story of stuff

The foundation is interested in sustainable production and consumption. All stuff go through some stages including extraction ,production , distribution ,consumption and disposal. These stages are together called the material economy. It would be a very challenging task to track a product to find out where it comes and where it goes; maybe from ten to twelve years . This system is intricate and is in crisis as it is affected by the traditions , cultures , etc. In this system , people play a very important role in each and every stage. For example , the government should take care of others. Normal people also make the largest number of population , so their co-operation would be very positive on the whole society. Natural resources are badly exploited that they would run out. In the past two decades , one third of the trees were used up so fast that the planet's ability to provide more plants to people. For example , in the US  “four percent of the original natural resources are left”(Story of stuff,2007). Populations are using up more than their shares in the natural resources. In other words , if people all over the earth consumed the same as U.S citizens do , the world population would need from three to five planets to provide them with enough natural resources. This is a crisis because people in the developed countries consume the share of people in the poor countries. in the Amazoon , “ 2000 trees are cut down every minute”(Story of stuff,2007).

The process of production adds more to the crisis as a lot of energy and fuel is used to make the stuff people use every day. Chemicals also are used “about 100,000 synthetic chemicals are used that pollute the air”(Story of stuff,2007). These release toxic substances that harm the environment and people's health. Babies nowadays are getting toxics even from the breasts of their mothers because toxics have even badly affected the genes of people. This is an extreme violation because these babies have the right to be well fed. In factories , toxics are also used into the products and are released into air during the process of manufacturing. With a lot of people moving everyday to cities and slums and join work that release more toxics into the environment. in the U.S , “4000,000,000 toxic chemicals are released into toxics every year”(Story of stuff,2007). In a way to solve the problem of pollution , the U.S moves factories overseas and unfortunately this pollutes other lands. However, the wind brings this pollution back to the U.S. The process of distribution also adds to problem of toxic pollution. Products made in other countries are moved from one country to another and this uses up a lot of petrol that increases the problem of pollution. People in poor countries are those who pay for the products because their natural resources are consumed and their air is polluted. Future kids will suffer a lot of problems.

Nowadays , the highest priority is to protect people as everyone is shopping and shopping and this increases consumption and affects people. The solution is to maintain sustainability in the whole world in order to preserve the natural resources and minimize the levels of pollution released into the environment.   

The rating consumerism in the UAE is increasing in this time because the UAE isn’t a production country because its economy depend on the oil, all of that because the UAE age still 40 years old, its young age for a country to be a production country, also the UAE imports a lot of stuff from foreign countries, the UAE is planning to be a production country in the future and the consumerism rating will decrease everyday after build the factories in our country.

References

Annie, L. (n.d.).  The Story of Stuff Project.  The Story of Stuff Project. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.storyofstuff.org/

Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff - YouTube  . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.  . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

The Story of Stuff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_of_Stuff

Recycling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

Urban sprawl in the UAE.

The UAE has a special landscape that is composed mainly of desert land , hills ,plains , mountains and few valleys. It also overlooks huge areas of water. The landscape of the UAE has changed remarkably since the discovery of oil and the rapid development in all aspects of life. The economic development led to the construction of more modern buildings and high skyscrapers. The main emirates began to extend their urban sprawl and more new cities have been added. The Urban Sprawl nowadays is quite different from that of the past. Moreover , in the future urban sprawl is expected to be quite different. Urban sprawl in the UAE witnessed remarkable change from past to the present and it will also change in the future.

All over the world, the 20th century was called the era of urbanization. Due to the sharp rise in the population , the urban sprawl began to be affected. The UAE has always witnessed urban sprawl in the past. In the UAE , “The number of population in the UAE rose sharply from 1.04 million to 4.041 million during the period from 1980 to 2003” ( World Architecture
COMMUNITY, 2011). All the cities of the Gulf have been expanding at an unexpected speed.

At present , The United Arab Emirates is marked by the extraordinary changes brought about by urbanization. More than 80 % of the populations in the UAE dwell in towns.  The rate of urbanization is one of the highest in the world compared with other developing countries. All the towns in the UAE witnessed Urban explosions , not only the major cities like Dubai , Abu Dhabi or Sharjah , but also  the medium-sized towns such as Ajman , Ras Al Khaima and Fujairah witnessed rapid development in the process of urbanization. Nowadays, Dubai has expanded urban sprawl horizontally by constructing cities like Palm Island and vertically by constructing towering skyscrapers.

In the future , the UAE will witness more urban sprawl because it has been establishing a lot of new cities on the outskirts of the existing cities. As the population of the UAE rises , the number of cities will go on. Moreover , the economic boost that the UAE witnesses will contribute positively to the development of more new cities. The use of technology and the plentiful resources in the UAE will also accelerate the Urban sprawl.

 Finally , there are several factors that lead to the Urban sprawl in the UAE. One of these factors is the sharp rise of the population in the UAE. Another factor is the global socio-economic forces which make the spatial and environmental constraints interact in order to generate the Urban sprawl that is nowadays common in the UAE. Moreover , the construction of the new roads that linked the cities together accelerated urban sprawl. These roads have provided the UAE people with great advantages as people who preferred living far away from cities could easily get access to cities using this network of roads. Other factors that affected the Urban sprawl are the means of transport , the choice of the place of residence , the cost of land , how attractive the urban locations are.

References:

http://www.worldarchitecture.org/all-countries/comment.asp?comments=no&up=5589 ( past )

Katodrytis, G. (n.d.). George Katodrytis: Metropolitan Dubai and the Rise of Architectural Fantasy | RUT Radical Urban Theory. Radical Urban Theory // writings on the modern urban condition. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.radicalurbantheory.com/misc/dubai.html (present)

   Plan Abu Dhabi 2030  : Abu Dhabi Metro. (n.d.).  Abu Dhabi Metro. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from  http://abu-dhabi-metro.com/abu-dhabi/plan-abu-dhabi-2030

 ( future)

Reflection

 

In this essay I will discuss and explain about my academic writing course wish I taken in this semester.  At the beginning of this semester I interface a lot of difficulties about how to write articles. My teacher helped me step by step to be in a good way. He gives me a lot of suggestions to get new skills and help me to improve this skill. For example, he gives me many websites, articles and new vocabulary, all this help me significantly at citations it called “Bibme.org”. After the suggestions and exercises my teacher said the article must be around 500 to 600. I really surprised and I felt it difficult. I have worked hard and I used the advice and suggestions which my teacher gives to me. I asked my teacher about the websites which helped me to do my article in correct way. I do all this to show my teacher what I benefited from this course.

 

 

After the exercises my teacher gives us chance to write article about anything we liked. I put more than one topic, and then I chose the topic which I fell interesting to do it. I chose the article about urban_sprawl. When I work at this article step by step and I asked my teacher when I interface a difficulties, he helped me and give me useful website. I worked in this article by myself and I surprised of much new information and I take new words. I interesting when I work alone and I depended on myself.