Dalai Lama calls on world leaders to take action against climate change

Posted on 12 November 2020

The Dalai Lama has recently appealed to world leaders to make urgent changes in regards to the climate change issues currently plaguing the world.

In an interview with Channel 4, as reported by The Guardian, he warned that climate change will lead to irreversible ecological destruction that will affect not only his birth country of Tibet, but the entire world.

The spiritual leader urged world authorities to take action against climate change before it is too late.

During the interview, which was conducted in the Indian city of Dharamsala, where he has been exiled for the last six decades, the Buddhist spiritual leader warned that climate change could result in extreme changes like rivers running dry, or the luscious landscapes of Tibet turning into the ‘new Afghanistan’.

His call to action was made during the Cop26 UN climate conference, which took place from November 1 to November 12. He has high expectations for world leaders to act on the Paris climate agreement, which was first opened for signing in April 2016.

‘The United Nations should take a more active role in this field. The big nations should pay more attention to ecology. I hope you see those big nations who spent a lot of money for weapons or war turn their resources to the preservation of the climate,’ he said.

He then went on to say that if he was to join a political party, it would be the Green party, which coincides with quotes from his new book, stating if Buddha returned to this world, ‘Buddha would be green’.

The Dalai Lama’s suggestions on how engage with world leaders on the topic of climate change can be viewed as slightly outlandish, with him suggesting we gather all the world leaders into one room and ‘pipe carbon dioxide into it until they realise what climate change really means’, he said with a chuckle.

In terms of viable solutions to fixing the climate change issue, he did say that he is in favour of a large-scale tree-planting initiative. He also suggests that meat consumption across the entire world should be should fall dramatically. Ultimately, he believes that proper education and promoting the concept of compassion will be the best ways to fight climate change in the long run.

Click here to watch the Channel 4 interview with the Dalai Lama

 

Picture: Twitter/@tveitdal






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