As the debate over the environment continues, interested parties on all sides of the question bring their thoughts and prayers to bear on the subject. The Journal does not take political positions on matters of public concern, but strives to offer spiritual perspectives. The editors plan to interview people whose prayers have led them in a range of directions on environmental issues.
The first of these is Dr. Michael Antal, Distinguished Professor of Renewable Energy Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who conducts out-of-the-box research into renewable energy—powered by his study of Christian Science.
MICHAEL ANTAL graduated in 1969 from Dartmouth College, where he majored in physics and mathematics. Four years later he earned a PhD in applied mathematics at Harvard University and then joined the thermonuclear weapons physics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. After two years at Los Alamos, Dr. Antal accepted an appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. Then in 1982, he joined the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he currently researches what the fuel industry calls the Flash Carbonization process. Antal hopes this research—research off the beaten path, conducted in collaboration with a handful of fellow scientists—will lead to a shift in world consciousness and world economies. Because if Antal's hunch is right, the Flash Carbonization process can supply a cost-effective and ultraefficient source of renewable energy.
