UAE | Environment
Technology 'will not save us from climate change'
While the construction industry is responsible for gobbling up an enormous amount of the planet's resources, changes need to be made at all levels if the human race is to survive global warming.
- By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:10 May 29, 2008
Dubai: Technology will not be able to save the human race from one of the biggest challenges it has ever had to face - climate change, said a leading architect.
While the construction industry is responsible for gobbling up an enormous amount of the planet's resources, changes need to be made at all levels if the human race is to survive global warming.
Lee Morris, Design Director of WS Atkins & Partners Overseas and currently lead designer on the Trump International Hotel and Tower and the QE2 Hotel Terminal Development at the centre of The Palm Jumeirah, gave a presentation as part of the Emirates Environment Group's monthly eco-lecture on Tuesday.
Climate change is one of the most challenging things humankind has had to face, said Morris, and we are getting close to the tipping point.
"Runaway temperatures will happen and no matter how much technology we throw at it we won't be able to stop it," he said.
While the word "sustainability" was not in the dictionary ten years ago, building and construction will not stop but measures need to change, he said.
Sixty per cent of all resources consumed across the planet are used in construction.
"Dubai is a sudden city. Is there such a thing as sustainable development or is it stable retreat? How can you justify golf courses in the desert? As expatriates we expect all these things but need to change."
According to Morris the impact of climate change and a subsequent rise in sea levels could affect developments currently going on offshore in the UAE.
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