Masdar City

A new lifestyle and a way to save the planet from global warming. Masdar city is a project that Abu Dhabi is planning to build in the next few years. In this article I will write about if people like me can live there or not.

I think that everybody want to live in a carbon-free and a zero-waste city. If I was asked to live there I certainly will because we are now in a situation that requires us that we do anything to help in reducing global warming. I would like to live there because it will be a well-known project when it will finish and I will be glad to live in a place that people see it as a place that is helping the environment. I think that I would like it also because I am concerned about global warming and I always try to find ways to help reducing it. Another reason is that my children will be born in the city and they will be living in a clean environment and they will learn how to live in a consuming way.

In conclusion, I am waiting for the project to be done to be Abu Dhabi a cool city and to make the whole world know about it.

One planet living

Zero Carbon:

Our atmosphere is changing because human uses products that emit huge amounts of CO2. Zero carbon means carbon-free.

Zero Waste:

Unwanted products usually generate disposal problems and it will dissipate the countries costly resources.

Sustainable Transport:

Various kinds of transportation contribute in different types of pollutions like air, noise pollutions and also overcrowding.

Local and sustainable materials:

Constructions and industrial resources increases environmental and community issues.

Local and sustainable food:

Food that is produced by industrial agriculture has many problems like diseases and also for the environment.


Sustainable water:

It is difficult to supply freshwater in these days for all the people. That is because of pollution.

Natural Habitats and Wildlife:

Natural resources are used wastefully and that cause in having more animals and plants endanger.

Culture and Heritage:

Globalization caused in losing the country traditions and identity.

Equity and fair trade:

Some people in industrial countries live in poverty while the some in developing countries cannot have there basic needs.

Health and Happiness:

If people are healthy and wealthy, we will all be satisfied.

Cool Cities in USA

1. Iowa: First municipal wind turbine.
2. Klamath Falls: geothermal heating system keeps the sidewalks clear and dry.
3. Seattle: reduce its own pollution by 60% by constructing green buildings and operating alternative fuel vehicles.
4. Houston Texas: By 2010 all vehicles will become hybrid.
5. Salt Lake City: save 32000 a year on its energy cost by installing 861 light emitting diode (LED) traffic signals.
6. Washington DC: replace 414 of its pollution diesel buses with cleaner burning, compressed natural gas buses.
7. Colombia Missouri: working to produce 10% of their electricity with clean energy like wind and solar power by 2015.
8. Twin falls Idaho- School increased their efficiency of energy which caused to reduce the cost by $3.2 million.
9 ST. Paul has built a biomass fired pouer plant for heating building.

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What should be done in Abu Dhabi to make people more aware of the situation?

People in Abu Dhabi could be more aware of this horrific phenomenon that is threatening the whole world by many things. It's all in the government hand. For example, they should put new laws that forbid any product that emits huge amounts of carbon. Another thing that the government can do is to make the media increase the numbers of advertisements and also put a lot of posters on the popular streets in Abu Dhabi.

Why is it called An Inconvenient Truth?

The movie is called An Inconvenient truth because people don’t want to believe that an individual's actions could effect the environment that bad. Not only the people but also governments, they think that they will lose a lot of money if they started working on cool cities and projects that will help the environment. I think that they are aware that they can change the world by doing these simple projects but they are afraid of the consequences.

My Carbon Footprint

Did you ever thought about what is the definition of carbon footprints? In simple words, it is the measure of the global amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted per person. I did the test of the individual footprint and my score was 3.33 which are bad.

There are many problems regarding this issue and the reason why my score was bad. First of all, it is in our culture that we eat meat, fish and chicken almost two times a day, which is a lot. This demand in meats will increase the pollution in the UAE because meat comes from other countries and pollution will come from transportation whether it from ships or planes. Another problem that I usually do which assists in pollution is that I don’t switch off the electricity after using it. For example, when I finish using my room I don’t switch off the lights and the bathrooms too. Finally and most important is smoking. I smoke a lot and this is definitely harmful for the environment and health.

There are many solutions that can stop or prevent global warming that I can do. One of the solutions is to reduce the amount of meat that we eat at home. Another solution is to save the electricity and not to keep it on when it is not in use. A final solution is to quit smoking. It will help a lot and I think that the government should do something to end this problem.

In conclusion, there are many problems that effect on the environment but we must work on its solutions to live in a better world and better atmosphere.

Reaction

In my opinion I think that the movie opened people's mind and made them think again about global warming. I agreed with Al gore in everything he talked about because he persuaded me with facts for example, the possibility of the returning of ice age with proofs and another point is the spreading of new deceases. The deceases that will occur as a consequence of disturbance of bird's migration system. The good thing is that Al Gore gave evidence in every point he discussed about.

An Inconvenient Truth

Global warming is a frequent word that is frightening the world these days. Al Gore discussed this issue in a movie which is called an inconvenient truth and he talked about what we will be facing in the next few years.

In the beginning of the movie, Al gore illustrated an abstract definition of global warming. He talked about what greenhouse gases can do and how can affect the atmosphere.

After that he gave some predictions about the next ice age and he provided evidence of his thought. Al Gore's idea is that the more the effect of global warming the more natural disaster there will be in Earth. He talked also about the consequence of the mixture of fresh water and sea water which will cause to break down the system of the sea currents and that will lead to another ice age.

This will affect the sea level and will water will drown the cities near the coasts. A way to end the movie, Al Gore gave hope to people with some solutions of global warming like using renewable energy and environmentally friend vehicles. He give confidence to people and governments to use there solutions and to do anything to change the effects that Al Gore's mentioned about global warming.

My Profile

My Profile

I am an emirati and I was born in 1987 in Abu Dhabi. Actually I am from Khorfakkan but my father works here. I have two brothers and two sisters and we all live in Abu Dhabi. I am a second year student and I am studying civil engineer at the ADMC. I will write about myself and about the important things that happened to me when I was a child till now. I hope that it will be interesting.

As a child, I went to school when I was five years old. It was Al Nahda international school, one of the best private schools in Abu Dhabi. I remember how was my first day at school, my mother took me and to class and tried to leave but I insisted that she stays with me inside the class. Every time she tried to leave I cried until the teacher carried me and told my mother to leave. At that time I hated the teacher and I thought that she was the enemy or something.

I adapted fast in school, actually I liked it especially when I made friends. The only thing that I dislike is when my mother wakes me up in the morning. I always felt lazy and sleepy because I didn’t go to bed on time and I admit it.

My childhood wasn’t that interesting; in fact it was a little bit boring. I go to school in the morning, come back in the afternoon then doing my homework after that watching TV.

I think that the interesting part of my life started as a teenager. That is because when I became 13 years old I told my parents that I like football a lot and I want to register in Al Jazeera sports club. My father didn’t mind at all because he was a player once in the national team. I played in the team and I was a very good player and I thought that one day I will be a football star until when I became 17 years old I had a serious injury. It ended everything. I felt very bad for my self and I was sad because the doctors of the club told me that the injury isn’t easy and they said that if I get injured again I may not play football again in my life.

I got used to it fast and I stopped playing football for almost a year. When I entered 12^th grade I didn’t think about football at all because it was my last year in school and I should get I high grade and that was my desire that year. I studied hard and did everything that I could to get 90 and above. The exams wasn’t that difficult for me, I put all me effort in the tests and I didn’t think about anything but the marks. We finished the tests and students were all waiting for the results. After two weeks the results were there and when I saw my grades and I was very amazed about it because it was my first time that I get 90 percent.

The Grade is high enough to make my father proud and he was proud. At that time, my father was so happy and he told me that he will give me anything I ask for as my gift. At that time, my cousins were planning to travel to Japan so, I told my father about it and he accepted.

After a long exhausting trip that took about 14 hours we finally made it to Tokyo. It was 3 am and it was raining, we ordered a taxi from the airport to take us to the hotel. While we were in the taxi, my cousin needed to smoke so he opened the window but the taxi driver said no and we were shocked because he said that it is prohibited to even throw the ashes of the cigarette on the street and this is amazing.

We made it to Park hotel, a wonderful hotel that is in a 25^th level in a very tall tower. The booking was done from the UAE that is why we didn’t wait at the lobby and it was quick and easy. We were so tired so we slept till the next morning. In the next day we decided to check out the surrounding thus when we left the building I really got stunned when I saw Tokyo and its people. It is really one of the best cities in the world and what made me shocked was the people. They were the most respectful people I ever seen in my life and that made me comfortable because I thought that Japanese are like the movies, they are always the bad guys therefore I thought that they are the same.

We found an Indian restaurant in the block which was just besides our building so we decided to have lunch. I realized that Indian food has always the same taste, it is like the restaurants we have here in the UAE but more deluxe. When we finished eating we took a walk for about 4 kilometers and we got far away from the hotel. We agreed that when we feel that we want to go back we will simply get a taxi

Blood diamond (2006)

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The true price of diamond

Diamonds are the most precious stones in the world. Have you ever thought of how they get from the earth to onto your fingers? I will now write about the importance of diamonds and the locations of where they do there trading.

Mining companies work really hard to find those diamonds. One of the biggest diamond mining companies in the world is De Beers Company. They usually do there mining in South Africa. This company controls 80% of the world's rough diamonds trade also De Beers kept the price of these precious rocks high by controlling over 80% of the world's supply.

For your knowledge, diamonds had been discovered many centuries before. The city that has been a diamond trade for 600 years is called Antwerp. On the other hand, the people who were associated with the diamond trade in this city are Indians. The polishers and the cutters in the Antwerp are less now, about 1500. 80% of the world's rough diamonds pass through the city and 90% of them are cut and polished in India. Indian workers get paid 40 cent per gem for each cut and polished gem.

Nowadays, Dubai's reputation has a growing as a diamond hub. The diamond business in Dubai worth about ₤ 1 billion.

In conclusion, as you can see in what I have written above, diamonds are very wanted and it is one of the most expensive rocks in the world. Even pop stars are very interested in it like 50 cent.