Day 47

March 6th

Thursday...

Thank God. It means the end of a week full of stress and hardship. It also means the start of the weekend. We are going to Sharm el Sheikh, a Sinai resort town on the Red Sea. I hear that's its really touristy, but that its gorgeous. It should be an experience.

Thursday also means that I get to go to the Desert Development Center. Currently I am applying for the UROP grants for the summer. I feel this application has been immensely beneficial to lighting the path of my future.
You see, before at the DDC, I was doing research on whether or not solar power could be used to power development in the third world, where the simple lack of power inhibits any hope for moving forward. However, since I asked Dan Lindley to be my adviser, I was forced to make make the project more related to security studies. I finally came up with the solution. I would analyze whether or not solar power can prevent the cause of resource wars. This brings together my current to tracks of interest. The first, the imperative need of this planet to address the coming environmental catastrophe. This is more than just global warming, which in itself could change the entire face of this world, this is about the soaring price of grain and corn as the demand increases world-wide, this is about the pollution in the Nile Delta that will reduce the ability to produce enough food. It also ties in my interest to stop one of the world's other great evil: war. Man can be so inhumane to man in so many ways, especially through war. This cannot be a way to solve problems in the future and we need to work to reduce the chances that it will ever happen. So my research will determine if solar power can allow these developing oasis communities to produce more food and water and therefore help to stave off the impending doom.