Reducing Conflict and Remembering Those Who Died Fighting

This weekend, as we reflect on remembrance and those who won't return from conflict, it is helpful to reflect on conflict itself and why we even have it. Resource scarcity is at the root of global conflict.
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This weekend, as we reflect on remembrance and those who won't return from conflict, it is helpful to reflect on conflict itself and why we even have it.

Resource scarcity is at the root of global conflict.

Resource scarcity is a lack of water, food, energy, communication and meaningful employment.

There is no question that tribalism, religion and greed fuel the hate, but the difference between those who hate and those who kill is that one group has food, water, electricity, jobs and education while the other doesn't.

This is as true in Fallujah as it is in St. Louis.

We have the technical ability to provide food, water, electricity, education and jobs to the world right now. And there is no shortage of goodwill to make it happen. Yet the gap between the goodwill and the reality of conflict is as massive as it has ever been.

Why is that? As a financial and then political anchor at CNBC and then MSNBC I was fascinated by the stunning inability to convert goodwill into jobs and education providing basic resources that can reduce global conflict. I interviewed combat veterans that kept repeating the same message following their perilous missions -- "sustainability is security." If we can deliver sustainable resources, the world can be secure. Moreover, I was told repeatedly by the combat veterans that they would love to return to places of conflict with a better set of equipment, namely tools that offer sustainable resources and hope to reduce the very conflict underlying the catastrophic losses we remember on Memorial Day.

While I believed the purpose of government and markets was to encourage and facilitate the efficient distribution of key resources to reduce poverty and increase health, I did not see the meaningful equipment described by the combat veterans to support any of this, and I imagined what that equipment would look like.

Imagine if we harnessed modern technology to deploy relocatable, plug and play systems in conflict prone, resource scarce environments in America and abroad.

Imagine if we created jobs and education installing and operating these plug and play systems that empowered communities while reducing poverty and increasing health.

It is with this vision in mind that I left MSNBC in 2012 to establish Helical Holdings and create a series of products to support that vision. We announced Helical Holdings on Friday.

We have the tools, the people, and the goodwill, but the problem of resource scarcity is all around us to continue driving conflict. This weekend, will we simply remember or will we act?

You can donate here to Patriot Farmers of America (PFA), which is actively pursuing a world of reduced conflict by using the Helical Outpost. PFA a non-profit whose mission is to TEACH entrepreneurship and sustainability to veterans and proud Americans who are seeking a future in farming, CULTIVATE partnerships with leaders of the sustainable agriculture movement, and GROW food, careers, healthy lives, and a future for all of our children -- and you can be a part of that mission.

Did you see the news segment about the Helical Outpost on CNN Money? Check it out here.

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