Catalyst

April 2003

Catalyst

Issue# 2

Rena Reid
Chief Editor and founder of the UN Club at UHM

Welcome to the newsletter, Catalyst!

The origin of Catalyst means, "to support change". Now more so that ever is teh time for positive change to ensure peaceful, long-term, sustainable coexistence with our environment and our fellow human habitants.

During the developments of the American-led invasion, it has been quite interesting to see how our country has responded. We see people either "for the war" or "against the war" choosing only one side. This we see as somewhat positive, to view people participating and affirming in what they believe. The negative side is that both groups perceive each other in a distorted fashion with backlashes and cut-downs.

This we must change!

Beign "for the war" or "against the war" has divided our country even more. We need more oppurtunities to sincerely discuss, one-to-one what our government, our values and our future means to us.

By taking the time to dialog with someone who has a different opinion from our own, only then will we be able to constructively find a solution that will benefit all of humanity. We should focus our energy in coming together to discuss and brainstorm on solutions and stop pivoting against one another.

We hope that you enjoy the articles that were contributed and hope you take the time to attend the upcoming events. If you have any questions, please contact our staff at unatuh@hawaii.edu.

Sincerely,

Rena Reid

IN THIS ISSUE

Feature Article

UN Agency Unveils Plan to Use Hot Rocks to Generate Electricity in Eastern Africa

Peace Education Primary Importance for a Culture of Human Rights and Global Justice

by: Joshua Cooper

The Protection of Humanity Desires Justice

by:Mea Aloha Shimizu

Homeless Veterans

by: Marcus Gannon

Upcoming Events !
The United States Foreign Policy of Unilateralism and Preemptive Strike Isolates America and Weakens Human Security

by: Joshua Cooper

FEATURE ARTICLE: UNA-USA

UN Agency Unveils Plan to Use Hot Rocks to Generate Electricity in Eastern Africa

11 April – In a promising form of renewable energy, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today unveiled a new plan to use the steam produced by hot rocks buried within the earth to generate electricity in eastern Africa.

UNEP said energy experts, scientists and private sector representatives drew up the geothermal plan to dramatically increase the levels of electricity generated from hot rocks during the Eastern Africa Geothermal Energy meeting held this week in Nairobi, Kenya.

Unlike hydro-electricity or oil-fired generators, geothermal energy is not vulnerable to droughts or prone to unpredictable price fluctuations, experts at the meeting stressed.

"Geothermal power has proven reliable. Kenya has used geothermal energy for power generation for 22 years at greater than 97 per cent availability," stated a final declaration produced by delegates at the meeting. Kenya, the pioneer of geothermal energy in the region, generates 45 megawatts of electricity from hot rocks according to UNEP.

The delegates also set the "challenging yet achievable target" to develop 1,000 megawatts - equivalent to the electricity needs of several million people - of this geothermal across eastern Africa by 2020.

The meeting, organized by UNEP, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), aimed to overcome some of the technological and financial hurdles that have held back geothermal development in the region.

Source: UNAUSA.org

2003 United Nations Club at UHM. All the rights reserved.
The material expressed on this and all other related pages are the sole property and opinions of the respective authors cited.
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