. Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hawaii, U.S.A. September 3, 1994 (Originally in English)
We
deplete the Earth because we raise cattle and animals. Actually, this
is another way we can contribute to our planet. You know all this; you
read more books than I ever can imagine-about vegetarianism, about how
to save our world, about environmental love and all kinds of things.
And the vegetarian diet is the answer to all of these questions. Our
earth is collapsing because we eat too much meat. Actually, we have
to put it that way. Roughly speaking, it's like that. You read the newspapers
more than I do; you watch television more than I ever do. I don't watch
television.
But you
know that every minute, every year, we cut down forests as big as England
just to raise animals. So how many rain forests have been destroyed?
This changes the atmosphere and changes the rain. That's why our planet
is heating up, and many places are having problems with floods and drought
for long periods, even in America.
So if we
want to save the planet, if we want to preach environmental care, we
should be vegetarian. There's no other thing to do. And that is just
a small thing compared to all the vaccinations and all the pure water
used for meat and things like that. You know better than I do. I don't
want to preach to you about the things that you already read in newspapers
and magazines and watch on television every day. I am just reminding
you of a small portion of it. But the harmful effects of the meat diet
are larger than life, not only that-to so many things, and harmful to
ourselves. 
