Seven hundred and fifty years ago, a seventeen-year-old Venetian embarked on a journey east, and did not return home for a quarter of a century. Marco Polo left the Venetian lagoon in 1271 with his father, Niccolò, and uncle, Maffeo – three merchants on horseback, who eventually made their way to the court of Kublai Khan. Their expedition required one horse per traveler.

Our group of four – my wife, Sonia, our friend, Patrick Zhong, his son, Jimmy, and I – recently embarked on a similar journey east, where the West meets the East along the ancient Silk Road. We are not pretending to accomplish this as young Marco did. Our caravan is a fully electric BYD Denza, and the top models of this line boast an astonishing 1,582 horsepower, all while providing a quiet and smooth ride.

But strip away the horsepower and seven and a half centuries, and the journey is the same: a curiosity pointed firmly eastward, a belief that the surest path to peace lies through human connection, and a long line of strangers who become new friends over a second cup of tea. We call it the Marco Polo – 12 Countries, 15,000 kilometers, 43 days, from Rome to Hong Kong. We began auspiciously in the Eternal City, home of the papacy, because, like Polo before us, we carry a message from the Pope eastward, in our case, the new encyclical by Pope Francis, *Fratelli Tutti*, a plea for peace and for the wise and humane use of our powerful new technologies. Polo once carried messages between Pope Gregory X and Kublai Khan across a divided world. It seems the goal has not changed so much in 750 years.

From Rome, we pointed the car north and stopped in Bologna to charge – and here, the 21st century announced itself with a bang. Using BYD's "lightning charging" and its remarkable Blade batteries, we charged to 97.5 percent in less than nine minutes, just in time for our espresso. Marco Polo measured his progress in seasons and mountain passes; we measure ours in minutes at the charger and in the remarkable ease of traversing Eurasia without burning a drop of oil. That, in short, is the main message of the journey: that the green technologies that are now emerging can serve humanity, bring us closer together, and at the same time reduce our environmental footprint.

As I write, we are heading towards Venice – Polo's hometown, the city from which their journey began and to which they returned a quarter of a century later. From there, our route winds through Croatia and Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey, across the Caucasus to Georgia and Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand, names that still echo with journeys across the steppes – and finally to China, to Xi'an, Shanghai, and Shenzhen by the end of July, ending in Hong Kong.

Several governments have prepared a warm welcome for us, and we look forward to sitting down with political, business, and cultural leaders along the way – and equally eager to meet students, drivers, merchants, and young people who will inherit this interconnected world. Our firm intention is not only to speak, but also to listen. For those who would like to join us, I will teach an online course during the journey – a mobile classroom on the history of the Silk Road, sustainable development, and the old, stubborn, essential idea that nations are much better off cooperating than clashing.

You can register through the SDG Academy; the journey is open to anyone with a curious mind. The registration page is here: https://sdgacademy.org/course/the-marco-polo-drive/```html

As the kilometers pass, I return to a fundamental belief. Many so-called geopolitical strategists and politicians claim that the civilizations of the East and West are destined for conflict rather than cooperation. Marco Polo knew better. At the far end of the longest journey to the East, he did not find enemies, but a magnificent, sophisticated civilization eager to trade ideas as readily as goods. The Silk Road was never a single thread, let alone a wall.

The Silk Road, from ancient times, has been a vast network of connections. Globalization is a hallmark of civilization from ancient times to our own era. Let us work towards the globalization of peace, harmony among different cultures, and sustainable development for all young people today, the 21st century of Marco and Maria Polo. Our Denza hums where the Polo's horses once struggled. The encyclical we carry has a new name, but the message is the same: when we meet face to face, peace ceases to be an abstraction or a formula and becomes a daily reality and a source of joy.

More soon, from somewhere in the East.

Jeffrey D. Sachs / gnews.cz

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