Dear Eco-Gen friends,

Hope you are faring well all around the world. Just wanted to share with you my exciting experience at the EEG?s 13^th Student Workshop 2013. The well-chosen topic for the same was ?Hand in Hand towards Sustainability?.

The workshop started with a presentation on water: the liquid of life. The presentation commenced with a quote of Benjamin Franklin: ?When the well is dry, we get to know the value of water?

UAE was labelled as the water paradox as there is the least rainfall but the most water consumption in the UAE. There are three sources of water in the UAE:

1.       Ground Water

2.        Desalinated Water

3.       Treated  Sewage water

Due to the shortage of water in the UAE, UAE has banned the export of Ground water.

Did You Know?

It takes:

1.       16,000 l to produce 1 kg of beef

2.       2,700 l to produce 1 t-shirt

3.       1,500 l to produce 1 kg of cane sugar

4.       1,350 l to produce 1 kg of wheat

5.       140 l to produce 1 kg cup of coffee.

For more info, log on to www.waterfootprint.org

Then they showed us video on the situation of water in the gulf and how we can overcome the problem of improper wastewater disposal.

Then Mr. Kenneth Neil showed us a presentation on E-Waste in the UAE highlighting the fact that the company that he was representing, Sims Metal Management recycled all types of E-Waste and that a mobile phone was better recycled than just kept lying gathering dust at our homes.

The poster making activity on the topic-?Clean Up UAE? and the debate on ?Recycling is the best way forward to combat environmental challenges.?

P.S- I was for the topic J

There was also a video on the recycling of aluminium titled, ?If I can, you CAN? which told us that cans are the most easily recyclable material there is.

Then finally, we were showed the live process of how to recycle a tetra pak carton to form your own homemade recycled paper using only a blender, wire mesh and gloves.

All in all, it was an amazing workshop and side by side a great learning experience for all of us.

Best Regards,

Rohan Kapur

UAE