What can we do?

When issues relating to global warming are discussed it is important to bear in mind that no matter how often it is discussed, how ardently it is identified with, or how fanatically it is supported it all comes down to individual action. What can we do as individuals, living here in Abu Dhabi, do to contribute to the international efforts directed towards reducing the impact of human activity on the environment? To begin with there are certain activities that each of us as individuals can perform, and there are other activities that are most effective when performed by a group of individuals or by some governing body. Looking from my perspective as a student here are some of the things that I can do:

Drive a more fuel efficient car
Monitor my personal water usage
Monitor the time I spend involved in activities that consume electrical energy (playing on the computer, watching TV, reading at night)
Monitor how strictly I adhere to waste disposal rules
Monitor the amount of time per day I spend driving my car

What I want to say is that by monitoring the degrees to which these activities are carried out I will be making myself aware of the impact that I have on the environment. Once this awareness has been reached I will subconsciously begin to enact countermeasures that will in some way reduce the polluting effects of the aforesaid activities. For example a couple of minutes ago I was typing this sentence with my room light turned on. Now I have turned it off, I understand that some critics might ridicule my behavior but I cannot have a clear conscience if I continue to type this report with my room lights on. The room lights are an unnecessary luxury when I am typing, and furthermore I am unconcerned about the ill-effects of the light from the computer screen because I have a fine mesh frame that will protect my eyes from the glare. Also when I go to have a shower tonight I will turn the shower on just for a long enough time to wet my skin, after which I will turn it off and lather myself with a bar of soap, then I will shampoo my already wet hair. I will perform all the basic cleansing activities with the shower turned on once for barely 10 seconds. After I am all covered in soap I will turn the shower on again for a little over 10 seconds during which I will rinse all the soap away. In total I would have used the shower for just over 30 seconds. The whole bathing activity should not last for more than 3 minutes. I have learned to do this since I was 13 years old, and not because of environmental reasons, but because this was the rule that all students adhered to in my old boarding school in the UK. Now as I grow older I begin to see the wisdom in the dictums that were hammered into my skull when I was a child. There are many things that can be done in the home to reduce the “carbon footprint” regardless of the bleating of cynics who claim that all such behavior is futile since no one would be mad enough or ardent enough to carry them out. I will behave in this way; the “way of reduction,” to give it a nice dramatic slant, not because I know or care what others are doing at this time but because I have already linked my activities and behavior with the well being of the future progeny of the human race on this planet. Before I will be accused of obsessive enthusiasm I want to compound this accusation by going one step further; I believe that even if it is too late to do anything about the deterioration of the environment of our planet we can still reduce our “carbon footprints” as individuals and this reduction will, in some unforeseen way, mitigate the ill-effects of our previous slovenly and compulsive behavior. This is not the end of it; just because I will use less electricity, less water, and less fuel it does not mean that I can go to my bed with a clear conscience, a right sorry hypocrite I would be if I did, nay; there is still more to come. There are people to talk to; people with similar views and similar opinions and thus the dissimulation of ideas will spread until more and more people are woken up by the pungent and acrid stench issuing forth from the foul truth that stares humankind in the face every second of the day; our planet is dying. Whatever environmental monitoring agencies exist here in the city must be given more leeway in enacting their recommendations pertaining to the well being of the local environment. There is a lot of wasted energy, some of which is quite obvious, and others which are of a more subtle nature but in general the city of Abu Dhabi is a lot cleaner and less polluted than some of the other cities that I have visited in Europe and the United States. Yet there is still more to be done, the anti-littering laws must be strictly enforced and some sort of vehicle occupancy rules could be introduced. For example from twelve noon to around four in the afternoon there should be no private transport vehicles permitted on the city streets, without a hefty fine, if it is observed that the aforesaid vehicle contains less than three persons. Or another law can be passed to the effect that all cars with a certain category of license plate are legally operable only on three specified days of the week. The other three days of the week will be reserved for cars that bear another type of license plate, and on the seventh day of the week all cars will be rendered legally operable. However such laws would mean the upgrading of public transport in terms of both quality and efficiency. There are many more ideas that can be discussed but they will remain in the shade unless groups of people who are concerned about the well being of our environment get together and discuss these issues forthrightly. We cannot go back to the way of life that was suffered by our ancestors in the dark ages but we can do things that will reduce the already prolific impact that our activities have on the environment in general and on the phenomenon of global warming in particular.