Ok, well, I had not idea at all and probably clicked on the wrong country(Switzerland) because there was no UAE and I - isn't that silly - clicked on the country I felt culturally closest (the effect was that they asked what I am heating with in winter when all we need in Dubai is air-conditioning, so I used the data from our German house but should have probably turned it in my head to reflect amount of energy used to create a pleasant temperature - which would have been lots more)! Then again Boyden was stressing human culture as one of the culprits for our miserable situation so maybe this is not me being silly but a somewhat round-the-corner proof of a cultural misadaptation?
As a result I use more than I should, not suprised really. In fact, without the German house data (which is quite ecological) it would have been much much worse. People in Dubai drive big SUV's (me too) because fuel is cheap. The environment plays no role. Air-conditioning runs everywhere to the point that - picture that - I need to take a cardigan the malls and restaurant as I would otherwise feel too cold.
Where I was pleased was on the consumption front. I am a bit of an anti-consumer and buy few new items. My ecological food footprint is completely out of measure as literally everything has to be imported. I also fly back to Europe several times a year but this is emotionally important. I can actually not wait to move back there and now realise that beyond spiritual, emotional and value reaons, I now have an ecological reason for doing so, too
Can I change anything ? Yes, buy (even) more local products. This would involve a change in meals types but not too much. I should fly less which will be addressed once we move.
I felt that Boyden pointing out that even with total reduction of energy use by all persons, we would still only reduce the impact by 0.36% makes me feel that rather than reducing a few bits here a bigger impact and possibly better investment of my time would be to spread awareness and lobby for government action.
What inspired me about Boyden's article is that the community living he describes as sustainable is exactly the type of life I am aspiring to for emotional reasons (and I think many other people are heading that way too). So maybe the aim can be reached from two angles: a) responsible living to preserve our planet (more ratio/head driven until it's too late) and b) emotional reasons for creating more fulfilling relationships/quality of life (emotion/heart driven). We may need a few celebrities promoting the new lifestyle to get the masses to copy ?
