Monday, June 29, 2009

Oxygen? We don't need no stinkin OXYGEN!

I had a meeting in Sulaibiya today. The municipality is chopping down trees there also.

Hey - let's make Kuwait a place where our children won't be able to breathe! Reduce oxygen because we don't need it anyways. We have industrial pollutants that will be just fine. We don't need to think coherently or increase brain activity .... who cares?

While Kuwait chops down trees and oxygen-producing foliage of various types, other countries take a different approach to sustainability...


"(CNN) -- Walk past the southern face of the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, and you will be greeted by a massive wall of brilliant green foliage -- an 8,600 square feet plant installation by the designer Patrick Blanc, featuring more than 170 different species.

One of Patrick Blanc's green walls on the Hotel du Department in Hauts-de-Seine, France.

The mass of leaves and flowers seems to be swallowing the building -- and provides a proud symbol of resurgent nature in this busy, downtown district.

The amazing spectacle is one of the largest in a growing number of "plant walls" or "
vertical gardens" that are taking root across the world, as architects search for environmentally friendly ways to create beautiful buildings.
Some visionaries even believe that soon we could be harvesting our food from the places where we live and work.

Architect Ken Yeang is the world's leading green skyscraper architect and a passionate advocate of what is already being called "vegitecture". (continued)..."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kuwait is a desert. Most trees are an invasive species, and a lot of water and money is required to sustain them.

Kuwait should plant indigenous species, like desert shrubs, cactuses and palm trees, that would survive without much intervention.

This could look quite good. Here is an example: http://www.dbg.org/

Desert Girl said...

ANYthing would be good to plant - rather than tearing up existing plants that have been in the ground - many without water as they are indigenous to the area/region. Dubai has a green policy. Kuwait has a brown policy.

Cactus doesn't do well in Kuwait.

Anonymous said...

Don't compare Kuwait to Dubai. It is much easier to grow plants in Dubai, because it is extremely humid all year round. Kuwait is very dry, and most of what is planted here is on life support, requiring human intervention.

So no, not everything is good to plant here. And a cactus here would do much better than any leafy tree.

Desert Girl said...

Be my guest. Plant a cactus. See what happens. They have been planted in Kuwait before and they are not an indigenous species and will nto survive.

Green and leafy create oxygen.

There are PLENTY of varieties of trees which are not only indigenous to KUWAIT, but that can grow here.

Life support - yes, many are, but drive out to Jahra (for example) and see how many are thriving well on their own.

Anonymous said...

The trees that has been planted in Kuwait which you can see along the streets was an experiment about 9 yrs ago. These trees called Corno Corpus are species imported from South Africa. They found out that these kind of trees grow greener and faster during summer. So this fits to the Middle East setting specifcally Kuwait. We've seen them everywhere and I also wondered why the Kuwaiti government is trying to cut them down. I am an environmental advocate and I even encouraged my previous company to plant more of these trees in our vicinity.

I dont understand what is going in the minds of these people, they planted trees and then they cut them down, where is the logic? Aren't they happy to see the trees in full bloom with it's leafy arms praying to the Almighty for rain! Let's plant more trees!

Anonymous said...

I am a mother of three who spends most my time keeping my little spec of a garden here in Kuwait GREEN! Now the Municipality have announced a law to remove all our hedges that filter the rubbish, provide a safe area for children to play and release oxygen!!! Even for those of us who have complied with laws to provide walk paths, moved our corners in 3 meters, no permanent structures, keep our hedges tightly trimmed and not too high, etc.. I beg the Municipality... please be reasonable! I can't believe we all have to pay for a few criminals who hide weapons and explosives behind those hedges?! This is completely outrageous! The area in our neighborhood that was supposed to be a park for the children just became another mosque. With all due respect, we have not one park in the entire neighborhood. We need our hedged gardens! Kids are already spending too much time in front of the monitors where they see plenty of violence and get no exercise. We can't even swim in the sea anymore thanks to the raw sewage problem. Come on Kuwait! Let's get our priorities straight and stop picking on citizens who are gasping for a little fresh air!

We all may as well stop using oil if you want to talk resources. At least these trees release oxygen to counteract, not pollution!

Finally, if you see the Kuwait desert that has no sheep ripping it's indigenous plants from the roots so they never grow back, it is green! It looks like different shades of green coral under the sea! It's stunning, and sadly going fast...thanks to the sheep introduced a number of years ago! And if it's of any interest, camels don't pull the plants from the roots!