Dharamshala: At the virtual G7 Speaker’s Conference on September 12, Nobel Peace laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited as the keynote speaker on the theme, ‘Climate Crisis with Economic and Environmental Justice for All’.
In his video message, His Holiness stressed on the necessity of adopting a globalist attitude rather than isolationism by learning from history, “If you look at the past, there was too much emphasis on individual nations, individual religions, including even racial groups which creates a lot of problems. Basically, our selfish, self-centred attitude, thinking only of me, my nation, my group, is very narrow-minded.” The reality is that the future of the whole world, of 7 billion human beings, is interdependent.”
He expressed his optimism in the younger generation who are driven by the larger cause of humanity”the present generation because of our past experiences, have a sense of common interest rather than my country.”
On the issue of climate change, he noted the looming threat of global warming on the Tibetan plateau from where major rivers in Asia, such as the Yangtse in China, the Brahmaputra in India and Indus in Pakistan originate. With the decreasing amount of snowfall noticed each year in Tibet as well as in Dharamsala, “Its not just an abstract idea. On a practical level, we are now really facing problems,” His Holiness said.
Especially, the effects of global warming are visible in the excessive rainfall in some parts of the world to the point of flooding while on the opposite, some parts are drying up due to the lack of rainfall, he pointed out.
In his final appeal, he urged the G7 members to deliberate on the urgent issue of climate change to counter it highlighting that the poor are the first to suffer the consequences.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosted the virtual G7 Speakers’ meeting where the following participating Speakers/Heads of Parliament delivered their opening remarks:
• Mrs Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, U.S.A.
• Mr Tadamori Ōshima, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Japan
• Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the Bundestag, Germany
• Mr Roberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies, Italy
• Mr Richard Ferrand, President of the National Assembly, France
• Mr Roberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies, Italy
• Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Common, United Kingdom
• Mr Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons, Canada
Reported by Tibet Net.
