By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 14: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama has called for a unified global action from leaders against climate change during a virtual address of the G7 meeting from his residence on Saturday. The event hosted by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw the Nobel laureate calling for more attention to climate change.
The Tibetan leader said that he found this initiative by G7 “very encouraging”, adding that the new generation has a greater sense of awareness on the impact of climate change. “If you look [at] past history, too much emphasis individual nation, individual religion, including color,” he said. “So it creates a lot of problems. Basically, you see, they are selfish, self-centred attitudes.”
The octogenarian leader emphasized the need to make the climate crisis the foremost priority by the world, noting that it brings together 7 billion human beings as one human community. He also remarked that the most vulnerable people will go through a disproportionate effect in the face of global warming, “Due to global warming, too much rain (in) some area. Some areas dry. So these people suffer . . . particularly like in Africa and some area in India and China also.”
Dalai Lama cited the environmental importance of Tibet as the source of the largest river systems in Asia that provides water to more than 1 billion people in the world. He said that he has witnessed both Tibet and his current residence in Dharamshala receive decreasing amount of snowfall every year.
In 2019, the 85-year old took part in the Daily Mirror’s “Million Mirror Trees” campaign with ICT Chairman Richard Gere. The Tibetan leader also plans to release a book on climate change in November titled, “Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World.”
