One World

610

Think of the whole world as interdependent and of the entire seven billion human beings as one community.

  • His Holiness the Dalai Lama

On September 12, representatives of the European Union and the Group of Seven met to discuss the world’s most urgent problems, “Addressing the Climate Crisis with Economic and Environmental Justice for All.”

His Holiness, the Dali Lama, asked participants to think of Global Warming as the most serious man-made threat. People all over the world are suffering and the leading nations must act. The climate can’t wait. We are one world with one destiny.

Real climate solutions

There are many plans to mitigate climate change but there is always something else that has to be done right away. Is this really true?

We are facing the general elections but cannot ignore climate – we can do more than one thing at a time.

Apple is one of the companies eliminating carbon emissions. On September 15, Apple announced the new Apple Watch Series 6 that will ship without power adapters for the first time. Apple says excluding the adapter will eliminate the equivalent carbon emissions of 50,000 cars per year.

Most Apple customers don’t need another wall charger, a block of plastic that will be stored in a drawer or thrown away ending up in a landfill for hundreds of years. The new Apple iPhones are next, along with other Apple products. Everything must go somewhere, there is no “away.” Eliminating surplus parts is a smart climate solution.

Apple is already a carbon-neutral operation, and within 10 years, it hopes all of its products will be, too. The full Apple 2020 Environmental Progress Report, 99 pages, is available online, a climate roadmap with proven results!

Bare the truth

Trump knows man-made climate disruption is real. His actions trying to protect his assets prove he understands the climate emergency.

Case in point: In 2016, the Ireland Trump International Golf Links planned to build a 2-mile stone wall, 65 feet wide and 16 feet above the waterline to protect the golf course from rising sea levels and storm damage. Why would the Climate Denier in Chief worry about rising sea levels and extreme weather?

Trump chooses to protect oil and gas, logging and mining the Alaska Tongass National Forest over climate. The September 4 Center for Biological Diversity report says, “Trump administration launches new assault on Alaska’s Tongass old-growth forest. Two massive clearcutting proposals threaten wildlife, climate, and economy.”

Back to Paris

November 4, the day after the elections, will be the first day for the U.S. to pull out of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement. There are many reasons to join leading nations and the European Union to reduce global carbon emissions. Trump said he would get “a better deal,” but global problems are not like buying a truck.

Trump rejected the November 2018 U.S. Climate Assessment’s central findings. “The emissions of carbon dioxide caused by human activities are already causing lasting economic damage and have to be brought rapidly to zero.”

The report was based on thousands of climate studies involving 13 federal agencies. “I don’t believe it. No, no, I don’t believe it,” Trump said after the assessment’s release. It doesn’t matter what Trump says, science cannot be ignored.

China has the most advanced solar energy and electric transportation systems. It has re-invented itself in the last ten years. While we continue burning fossil fuels for electricity China is building new generation nuclear power plants.

Global strategies

The U.K. youth has shown creative non-violent ways to oppose carbon emissions. One of the groups made posters confessing their love for their children’s future and turned themselves in at police stations. They are unstoppable and have gained respect.

The Dalai Lama uses simple words to convey deep understanding and compassion. He said, “Basically, our selfish, self-centered attitude, thinking only of ‘me,’ ‘my nation,’ ‘my group,’ is very narrow-minded. The future of the world is interdependent. The time has come to protect the whole world.”

3 COMMENTS

  1. Yesterday, Trump said at the UN General Assembly:

    China’s carbon emissions are nearly twice what the US has and it’s rising fast.

    By contrast, after I withdrew from the one sided Paris Climate Accord, last year, America reduced its carbon emissions by more than any country in the agreement, those who attack America’s exceptional environmental record while ignoring China’s rampant pollution are not interested in the environment.

    They only want to punish America and I will not stand for it.

    What Trump told the UN is false, here is why:

    1. Ignoring methane emissions makes the US seem responsible burning gas for energy

    2. Emissions from everything we import from China are “our manufacturing and shipping emissions,” ignored by Trump along with the 30 percent tariffs Trump claims China is paying for. The largest ships loaded with containers of products you find at Walmart and other retail stores are not made by magic. We don’t see the carbon emissions polluting the air in China, we only see ships arriving to ports of entry.

    There is more Trump said …

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-2020-un-general-assembly-transcript

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