20141014 倡導環保防病媒Preventing Disasters and Epidemics Through Recycling
Seeing so many disasters around the world, I’m very worried. In Portugal, rain-induced flash floods forced the closure of several metro stations in Lisbon. When continued rain pours down like this, how are people to prevent floods from occurring?
So, if the element of water is imbalanced, and there’s too much rain, there’ll be flooding everywhere. And if the floodwaters are not drained away, there’ll be sanitation problems.
We also see the outbreak of Dengue fever in China’s Guangdong Province, which is truly very worrying. Why is there such a mosquito-borne disease? Because of poor sanitation. Mosquitoes usually breed in dirty and stagnant water. So, when the plastic bottles we throw away are filled with water, they become the ideal spots for mosquitoes to breed.
In Guangdong Province alone, the number of Dengue fever cases has reached over 30,000. That’s a lot. A mosquito can spread the disease by biting one person after the other.
The other day, a virologist came to see me and we talked about Dengue fever. He said that. When a mosquito with Dengue virus bites us for its blood meal, it first injects its saliva into us. That’s how we get infected. We often say that man is powerful.
But see how much more powerful mosquitoes are. A tiny mosquito can take our lives, especially when it comes to Dengue hemorrhagic fever, which may lead to death. Even after recovery, people may suffer from other problems. So, we must be careful, not to get bitten by mosquitoes. It’s best we can stop mosquitoes from breeding.
So, we must take good care of our environment. For everyone to be safe and well, we must keep our surrounding environment clean. To do that, we need to start with people’s hearts. If people are unwilling to help or do a rush job, there’s no way we can thoroughly eliminate the source of these infectious diseases.
We also see that Mount Sinabung in Indonesia has erupted again, spewing ash high into the sky. There is thick volcanic ash everywhere, it is truly very frightening. Also, as some farmers in Indonesia are burning felled trees as fertilizers for their crops, the smog created by such a practice has not only affected Indonesia, but also Malaysia.
So, Tzu Chi volunteers in Indonesia have been giving out masks to people on the streets, as they know that the volcanic ash is bad for people’s lungs. See how thoughtful our volunteers are. In all, to prevent epidemics like Dengue fever, etc. from occurring, it’s very important to keep our environment clean.
So, if we don’t protect the environment, we will never be able to prevent disasters, and epidemics from occurring. That’s why we must promote recycling.
See how Tzu Chi volunteers in Taipei have been promoting recycling for over 20 years. In recent years, I’ve been asking our volunteers to encourage people to rinse and sort their recyclables before bringing them to us.
Thanks to their effort, I see that more people are recycling now These baskets for different recyclables show people how recyclables are categorized, so they can do the same at home. We want people to know recyclables are resources. They should collect them and rinse them clean before giving them to us.
It is my hope that our society can be clean, everyone can enjoy good health, and more people can be inspired to recycle. This is how Tzu Chi volunteers work hard to promote recycling across Taiwan. This morning, on our TV program about our recycling volunteers, I saw how hard everyone does recycling work.
They not only sort out recyclables from garbage, but also put them in big bags and stack these bags one on top of the other very neatly bag by bag. See how they have to stand high on the bags in order to stack them one by one. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but say to myself: “How can I not be moved by them?”
Why do they work so hard like this? They could have stayed home watching TV in an air-conditioned room. Why do they have to sweat and toil like this? Despite the unpleasant smell, they stay at our recycling station and keep working. Seeing such images, how can I not be moved and feel grateful?
What are they doing this for? It’s not for profits. They work like this without asking anything in return but only for one thing, which is to ensure everyone’s wellbeing. All they hope is that disasters can be mitigated and everyone can be safe and well. They are truly living bodhisattvas. How can I not be moved and be grateful to them?
I hope everyone can act with wisdom and love. The Earth is our home. She sustains the lives of every one of us. So, we must protect and care for her not only for our own sake, but also for our future generations. That’s why I hope everyone can see what Tzu Chi volunteers are doing to protect the Earth and learn to do the same.
We do not do this for fame, but to let people know that there’s a group whose members are doing this to protect the Earth and then be reminded of what they can do as well.
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