A Million Taiwanese Vow to Give Up Eating Meat

[krsna]

 

<H2>A Million Taiwanese Vow to Give Up Eating Meat

 

Radio Taiwan International

on 5 Jul 2008

 

<!--paging_filter-->More than one million people in Taiwan have pledged to help cut carbon emissions by being a vegetarian. Taiwan's population is about 23 million, and the one million vegetarians would reduce at least 1.5 million tons of carbon emissions in Taiwan in one year.

The Union of NoMeatNoHeat made the announcement during its anti-global warming drive. Many prominent politicians, such as the legislative speaker, the environment minister, and Taipei and Kaohsiung Mayors all pledged to become vegetarians.

The Union said 20 percent of the world's carbon emissions are created by the livestock industry, which is higher than the 15 to 18 percent produced by all the world's transportation vehicles.

The Union said if a person eats only vegetables for a whole year, roughly 1.5 tons of carbon emissions can be cut.

 

 

 

</H2>

[theist]

Seriously? 1 million?

[bhaktajan]

This has not been translated from Chinese, but, there certainly was something to this same effect circulating in Taiwan to get such a movement rolling forward [remember that the "initial-enertia" is the hardest thing to overcome inorder to get the wheels rolling]. So, below I drafted up a sample letter that can be a proto-type for soliciting important people in your local areas, even not so-important(?) people:

 

 

-------

Dear Sir or Madame,

 

Seeking Inducements for Public fasting from meat products.

 

I am a Hare Krishna, therefore I am an orthodox Hindu Theist.

 

As such, it is my insignificant duty to make the attempt to strongly advice everyone, and, especially those in positions of authority as to how to perform works of good karma, at best, and, in the least, to provide a venue for people to achieve a human form of life in their next birth--in this way one can have another chance to improve their position on the path of salvation and the purposes of life.

 

Please consider the following compromise that will satisfy both the requirements of good social order and law, along with the base desires of the common citizens:

 

In order to avoid the repeated "what-goes-around-comes-around" syndrome, I, as an orthodox adherent of the rules of karma & karmic-reactions must personally admonish you to join in a movement for mass abstinence from meat eating for, at the least, for short time periods.

 

I must advise, that at a time of mass-abstinence and self-denial, it will be observed that all crimes will decline across the board. Also, Insurance companies and their subsidiaries, will also see a fall in food-borne illnesses and reports of hospitalizations.

 

Let us take a cue from Taiwan example and learn to admit that the basis of peace starts with an absence of blood-lust; achievable by way of vegetarianism.

 

This is my the grass-roots effort to broadcast the workings of karma etc as found in the legacy of teachings of Bhagavad-gita as it is.

 

 

 

Best regards,

Bhaktajan