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What would the Dalai Lama do?: spiritual leader speaks out on climate change Jeremy Hance mongabay.com November 30, 2009 The 74-year-old spiritual leader of Tibet, said that "taking care of the environment ... (is now) part of my life. Taking care of the environment should be part of our daily life." The Dalai Lama further highlighted the possible devastating impact of warmer temperatures on glaciers in Tibet, from which he is exiled. These glaciers feed major rivers vital to billions of people in Asia. "These major rivers, which actually almost cover all Asia, these rivers ultimately come from Tibet. So I think many human beings depend on these," he said. "From that view point we need special care about Tibetan ecology." While the Dalai Lama called recent attention by world governments to tackle climate change "encouraging", he added that governments should focus more on global issues as opposed to making decision based solely on the state of a nation's economy. "Sometimes in government their number one priority is national interest, national economic interest, and global issues are sometimes secondary. That I think should change. The global issue should be number one. In some cases in order to protect global issues, some sacrifice of national interest (is needed)," the Dalai Lama said. Australia is currently in a heated debate over legislature to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, which are currently the highest in the world per capita. Related articles Maldives president tells world: 'please, don’t be stupid' on climate change (09/01/2009) "Please, don't be stupid," Mohamed Nasheed told the world regarding the need to act decisively against climate change. To underlie his message, Nasheed announced that his country will become carbon neutral in ten years. The Pope: "creation is under threat" (08/26/2009) Pope Benedict XVI spoke today on environmental issues, singling out the importance of a September U.N. summit in New York to work on negotiations for an international framework to tackle climate change, preparing for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December. Ban Ki-Moon: climate change 'greatest collective challenge we face' (08/10/2009) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke on Monday of the challenges facing the world and singled out climate change as the greatest.
Tags: climate change activism impact of climate change global warming mitigation economy environment green environmental politics environmental economics Australia jeremy hance carbon emissions climate change politics environmental activism environmental heroes glaciers greenhouse gas emissions politics Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements:
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