2008年4月20日 星期日

080417 - Protecting the Earth in Our Daily Lives

Date: April 17, 2008 (Thursday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan

Currently throughout the world, in addition to the effects of global warming and erratic climate conditions, the other thing that concerns everyone is the crisis of food shortage facing many countries. This is an issue of global concern as it not only affects a certain country or a certain region. It’s something we should all be concerned about. We shouldn’t only care for our country or society, but we should extend our efforts farther and wider to care for the entire world. As long as we live on this Earth, we should all care for this planet. Why is the Earth continually being harmed and damaged? Recently, I often speak of how we all start polluting the Earth as soon as we are born. As soon as we are born, we urinate and defecate as well as breathe. When we breathe out, the air we exhale pollutes the environment. On top of that, there is also our way of living--- Our greed and pursuit of a comfortable life, all contribute to polluting the environment. Because of all the pollution that we create, the natural environment of this planet as a whole has also been affected. Since this is the case, every one of us is responsible. So, we must lead a very simple life and persist in doing so. Only then can we help protect the Earth.

Look at how we are encouraging everyone to protect the environment by doing recycling. The footage we see is of our Tzu Chings at Universiti Utara Malaysia in Kedah, Malaysia. In conjunction with their school’s graduation ceremonies in March this year, our Tzu Chings thought of holding a series of activities to promote environmental awareness on campus. They expresses their ideals to their professor, explaining what they wished to achieve as well as their plans. As their professor supported them very much, they quickly wrote up a proposal letter to apply to the school for permission. Once they received permission, they immediately began planning and promoting their upcoming activities. They even personally visited every part of the school, including every department and dormitory not wanting to leave out any. They diligently and sincerely invited everyone and told them about the series of activities that were to be held for 7 days. Indeed, with the will, they touched the entire school with their diligence and sincerity. All students, teachers, parents, and those who went and saw their exhibits were full of praise. Moreover, many people also responded to their call of protecting the environment during these seven days. They even set an example by collecting recyclables and picking up garbage and then sorting the recyclables into different bags,. Worrying that people may not like having them sort out the garbage nearby, they even carried the garbage farther away to a collection point to sort them there. They would dig into the bags of garbage to pick out each item, sorting them into recyclables and non-recyclables. Even if people looked at them strangely, they did not care. For youths of today to be able to do this is truly not easy. Having the heart to care for the Earth, they willingly gave of themselves with such great mindfulness. One could see their sincere care for the Earth. So, in seeing these Tzu Ching youths, it truly makes me feel that there’s a lot of hope for the furture.

What about in Taiwan? Of course, Taiwan is where our recycling efforts began. Our efforts to get all citizens involved began in Taiwan. Taiwan is not only the birthplace of Tzu Chi, but it is also the first place where we started trying to get all citizens involved in recycling. Be they elderly, middle-aged, or young, people of all ages join in to do recycling. In fact, even shops are responding to our call of protecting the Earth. At our recycling station in Sanchong, Taipei, we see how dozens of shopkeepers from the chains of a convenience store went to learn more about how to recycle. At the same time, they also did recycling while they were there. They now know they should protect the Earth. So, they will put into practice at each of their convenience stores what they learned about recycling. Not only will they start doing recycling more thoroughly at their convenience stores, they will also encourage and teach their customers to sort and recycle their garbage. What they are doing truly makes me feel very excited and happy.

We also see this teacher, Mr. Huang, who has been dedicating himself to Tzu Chi for more than ten years now. See how he serves to guide Tzu Chings and also does recycling himself. He expects highly of his students and he works hard to set an example for his students to follow. He often brings his students to our recycling stations to see how recycling is supposed to be done. When the students saw how many bottles and cans are collected at the recycling stations, they realized that all the things that they use in daily life end up creating so much garbage. So, be it professors or teachers at universities, high schools, or elementary schools, see what great influence they can have on their students. At all of our recycling stations, we often have professors bringing their college students or teachers bringing high school, elementary, or even kindergarten students to visit our recycling stations. This way, they can better understand recycling and know to value the importance of practicing recycling in their daily lives. All this is possible because the example that Tzu Chi volunteers have set for nearly 20 years has made recycling a widespread practice. For this, I must thank all Tzu Chi volunteers.

There is also a Mr. Yang. Although he owns an eatery, he does not supply disposable chopsticks to his customers. He has even placed notices on the tables to tell his customers that he does not supply disposable chopsticks because of the bleach used in them, etc. This way, his customers will know that disposable chopsticks are not good for them. All the chopsticks and utensils he uses in the eatery have all been disinfected with great care. He also lets all his customers know how it is done so they don’t have to worry about sanitary issues when using these reusable utensils. In fact, being more environmentally friendly not only protects the Earth but also good for our body and mind and can even help change our bad temper. Such is “spiritual recycling”. To practice spiritual recycling, we can choose to become vegetarian. All these things are actually very easy to do, including leading a simpler life. All it takes is our persistence and perseverance. If we can persist in living a simpler life and continue doing so for the long term, there really will be hope for the Earth.

As we all live on this Earth, loving and caring for the Earth is everyone’s responsibility. So, in our interactions with people, we must also treat oue another harmoniously as we work together to strive for our common ideal of caring for ourselves and the Earth. So, it is my hope that youths around the world will know to respect themselves and the Earth. May all of us be able to be persistent in our practices of leading a simpler life and uphold our duties as human beings living on this Earth.

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