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Go green, Go vegaterian
| Hindus have a tradition of worshipping nature through the ‘Pancha Bhootic’ concept. It is also believed that the human body too comprises the pancha bhootic concept within and that is why, the Hindus are able to connect easily with the nature. |
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 Following the onslaught of globalisation, industrialisation and modern inventions, the nature has got a heavy beating resulting in enormous pollution of all natural resources. Global warming has become a major issue at present posing a grave danger to all the living beings and man being the main cause for it, the responsibility of solving it lies with him only. The Himalayan glaciers have been the perennial source of water for rivers such as Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra and Sindhu. Now the disturbing news is that the glaciers are receding due to global warming. This problem of increase in global temperature is real and in India it will cause irredeemable damage in more than one way if it is not addressed. One will find it difficult to believe the contention of some ecologists that Ganga would cease to be perennial in six to 40 years, that the other rivers of Himalayan origin would suffer the same fate. Along with humans, animals have also become causes for global warming, though inadvertently and here again, as man rears a lot of animals for his own self- interests, the responsibility lies on him to solve it. In this context, it would be better for all to listen to the saintly advice of spiritualist Swami Dhayananda Saraswathi. Swamiji says, ‘Raising animals for meat adds to global warming in a big way. We owe it to Mother Earth to serve her from the terrible consequences of climate change. As a human being I have a custodial relationship with Mother Earth. Global warming testifies how indifferent and careless man has been in fulfilling his care-taking responsibilities.Now that we see the seriousness of this problem we need to take certain ameliorating measures’. He quotes a 2006 report from the United Nations, which reveals the surprising fact that ‘raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Tens of billions of animals farmed for food release gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbondioxide through their massive amounts of manure. Animals such as cows and sheep, being ruminant, emit huge amount of methane due to flatulence and burping. The released methane has 23 times the global warming potential of carbondioxide.’ He gives some inputs on how livestock industry plays a damaging role in this regard. He says, ‘It is very alarming to note that the livestock industry alone is responsible for 37 per cent of human- induced methane emissions. To make room for these animals to graze, virgin forests are being cleared. The livestock industry also needs vast stretches of land to raise mono-crops to feed the animals. The carbondioxide that the trees and plants store escapes back into the air when they are destroyed’. While focusing on the global warming effect of fertilisers, Swamiji says, ‘Growing fodder for farmed animals implies heavy use of synthetic fertilisers produced with fossil fuels. While this process emits a huge amount of carbondioxide, fertiliser itself releases nitrous oxide - a green house gas that is 296 times more potent than carbondioxide’. Though these facts are alarming, Swamiji sees a ray of hope in them He says, ‘I see in them a reason for hope. All that people the worldover have to do is to avoid eating meat. In the absence of demand for meat there will no more be any need for breeding millions of animals for daily slaughter. If this happens, the reversal of global warming is a certainty. The meat lobby cannot do anything if the change does not come from the individuals. A single individual by simply not consuming meat prevents the equivalent of 1.5 tonnes of carbondioxide emissions in a year. This is more than the one tonne of carbondioxide emissions prevented by switching from a large sedan to a small car’. Swamiji clearly asserts that vegetarianism would help in the control and reduction of global warming. He says, ‘One needs to have an honest commitment to save Mother Earth, who has been relentlessly patient and magnanimous since she began bearing life. There are a number of reasons for one to be a vegetarian. People given to eating meat think that a pure vegetarian diet is optional. But now they have no choice if they are alive to what is happening to this life-bearing planet.There is no justification whatsoever for one to continue to be a non-vegetarian, knowing the devastating consequences of eating meat’. Swamiji connects the individual’s mind set to promote vegetarianism and a collection of such individuals would make a vegetarian society and there is no need for the law of the land to play a role here. He says,‘Promotion of vegetarianism does not require any legislation by the State. It does require a change of heart on the part of those who eat meat anywhere on this planet. I cannot appeal to the tigers and wolves.They are programmed to be what they are. Being endowed with freewill, only a human being can make a difference by exercising responsibly his or her choice’. Swamiji concludes with an appeal,‘The threatening inundation from the melting icebergs in the North Pole is avoidable and the perennial flow of the holy Ganga and Yamuna would continue if only there is a change of heart on the part of every meat- eater. If it is too much for one to become a total vegetarian, one needs to give up at least red meat. This is the only option one has’. |
mallika_00 |
Latest page update: made by mallika_00
, Jun 16 2008, 9:06 AM EDT
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| charu_01 | Go Vegetarian | 2 | Nov 11 2008, 1:35 AM EST by sara_narasimhan | ||
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Thread started: Sep 12 2008, 1:44 AM EDT
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Really nice article. We need to take more vegetarian dishes
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