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Johann Hari’s believes that we should enforce people to save the planet. She mentions methods on how the government can force a new law on to the people to becoming environmentally friendly. She proves her point through many examples around the world, for example, the mayor of London forces SUV drivers to pay a punitive 6000-a-year premium. These are the simple steps to take before the major ones like industrial companies releasing most of its damage to the earth. Carbon emissions harm millions of people, also the environment around us. Enforcing the people is the only method that would make them change.


In my opinion, I agree with Johann Hari’s statement of enforcing people to save the planet. Especially in the UAE since majority of the people here are ignorant. The government should force people to become environmentally friendly in an indirect method. Increase the prices on products which cause global warming. Like light bulbs, that way people would think twice before buying the regular. Also I believe that something should be done on educating the low income people about global warming, cause I am sure they have no idea what it is.

Living in Masdar City...

I would like to live in Masdar City because I would feel part of a society which truly cares about the environment. Through curiosity, I wonder how the living standards would be in Masdar city. Would they force strict rules on us to keep a friendly environment? But even though, I personally believe in making a difference. I would have to change my lifestyle, but that is not much of a problem, I don’t mind changes. In this situation, I am willing to change for a better cause. Also I will be living in a cleaner environment which is good for my health.

My reaction to "An Inconvenient Truth"

After watching the movie “an inconvenient truth”. I realized that there is more to the issue of global warming than I thought. I once believed that global warming is a minor issue taking place near the North and South Pole, but now I know eventually over time it will affect me and others living in the UAE. This movie helped me understand more about how global warming is affecting everyone around the world, and every individual can make a big difference to this by simply reducing their carbon footprints. We have one world that we can live on, and we should take care of it instead of destroying it for personal gain.

What do u mean "An Inconvenient Truth"?

There was a reason to the title of the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, and that was the message Al Gore tried telling people that we don’t have much time to live if we continue living the same standards that we live in and forget about the environment. Sometimes the truth hurts, but sometimes we must accept the problem and try to come up with a solution to it. That solution involves changing your lifestyle, which others find it inconvenient to do so. But what is really inconvenient is the fact that we have one planet to live on and we are destroying it for personal gain.

America's Cool Cities

1. Seattle: They reduced global warming pollution by more than 60 percent by constructing green buildings and operating alternative fuel vehicles.

2. Washington DC: Has replaced 414 of its polluting diesel buses with buses that burn natural gases.

3. Houston: Converted a substantial portion of the city of fleet of cars and trucks.

4. Marion County/Florida: They use gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

5. The city of Scottsdale: Has introduced Arizona’s first green building program which helps builders and home owners learn about how to integrate energy efficiency and water saving.

6. Salt Lake City: They changed 861 traffic lights to LED light signals.

7. Colorado: Is working to produce 50 percent of the city electricity with renewable energy by 2017.

8. Charlotte: They switched from a gas only Ford Taurus to a hybrid Toyota Prius or Honda Civic and that would save city taxpayers approximately $800-1200 per vehicle including over $400 in annual fuel cost.

9. Twin Falls/ Idaho: Reduce energy cost and cut pollution by increasing the energy efficiency of its 11 schools.

10. St. Paul: They use a system that uses heat drawn from a biomass-fired power plant.

"An Inconvenient truth" Summary

In the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” Al Gore, former senator, explains how global is a major issue that has to be dealt with. He discusses how global warming has become worse over the years and proves this with pictures of landscapes that have completely changed over the year due to global warming. His goal is to inform the people of the world of the dramatic changes that are occurring around us, and help others understand that we must change; we must make a difference for the sake of our planet, ourselves, and our future generations to come. He constantly reminds people of the fact that we have one planet to live on and we should take care of it.

My carbon footprint

As we know, global warming exists and we are the cause for it getting worse. Every individual on this earth has his/her negative impact on the earth’s environment. This negative impact is also known as carbon footprint, a method in which it evaluates how much carbon emission is released from our daily routine activities. Every individual’s evaluation differs from the other, as for myself, my carbon footprint is 12.79 tonnes per annum.


This result personally shocks me and tells me that I have a problem of not being environmentally responsible. I own a car which involves most in my carbon footprint, and that I travel a lot by car especially on the weekends when I go to Dubai. Another major problem is that I sometimes forget to switch off electric consuming devices, like my computer, which runs almost every day.


The solution to these problems is that I have to be more responsible and caring for the environment. I could start off by looking for a car which is more environment friendly, which consumes less fuel, this way I would release less carbon emissions from my car. Secondly I need to limit myself on my trips for entertainment, and think more of ways to help the environment. Finally I would need to get into the habit of switching off electric devices which I’m not using.


In conclusion, every individual doesn’t release how much of a difference he/she can make over a year unless they would calculate their own carbon footprint. Then the evaluation would shock them and make them more aware of what negative impact they are causing to the earth.
www.footprint.wwf.org.uk

Introduction

Global warming is an issue that is becoming more familiar due to its causes around us. Global warming is when heat from the sun is trapped on earth due to the carbon emissions blocking it from going back out. Majority of the world weren’t much concerned about this issue in the past, since it was mostly occurring near the north and south poles, but over time, it started affecting our environments near us, and eventually affected our lives, with the excess heat. Many countries try to make a difference by being more environmentally friendly. For example, the UAE has made projects which show their concern for the earth, like building Masdar City which can hold a population of 43,500. The city would function in an environment which releases Zero Carbon Emissions!

One Planet Living Principles

An average Emirati needs seven planets. However, our global footprint grew by 150% between 1961 and 2003. It is now 25% above the planet’s biological capacity to support life on earth. Therefore, the WWF has developed an initiative called One Planet Living. It has ten guiding principles:

1. Zero Carbon
2. Zero Waste
3. Sustainable Transport

4. Local and Sustainable Materials
5. Local and Sustainable Food
6. Sustainable Water
7. Natural Habitats and Wildlife
8. Cultural and Heritage
9. Equity and Fair-trade
10. Health and Happiness

In my opinion, maintaining equity and fair trade in Masdar city would be complicated since some of the products outside the city could have been made in a method which causes global warming. That would break the principle of equity and fair trade.

My Profile

My profile….hmm where to begin…well first thing my name is Hamdan Omar for short, my full name is way too long to remember so I leave it to that. I was born on January 16th, 1988. So that would make me 20 years old now…I think, I’ll have to make sure about that with my twin, oh yea, I forgot to mention I’m a twin, well now you know. Obviously were the same age but I’m older by 2 min, that might not seem much of a difference, but to me it does, it’s proves I’m older (:P).Most people get shocked or amazed at the fact I am a twin, like how you are now, and ask me the most common questions that I hear all the time…“DO YOU THINK ALIKE?!”, we don’t have any special powers, but if we did then that would be amazing. We are the oldest ones in the family…I mean I am! After us is my younger sister then brother. We are all born in Abu Dhabi, capital of the emirates.

As a child I was very wild and rebellious, I was one of those kids or rugrats who would cause chaos during the night. One time I saw a spider in the corridor to the kitchen, I started staring at it for quite a while it got boring since it was barely moving so I wanted to burn it and watch it die. I went to the kitchen to get tissue and lit it, through the excitement I felt, I completely didn’t think I would burn my hand before I reach that spider. I dropped the burning tissue on the carpet and watched it burn the carpet instead…sadly I couldn’t find that spider to try again. As a teenager I was still the same but this time the chaos was in school, I got in trouble several times to a point where they had a filled in detention slip waiting for me at the office to pick up. My life was unstable since I was moving school all the time; I’ve been to 4 schools, and the last one was in Canada. I studied there for my last 2 years of high school, and lived there with my grandparents. After I came back, I realized how important education is for my future and changed my ways, and being more responsible. Hopefully I’ll have a great job that I enjoy and that would support me, and later on support my family when I get married.

Travelling to Canada was an exciting experience for me at first but then got frustrating since most of the time there it was winter. But I got to meet different people and experience new things like Tim Hortons, a famous brand known to everyone who lives in Canada; it’s similar to dunkin donuts but even better. I travelled to few other places before Canada. I’ve been to Kenya, Malaysia, Paris, London, and Singapore. Kenya was amazing, going on safaris and seeing wild animals, meeting people from Masai tribes who were really tall and made me feel like a midget or going around town, the best thing is that everything is cheap; I was living like a king.

In my free time at home I usually play my guitar, I’m still learning but hopefully I’ll become a pro at that, or my weekends I would go out with a couple of friends relaxing in cafés or restaurants. Sometimes go for special events like concerts, or going to Dubai. Although going to Dubai is a big problem when it comes to traffic, I usually plan before I start moving. One of the things I would love to do if I had chance is sky diving or bungee jumping. It’s a dangerous game but life is all about risks, not taking risks makes life really boring. Sometimes I also go to the movies, if there is a good movie playing. Abu Dhabi is a calm city, not much happens here but I got use to it.

That’s all I can say about my past, present and future. I hope you found my profile interesting, or else….Also don’t forget to write a comment about my profile

My Reaction to the Tour Trip

A few weeks back, my classmates and I went for a tour at the emirates palace. The tour was about the Masdar city which is a futuristic city that has zero carbon emission. I was astonished at what the project had to offer, a city fully functional on its own. I was also amazed by the transportation in the city, what I understood from the tour and video is that cars are not allowed in the city.

The Saadiyat island project is another project that surely shows to be unique. Personally I thought It looked like some part of a human organ, at first I thought it was a parking lot or a mall, but it’s a entertainment center containing halls and exhibitions…etc.

Then we, Jaber and I, moved on to the arts of islam. I learnt that people in the past were very artistic in all areas like carpets, jewelry, furniture…and other stuff. I was mostly concentrating on the daggers and swords and their history. I’m a collector of swords and daggers, and this is what caught my attention the most after the masdar city

Conflict Diamonds

Diamonds are known to be the most expensive stones in the world; they are also known to be women’s most desired object. But where to diamonds come from? Diamonds are made from carbon that faces extreme pressure and temperatures deep down below the earth’s surface. These carbons or diamonds that go through this process soon, over time, are transported to the surface through kimberlite pipes via magma.

Botswana, located in South Africa, holds the reputation of producing most of the world’s diamonds. One of the biggest diamond mining companies, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, mines most of its diamond from South Africa. De Beers control 67% of the world’s rough diamonds trade, in the early 20th century; De Beers kept the price of diamonds high by restricting the amount of diamonds in the market.

Antwerp, one of the cities in Belgium, has been a diamond center for 600 years. The diamond trade in this city is associated with the Jewish community. 80% of the world’s rough diamonds passes through the Antwerp. About 1500 polishers and cutters are left in the city today. Almost all of the world’s rough diamonds today, about 90%, is cut and polished in India due to the fact it’s really cheap.

Dubai has dramatically developed over the last few years, and has a growing reputation as a diamond hub. The special deal of zero tax attracted many of the world’s diamond traders to the UAE. The business is worth 1 billion pounds.

Hip-Hop artists spend the most in jewelry, because they believe that it’s all about the “bling”. Besides that fact is another which women also love diamonds and want more of it all the time.

Obama's issue in the debate summary

In the following article “The mean of Obama’s robes”, senator Obama’s visit to Kenya and wearing traditional clothing has caused an issue in the presidential debate. Through the articles he explains the traditional meaning of the robes and head turban that it has no religious meaning and is simply traditional clothing worn by delegates in the council for peace and development. The debate made the author remember about how people in Somalia are against different types of clothing; he then gives his personal opinion about these beliefs.

In my opinion, this article had lack of information towards the topic or issue. The author gave full information on what the robes and head turban are for, but the author didn’t explain why Obama wore the traditional clothing during that time.