Martin Almada sees a paradox in his homeland of Paraguay. The nation is a leading producer of electricity, he says, yet many people in the country still use firewood as fuel because they can't afford electrical power.
"In my country we destroy the environment every day," says Almada, a former political prisoner and an advocate for both the poor and the environment. Almada is working to install solar energy in rural areas and provide self-employment opportunities for youths through the Fundacion Celestina Perez de Almada.
As a panelist at the Congress of Planetary Initiatives on Friday at the Marriott University Park, Almada spoke of empowering people to protect the environment through such projects as key to solving to broader global issues.
"We believe we have to work a lot in education and we have to intervene," he said in Spanish, speaking through an interpreter. "My proposal is to retake the experience of Gandhi."
Almada was referring to Mahatma Gandhi, a political and spiritual leader known for non-violence as he led India's independence movement. Almada spoke on Friday, the first day of a three-day "Congress of Planetary Initiatives."
Participants from around the globe are holding a dialogue in Salt Lake City aimed at finding areas of agreement across cultures that they hope will eventually lead to a peaceful world.
Discussion on a wide range of topics from the environment to politics to art and culture will lead to a vote on resolutions to foster non-violence.
Participant Tung-yi Kho of Eugene, Ore., describes it as planting "little seeds" that will grow into local, and potentially global, solutions.
"It was our hope that people would come here and go back (home) and start similar initiatives," said Kho, a graduate student in social work at the University of Oregon.
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