Earth Day 2012 is all about committing One Billion Acts of Green !  As the Regional Ambassador for the Middle East , it was my solemn duty to fulfill this pledge in as many ways as possible --- and I am happy to share on this portal that I performed ONE DOZEN ACTS of GREEN to celebrate Earth Day.

Dubai is famous all over the world for its beautiful beaches . More than 20 million tourists visit Dubai each year and its beaches are a magnet for residents and tourists alike . Sadly , with so much traffic , our beaches get dirty. And do you know what is the most disgusting litter – CIGARETTE BUTTS !!! Even though there are trash cans located conveniently everywhere , some careless people simply stub out their cigarettes in the sand . The tobacco rots in the heat and not only poisons the soil but it also makes the beach an unhealthy place for children to play in .

I am an active member of an International volunteer group and together we decided to clean up Dubai's famous Jumeirah beach on the weekend leading up to Earth Day . I proudly wore my TUNZA Ecogeneration T-Shirt for the event . 60 volunteers showed up at 6 am in the morning on a weekend as the sun gets really hot as the day progresses.  After a briefing session , we got down to our task . Each of us wore gloves and had a mug in our hand to collect the stubs . For the next one hour we combed the beach and our mugs kept getting full . There were so many stubs buried in the sand and we worked, bent down on all fours , to scrape the butts out of the sand . It was back breaking work but it was so much fun .  We cleaned the beach in one hour flat . Can you guess how many stubs we collected?               

'25,230'