The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is holding a competition.  It's called the "Reinventing Public Diplomacy Through Games Competition"  The winner will be announced this Monday, May 8th, 2006.  This is a wonderful idea.  After the winner is annouced, I plan to write more about the contest entries.  Until then more information is available on the contest blog.

The First World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, held in Brussels in January 2005, was an historic milestone in Jewish-Muslim dialogue. The Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace took place on March 19-22, 2006 in Seville, Spain. Over 150 Imams and Rabbis, among the most influential Jewish and Moslem leaders in the world, gathered to focus upon: promoting dialogue between Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, creating an opportunity for religious leaders to use their influence in conflict resolution in various regions of the world, helping religious leaders to challenge fanatics who are misusing religion, and creating structures and initiatives to continue practical day-to-day work.

At the Second Congress, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, called for the creation of a world body with representatives from the major religious groups, a "United Nations of religious groups". The Imam of Gaza, Imad al-Faluji, said politicians lied but religious leaders had a different objective - to work towards a higher good. The imams and rabbis at the conference said the world is in crisis and it is time they acted to restore justice, respect, and peace. The delegates have made it very clear that now is the time for concrete initiatives.

Religious leaders of different communities across the world joined their voices to condemn all instrumentalisation of the name of God or his principals for the use of violence. In doing so, they have won back Godís word taken hostage by extremists, and brought the voice of unity capable of opening the path to more concrete solutions: the promotion of education and knowledge, including the teaching of peace.

Yesterday, the Dalai Lama was in San Francisco at the invitation of Muslim leaders for a historic peace gathering, continuing the path towards a "United Nations of Religions" set at the recent Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace. The gathering is the first assembly of a "religious parliament" that will meet once or twice annually in countries throughout the world. The intent is for religious leaders to unite in dispelling misunderstanding and injustice that breed extremism. San Francisco was picked for the gathering because it was where the United Nations was founded.

Imam Seyed Mehdi Khorasani invited the Dalai Lama, urging him to meet with religious leaders and scholars to "construct a strategy that will unite our voices and express our common goal to live in a world without violence." The Dalai Lama was joined by approximately 100 world-renowned scholars, teachers, and leaders of Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and other faiths who met with their Muslim and Buddhist counterparts and took part in the landmark discussion.

The Organising Committee for the gathering said in a statement:

"Religious intolerance, and the violence that tragically attends it, have masqueraded as a legitimate expression of religious conviction and have grabbed the world stage from the majority voices of reason. Those attending this gathering want to rectify this imbalance as they are acutely aware that political and economic agendas, however disguised, have no place in religious practice; and they are committed to acting in their communities to promote compassion and counter divisiveness. Never before have so many of the world's prominent and influential religious leaders come together at one time for such an imperative and specific purpose. The message of peace and understanding that will emanate from this conference and the solidarity powerfully represented by these great and compassionate thinkers speaking in unison will help heal the world."

As Justin observes it is important to think through our options because this could save us much energy and heartbreak. Often we as a society are presented with the option of doing energy intensive activity which will result in little programs and doing a less energy intensive activity which will result in great progress. In such situations the choice to be made is clear. Today, we are looking at a situation where conventional energy sources are rapidly disappearing and using them is creating global warming and international friction. The wise option is to look at alternatives to back up and replace the dsysfunctional ones we are now using. This is why I strongly recommend that the general public be educated and equiped to use practical cheap alternative energy sources such as bike power. Doing this would take little effort and expense, and pay big dividends in the future in terms of peace and prosperity.

Why peace? The simple answer is so we can divert our resources, energy, and attention away from war and to other issues... things like the environment, climate change, poverty, hunger, disease, the lack of education and access to information and information technology.

And what could we get if we decided to spend our money on something other than war?

Well, according to the highly respected Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stieglitz of Columbia University and Linda Biomes, who teaches management at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the ultimate cost of the current Iraq war could go as high as $2 trillion. That figure appears in a paper released earlier this year, and it includes the cost of fighting the war now, caring for the wounded veterans of the war in future years, rebuilding a worn-out military, and other economic costs. Stieglitz and Biomes' estimate is based upon a U.S. deployment in Iraq that lasts until 2010. Under this scenerio, the United States military is spending $783 million a day, for seven years. This is more than the arms expenditures of all other nations combined.

A few months ago, Senator Edward Kennedy gave a moving statement on the Senate floor titled "The real cost of the Iraq war." It was an interesting look at what we could be spending our money on if we weren't at war. But Senator Kennedy used the then accepted figure of $195 million per day. Using the recent estimate of costs, the true cost of the Iraq war is over four times as much as the original figure. So to update the comparisons with a few examples...

One day in Iraq could provide health insurance coverage for one year to 1,523,600 uninsured children in America.

One day in Iraq could feed all of the starving children in the world today almost 18 times over!

Those are some really good reasons not to go to war.

As President Dwight Eisenhower observed in 1953... "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, and the hopes of its children."

The Statue of Liberty in New York City's harbor has adopted renewable energy to help keep its torch lit. Starting this month, 100 percent of the electricity used by the Statue of Liberty will be offset by "green power".

The 150 ft. high statue and the accompanying Ellis Island Immigration Museum have now switched to a wind-powered energy supplier to ensure that its annual 27m kilowatt hours of power are environmentally-friendly. A recent agreement between the US General Services Administration, which manages the government buildings, and Pepco Energy Services, ensures green power is provided for the next three years. Windmills in West Virginia and Pennsylvania will supply the electricity. The Statue of Liberty won't be directly hooked up to the windmills, but electricity the windmills produce is fed into the nation's electrical grid, offsetting the same amount the government uses.

We need to support the transition to sustainable energy, technology, and lifestyles. This is a part of our making peace with our environment.

The Peace Movement is becoming a political force that may effect the outcome of the next elections. A recent national poll shows that almost half of American voters agree with a pledge to vote for peace candidates. The pledge states:

"I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression a public position in his or her campaign."

The national poll found that 45.9% of US voters agree - 20.1% strongly agree, and 25.8% somewhat agree - with the pledge. The poll was conducted by ICR Survey Research of Media, Pa., which also polls for ABC News, The Washington Post, and many corporations and research organizations.

The pledge is an educational project of the nonprofit Voters for Peace, to empower voters with the option of peace.

  My Hunch about Free Energy A WPTTO director stopped by my flat just now to pick up some "How Weird" postcards and we began talking about benevolent technologies. We were in agreement that the current model of oil / coal / nuclear is woefully outmoded in creating a sustainable energy model for our future. We must consider all the living people, animals, plants and general health of the planet co-existing in a harmonious state, but this is simply not happening. Let's face it, humans are the parasite -- truly messing up nearly all eco-systems on planet earth. There has to be a better way! We've put a man on the moon, created the microchip, and we can communicate or travel globally. But the 19th century invention of an internal combustion engine based on gasoline is the best we can do for personal transportation? It is this technology block that is choking the planet and all its inhabitants. Big Oil / special interests are to blame. Long story short, while all WPTTO Directors very much applaud the prospects of hydrogen energy moving us into the 21st century, there is one festering problem. The nonpolluting aspect of hydrogen is encouraging, but how to create the energy to create the energy? Every scientist would point out the many laws of thermodynamics. I too believe in science, but ...

What difference can one website make? The World Peace Through Technology Organization has received visitors from around the world, including several at war with one another. If we could get these people talking to each other, maybe we could build a dialog between enemies. Here are some of the countries that have visited this website in the last month...

United States, Australia, China, Great Britain, Vietnam, India, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Turkey, Hungary, Trinidad and Tobago, Israel, Egypt, Norway, South Africa, Philippines, Peru, Jamaica, Pakistan, France, Italy, Poland, Mozambique, Lithuania, Kuwait, Lebanon, Thailand, Nepal, Singapore, Sweden, and the Russian Federation.

Just imagine the possibilities.

Our little planet just keeps getting more crowded, and more in need of a way to live together in peace and cooperation.

On Saturday February 26th 2006, at 7:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the population on Earth reached 6.5 billion people. This is according to estimates, but who has time to go around the world counting everyone. And we are now adding 261 new people every minute around the world.

An analysis by the International Programs Center at the U.S. Census Bureau points to another fact: some six years from now, on Oct. 18, 2012 at 4:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the Earth will be home to 7 billion people.

According to estimates from the Population Reference Bureau...

In the year 1000, the world's population was 310 million.

As of 2002, there have been 106 billion people ever born.

Remarkably, despite many new developments over the years, one fact looks the same: Populations are growing most rapidly where such growth can be afforded the least.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced historic legislation to create a cabinet level agency dedicated to peacemaking on July 11, 2001.

"The time for peace is now," Congressman Kucinich said. "At the dawn of a new millennium, there is no better time to review age old challenges with new thinking that peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness with respect, trust and integrity toward humankind. Our founding fathers recognized that peace was one of the highest duties of the newly organized free and independent states. But too often, we have overlooked the long-term solution of peace for instant gratification of war. This continued downward spiral of violence must stop to ensure that future generations will live in peace and harmony."

Kucinich's legislation to create a Department of Peace focuses on individual, group and national responsibilities of holding peace as an organizing principle. The Department of Peace will focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. A Peace Academy, similar to the five military service academies, would be created; its graduates dispatched to troubled areas around the globe to promote nonviolent dispute resolutions.

"The challenges inherent in creating a Department of Peace are massive," said Congressman Kucinich. "But the alternatives are worse. Violence at home, in the schools, in the media, and between nations has dragged down humanity. It's time to recognize that traditional, militant objectives for peace are not working, and the only solution is to make peace the goal of a cabinet level agency."

In addition, the first day of each year, January 1st will be designated as Peace Day in the United States and all citizens should be encouraged to observe and celebrate the blessings of peace and endeavor to create peace in the coming year.