Dubai's "The World"

This is an interesting time of transition for us as we move towards greater and greater acceptance of the fact that the planet is no longer so pleased with us, and the inevitable global spanking we're going to receive has already begun. I truly believe (and I think there are many with me on this) that a complete restructuring of the ways in which we interact with our environment is absolutely necessary right now.

"The World" off the coast of Dubai is a real estate development of an amazing magnitude; it's made up of 300 artificial islands that together form the shape of the world map. The developers have taken open water, piled a bunch of rock and sand on top of each other until land stands above the water, and then they reinforce the perimeters. The rhetorical games Nakheel, the project's developer, is playing on the topic of environmental impact are almost funny, claiming that they are in fact helping the marine life of the area. More space for coral reefs to develop? What is going to happen to all these new reefs when the islands and all their waterfront propery are populated by the world's richest people? An article in The Economist poses a great questions:

And focusing on what goes on under the water risks ignor[ing] a bigger question:
where is all the fresh water for this paradise coming from? Dubai is famous for a number of things; not among them is a plentiful supply of water. So where do they get water for the swimming pools, spas, gardens, dishwashers and hotel laundries? Most of it comes from desalination plants, which expend a lot of energy and release plenty of carbon dioxide.

Brilliant. It's wonderful that there are now more people choosing the bike over the car, and buying their food more consciously. But, severe ecological negligence like The World project must stop. Nakheel (and those who benefit from them) is like an ostrich with its head in the sand. With government/scientific reports popping up everyday warning of impending global water shortages, building another island oasis off the coast of the Arabian Desert is the last thing we need to be doing.