Rising Sea Levels: A Threat to All Life on Earth, Part 2 of 2

The United Nations states that rising seas threaten 90 percent of the world’s megacities. In addition, approximately 40 percent of the world’s population lives within 100 km of the coast. As a result, hundreds of millions of people could be forced to flee their homes by 2050.

Let’s now visit Bangladesh, one of the world’s most densely populated countries, where approximately 35 million citizens live in low-lying areas near the coast, many of whom have already been forced to move. For example, in the village of Kalabagi, houses were initially built on the ground. But, due to rising sea levels, cyclones, and an increasing number of floods, much of the soil has disappeared, and now residents are “hanging” their houses precariously on bamboo stilts. Even then, it is often not enough. Nur Mohammad, a village resident, has been forced to move five times.

In India, in the state of West Bengal, rising sea levels, tropical storms, and frequent flooding are already threatening the homes and livelihoods of the 4.5 million people living in low-lying Sundarbans. According to Climate Central, even the state’s capital city, Kolkata, could be underwater by 2030 unless drastic changes are made to greenhouse gas emissions.

For several decades, Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has reminded us that the only solution to climate change, rising sea levels, and all the other disasters facing our world is a global shift to the noble, compassionate vegan lifestyle. “Sea level rise threatens half of the world's population living within 200 kilometers of a coastline. Seventeen million in Bangladesh have fled their homes already, mainly because of coastal erosion. In the United Kingdom as well, several coastal flooding disasters have already occurred. These situations will only worsen, not improve until we stop the cause. This means to halt the livestock production and animal-people meat consumption. I can never emphasize this enough. If humans switch to the vegan diet, the Earth will begin cooling immediately, and many of these dilemmas can even be reversed. So please, be veg and do good to save the planet and all the beings on it, including you and me.”