Dr.Sulaiman AL Jassim "The Global Environmental Salon is an initiative demonstrates the importance that educational establishments give to environmental awareness"

HE Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Bin Rashed ALNuaimi "Social cooperation is important to preserve future generations".

Zayed University is organizing the "Global Environmental Salon" under the banner of "Consume Wisely" on 10.10.2010 at Zayed University, Dubai, UAE. The event is organized by the Zayed Environmental Impact Network (ZEIN) in collaboration with HE Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Bin Rashed ALNuaimi and 350.org. It is sponsored by Abela, Watani, and Emirates Airline. The event follows on from the successful environmental sustainability exhibition organized by ZEIN in May 2010. The event is attracting a number of speakers from inside the UAE and from abroad as well as University Professors and interested parties in the environment. This has been revealed at the press conference held at Zayed University and attended by HE Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Bin Rashed ALNuaimi, Dr.Sulaiman ALJassim Vice President of Zayed University and administration staff from the University.

10/10/10 is "A Day to Celebrate Climate Solutions", and is part of an international grassroots campaign that aims to mobilize a global climate movement united by a common call to action. Dr Sulaiman ALJassim said that organizing this event demonstrates the importance that educational establishments give to environmental awareness, and reflects the new perspectives of students and the futuristic views of University professors in dealing with environmental challenges, which have been hitting the headlines in recent years. These include floods, hurricanes. Dr ALJassim also added that this event will add a new innovation to ways we deal with environmental responsibility.  He also added that environmental responsibility is a joint community effort and not just an individual one.

H.E Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Bin Rashed ALNuaimi has praised the efforts of Zayed University in organizing such events. He also praised ZEIN and its efforts in collaborating with his team. He added "I hope this event will bring solutions to climate change". He also said "We hope this event this reduce the carbon emissions which are already very high". The Present levels are very high and can threaten life on earth. We therefore need to bring this down to 350 parts per million. HE Sheikh ALNuaimi also praised the idea of the competition that the organizing committee introduced regarding environmental films and also indicated about the importance that educational establishments can play in this field. Let us make our country more beautiful, greener and safe. Our planet's health relies on our energy today.  

Dr.Usama ALAlami, Associate Professor in Health Sciences and the organizer of the event and Chair of ZEIN said "we are very excited to launch such an international event, and hope to make a positive impact on reducing the carbon footprint of the UAE. This event will bring practical solutions to reducing the carbon footprint and usage of water". ALAlami also said "UAE is amongst the highest in Ecological footprints in the world. UAE shelters nearly 180 Nationalities - 83.5% of Expats and16.5% of Local Emirati forms the populace of UAE. No Government can alone tackle these issues unless each one of us acts responsibly".

Environmental leaders attending this conference include HE Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Bin Rashed ALNuaimi will discuss the impact of the increasing carbon dioxide levels on climatic change. Mr. Kenneth Volk, head of outreach programmes as Masdar will discuss the need for an educated citizenry to understand environmental and energy issues, what can be done in UAE primary and secondary schools to foster a "people-powered movement', future engineers and creative problem-solvers, activities currently being offered by Masdar's Outreach Program in primary and secondary schools, including:

                a.            Students building solar collectors

                b.            Model wind turbines

                c.             Recycling and reducing efforts

                d.            Presentations about energy and the environment

Dr.Joseph Bularzik, environmental health professor from Abu Dhabi University will discuss real solutions to reduction of carbon footprint.  Dr.Wafi Dawood, Chairman of Dubai Quality Group will be amongst the keynote speakers discussion the Emirates Energy Award. Meike Pieters from Belgium will discuss 'The impact of our daily food habits on the environment' How changing diet not only improves health, but also saves our planet, while leading environmentalist such as Roz Savage and Robert Swan have sent a DVD recording of their inspirational journeys as the first person to sail across the atlantic ocean on a plastic bottles boat and the first person to walk both the north and south pole respectively. ZEIN did not want to bring many international keynote speakers live to the event in order to bring hr carbon footprint of the event down.

Companies dealing with environmentally friendly products have been invited to attend and will conduct a 10 minute workshop on how their products reduce the carbon footprint. Fu Gu Energy will talk about Energy Efficiency retrofit projects. DEWA fronted by Mr. Abdulla ALQassab will conduct a green mind-storming session, while Solatube is sure to inspire with their workshop on using the sun and turning off the lights. In recognizing the role of ZEIN in encouraging young Emirati talent, Mr.Mohammed ALAawadi, a young entrepreneur will present his latest invention on the use of solar energy and human waste to produce electricity.

The day will end with the announcement of the competition winner, who will be invited to present their short video on   how their day to day habits can reduce their carbon footprint.

ZEIN would like to thank both Abela and Watani and Emirates Airline for their kind and generous sponsorship of the event.