The UAE is a hot and dry country, which has extremely limited natural resources, apart from energy and the sun. We also have a high GDP and a high standard of living and maintaining such high standards, despite the harsh climate, clearly demands a vast amount of energy and natural resources.
Maintaining this high standard, despite the harsh climate, clearly demands a vast amount of energy and natural resources. We need AC’s to cool our houses, schools, offices, shops and even our bus stops. We need cars to transport us in the hot summers when it simply gets too hot to walk far. We need to import goods and natural resources from around the globe to sustain our consumption patterns and economic development. The list goes on.
Everywhere you look, in everything we do, everything we buy and consume, a phenomenal amount of natural resources are imported from outside our borders with an immense environmental cost.
At the same time, until very recently, we have not had sufficient information, options or technologies to help us live more "resource conscious" lifestyles. And in this respect, we still lag far behind many other parts of the developed world. This needs to be addressed and action needs to be taken at all levels of society to live more sustainable lifestyles.
