Soapbox Post

My job as a professor on this study abroad trip is to help students better understand how to build a sustainable world.  I am afraid that I am struggling with this mission.  Why you might ask?  Well I think it is because most sustainable solutions tend to be measured, carefully planned and at least somewhat ascetic.  Dubai, on the other hand, errs on the side of extravagance rather than rationality.  And while I find some things here to be a bit over the top, my contemplative academic brain is sometimes overwhelmed by awesomeness.

Last night, I rode a ski lift up to the top of a 400-meter indoor ski run.  As I looked down at acres of manmade snow, I thought about the amount of water and energy required to keep such an operation running in a climate that can reach well over 120 degrees.  There’s a prominently placed sign at the halfway point that proudly exclaims “Shell is helping us keep the environment clean.”  I laughed trying to figure out how any of this giant structure that can be seen towering over the Mall of the Emirates can have anything to do with a clean environment.  Then I thought… I can’t believe I’m about to ski in a desert.  This is awesome!

Ski Dubai is only the tip of the iceberg.  Dubai poses this conundrum to the environmentally conscious again and again.  If you have ever enjoyed the culture, architecture or excitement of a city, Dubai will give you a reason to forget about your environmental concerns, at least for a little while. 

What inspires awe may change from person to person.  For some, it might be the Burj Khalifa, which stretches 828 meters (over half a mile for those not metrically inclined) into the sky. As the world’s tallest building, it can be seen from all over the city, usually seeming as a mirage through the hazy sky.  Perhaps it might be the dancing fountain that graces the base of the Burj Khalifa.  In typical Dubai fashion, it is three times the size of the famed (and enormous) Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas.  Maybe you’ll be swayed by the Palm Jumeirah… an artificial island over 5 kilometers across and 5 kilometers wide that is stacked full of condos, hotels, villas, and miles and miles of new beaches.  Maybe you’ll be inspired by Aquaventure, a water park at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah.  Its “leap of faith” ride starts at the top of a 30-meter-tall ziggurat.  You then slide down a 60-meter slide at a very steep angle.  Just as you level off, the walls of the slide form a transparent tube that allows you to shoot through an enormous tank filled with five different varieties of shark.

For me today, I think it was experiencing the contrasts of a mere fifty years. We toured Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum’s house, the residence of the Sheikh until the late 1950s.  The house was enormous for its time.  It had thirty or so rooms (although many are the size of a modern American closet) and thirty to forty foot tall wind towers to keep the hot summer days a bit cooler.  Soon after touring this charming house, however, I drove down Sheikh Zayed Road, the main thoroughfare south to Abu Dhabi.  Fifteen years ago, it gave you a view of desert sands. Today, it is lined with towering skyscrapers of all kinds.  They were designed to outdo anything that came before.  Do you have fond memories of the beautiful art deco Chrysler building in New York City?  Dubai has built two of them side by side.  Were you jarred into a smile the first time you saw the Swiss RE building (or the gherkin) in London?  Dubai built two of those as well.  At points in Sheikh Zayed Road you are in a glass and steel canyon deeper and much steeper than the Grand Canyon.  Dubai is a testament to the truly amazing accomplishments that can be created by imagination, courage and a seemingly endless supply of money.  It has taken my breath away over and over again.  And when it does, I at least momentarily forget to consider the potential downsides.

I think my response to Dubai might be a barometer for the difficulty of a sustainable future.  At least until it is clearly an imminent life or death situation, sustainability has to compete with awesomeness.  That’s a tough road to travel.  I think we have the ability to make sustainability fashionable.  This is certainly happening in the United States and there’s an increasing push for such a change here in Dubai.  Next week, we’ll meet with an architecture firm that builds LEED certified buildings in the U.A.E.  But sustainability will still have to compete with awesomeness, and the feeling of awe is a very motivating emotion.