What we say, do, and eat has global implications, and on these three major security frontiers we must do better: religious, food and climate security. Each of us has a role to play, and each of us is capable of making a difference.

On Syria, there is a back-story from which the US should learn, lest it be repeated again. For years, long before the killing by President Bashar al-Assad's government began, the US preferred a policy with Damascus of disengagement. It is unclear why the White House pursued this.

Given the World Bank's focus on poverty, economics and climate, and given Sachs' wealth of experience in all three, there is no better candidate.

The propensity in the U.S. to conflate Islam with violence precludes the possibility of nonviolent Muslim protest motivated by an internal incentive, be it secular or religious. However, the concept of nonviolence is not foreign or new to Muslims.

That the economics of peace have had such a hard time prevailing in policy conversations is, in part, because the dominant language, lobbies, and learning environments are all geared toward the mechanics of war.