide it makes sense, and be more mindful about energy (and food) consumption? Our consumption consumes the Earth, and thus consumes your home and yourself. Wanton consuming consumes your merits and generates negative karma too. Interlinked, being kind to the world is being kind to yourself. We have only one Earth - if us earthlings do not take care of it, who will? Let us remember the welfare of the bigger picture of home - our home planet, with all its family of inhabitants great and small.
- Shen Shi'an | News source : The Straits Times
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