"Let There be Light" and DESERTEC

Then God said, 'Let there be light," and there was light. God saw how good the light was.

As the planet's climate grows more erratic and oil prices rise and fall bringing insecurity for non-oil nations and often war and autocratic governments within oil nations, people may finally be ready to go back to the beginning to rethink their energy sources.

A huge solar project, DESTERTEC (www.desertec.org), is in the works as a joint effort between a group of European companies and the DESERTEC Foundation to build solar collectors in North Africa to supply 1/3 of Europe's energy needs and those of Morocco as well. The solar energy will heat water into steam which will turn turbines creating energy. This energy be transferred to European nations under the Mediterranean Sea. No small undertaking. It requires big vision and big investment, but the potential for payback is even greater.

The elegance of this initiative and that of a similar one for the Sahara Desert is that the sun is by nature a diversified and democratic product. The building of the a line of solar collectors across the desert would require massive employment, engineering expertise, and technological connections and communications with the rest of the world. The ripple effects of such an infrastructure initiative would help stabilize any country economy and society it is in and offer hope in many forms for its future.

Africa, with its abundance of deserts, could use an abundance of dreams. The varied countries could supply their own energy needs and become energy producers with a clean energy that does not harm workers with diseases like black lung or produce air or water pollution. It is sophisticated technology that requires investments in another resource, that of peoples' intelligence and creative energies, thus it would support and depend upon the building of schools.

Such projects, coupled with the Green Movement of communities planting trees to stop the desertification of non-desert areas, can be transformative forces in developing countries. But such efforts require investment funds that are not readily available in most countries rich with deserts. So it is to these types of projects our eyes can turn when looking for socially responsible, sustainable, and peaceable development programs to invest in as individuals, groups, nations, the United Nations and World Bank.

"My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove you are the sons and daughters of your heavenly Father, for his sun rises on bad and the good, he rains on the just and unjust." (Matt:5-44-45).

From Genesis to Global Warming

In the book of Genesis, where we find
God’s first self-revelation to humanity,
there is a recurring refrain:
“And God saw that it was good”. . . .
God entrusted the whole of creation to the man and woman,
and only then – as we read – could He rest “from all his work.”
John Paul II


Everyone can agree, people weren't around when the Earth was created and humans were the last species to show up on the scene, yet we've had the most varied capabilities and responsibilities upon our shoulders.

Now religious leaders of all faiths, scientists, and Earth citizens are joining together to talk about these responsibilities and share them, bringing our varied tools, perspectives, and insights to bear.

We've a long way to go, but this is an exciting time in the history of humanity, where the connections between faith, reason, and spiritual imagination can be knitted back together along with our insights from nature herself. This is our moment for the human species to shine -- to listen to all the insights of the ages and cultures and use all our creative energies to work with God and creation to keep this world habitable for all -- "our beautiful endangered world" as John Paul II called it. He was one of the first major religious leaders to speak to the world about the dangers of global warming, biodiversity loss, deforestation and drought, war and ecological destruction, materialism and greed, and poverty -- "the worst pollution".

On October 24th, 2009, there will be a collection of community actions across the nation and world to show our support for taking responsibility for the creation we've been given and doing our part to reduce air pollution and thus slow the rate of global climate "weirding" as one scientist calls it.

You can visit 350.org to see what you can do in this great human endeavor.