Solar C3ities Cooperation Circle (CC) was started at Mercy College, which is specifically tailored for non-traditional students. As their name says, their mission is the 3 Cs: “Connecting Community Catalysts”, and this is what they really do. Biogas is the door opener: their mission is to connect catalysts, having faith that if they share solutions that improve lives -- not as a hierarchical outsider but as a family that shares effective solutions -- people will continue to share them with broader and broader circles. CC members volunteer their time to help educate on the biogas solution in relation to several community and environmental issues. Solar C3ities partners with individuals, gardeners, homesteaders, farmers, villages and communities of all kinds in the U.S. and around the world to demonstrate the value of manure and food waste and how they can easily be used to create fuel for cooking/heating/lighting, as well as liquid fertilizer for gardening and farming. These are proposed as alternatives to wood fire cooking or charcoal cooking, thus reducing the 7 million carbon related deaths every year. With less use of firewood, the hope is to alleviate the devastating effects of deforestation including soil erosion, contamination and destruction of waterways, loss of animal habitat, animal species, and medicinal plants. Dealing with food waste at its source through biodigestion puts food waste into a closed container where it never reaches a trash can or trash pile, which draws disease-carrying rats and insects. Solar C3ities works in these spaces where interfaith bridge building is necessary, approaching environmental sustainability issues from a faith-mission perspective and a medical-mission perspective.
