Education key to implementation

There are different opinions on carbon emissions and global warming. There are people who say that carbon dioxide is leading to global warming but there are others who are against it. However, there is a lot more research suggesting that carbon dioxide emitted by industries is leading to global warming and that carbon emissions are one big factor in climate change.

However, it is a global problem not only because of global warming fears but also because of pollution. If you think of carbon dioxide as a pollutant in the air, you have to reduce it. It could be to avoid global warming or another problem in the future that we are not aware of.

Whenever you want to reduce pollutants in the air you have to achieve several things. Firstly, increase awareness of the problem. If you educate people that means you have convinced the individual that individual is part of a business or the government and if he or she implements the changes, it will make a difference.

But I need to know who I am talking to.

As an environmental scientist, you want to protect the environment and the resources available and through that you want to buy a healthy future for the people and also the organisms that will live in it.

As an economist, you want to use these resources well and build a good economy – what we call sustainable development. Both of them have to find a common ground. If I want the businesses to work better, I need to educate them while at the same time invest in innovation to reduce pollutants. Look for solutions; look for better methods to reduce waste production and treatment.

People are open to discussion and open to changing and accepting new ideas. It is how you approach those people and provide solutions that will matters.

- The reader is an environmental science professor working in Sharjah