Eight years ago, we met with Vicente Fox while he served as Governor of Guanajuato, Mexico. GENI received his endorsement, stating that "we are absolutely in agreement with this initiative and we want to let you know that we will be supporting all works that you develop in this relation." Two years later Vicente Fox was elected President of Mexico.

Endorsements give our initiative credibility and attention, but the true work is putting steel in the ground that delivers clean electricity to homes and businesses. Today, we share with you a letter from the Mexican Undersecretary for Energy Planning and Renewable Technology. While they pursue their own domestic renewable energy, it's especially exciting that Mexico is working with all Latin American nations to expand interconnections between neighboring states.

Across the Pacific, China and Russia are cooperating on cross-border links that are beneficial to both. China's growing electricity needs can be matched with abundant Russian hydropower. Bilateral infrastructure development at this scale must certainly have the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.

On a historical note, Vladimir Lenin said that "communism is Soviet government plus the electrification of the whole country." While communism proved to be a failed economic model, Lenin got it right about electrification. Electricity is fundamental to our modern society, and harvesting abundant renewable energy is an essential strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The world today has huge divisions. War, poverty, pollution and population growth give challenge to millions of committed people, organizations and politicians working to make our planet a better place for all. I invite you to give everything you can — your time, money, contacts and expertise — as we all need to pull together to solve the big issues of our time.

In partnership for the planet,