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Comment by mrpopo | Hacker News Reader

This number assumes UAE's population of 9~10 million and includes (I think) the immigrant population.

I am not sure what you consider "not very worrying", as I don't think that the 5 million Indians and Pakistanis living in the UAE are responsible for much of the carbon footprint of the country. So for the Emiratis and Western expats, we should consider their per capita footprint to be at least double the average.

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So much of the carbon footprint of Dubai is air conditioning and water from desalination. Even the immigrant workforce will have a considerable carbon footprint.

1) I am not sure how many of the low paid workers even get A/C but I am pretty sure that those who do require much less energy to cool down their dormitory room than the fancy dubai palaces, open air A/C streets and stadiums, empty malls, etc. It's appalling that you would even compare the two.

2) Israel uses desalination and their carbon footprint is 3 times lower.

A lot of the immigrant workforce in Dubai uses that same lavishly air-conditioned infrastructure as anyone else. They use the bus system and so sit inside the air-conditioned bus shelters. They use what free time they have to visit the malls, too. And so many of the Indian-subcontinent restaurants and markets in Dubai and Sharjah exist purely to serve fellow Indian-subcontinent people, and those are air-conditioned, too.

Yes, Israel uses desalination and has a low carbon footprint, but they also have leadership that has historically been more concerned with water conservation.

I've seen many videos about migrant workers in Middle East, and I highly doubt that they have money to spend in malls or have proper living conditions. E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0EsOFDA6uM#t=3m24s (though this video is from Qatar, there are similar from Dubai)

You have "seen videos", but have you ever actually been to Dubai or Sharjah? The lowest tier of workers toiling in squalid living conditions is not the entirety of Indian-subcontinent workers in the UAE. For decades the Emirates have had a huge population of Indian-subcontinent (and Filipino, and Eastern European) migrant workers who work all the service-economy jobs so that the local Emiratis don't have to, and yes, these workers like the malls, too. Even if they don’t have so much money to spend in malls, malls are still the place that anyone goes to have a stroll around on a day off, because as air-conditioned spaces they serve as the local parks and squares.

Please, WHAT does Israel have to with this?

It's another rich country in a hot climate? It's a pretty apt comparison.

No need to assume that any mention of Israel is a hot headed take on the Israel-Palestine situation.

I know (and agree on the comparison bit), it's just that the whole course of logic just felt so sentimental and incoherent. Very difficult to reason with such ... reasoning, because arguments just fly in and out without warning. Not saying he was implying anything about Palestine.

> as I don't think that the 5 million Indians and Pakistanis living in the UAE are responsible for much of the carbon footprint of the country. So for the Emiratis and Western expats, we should consider their per capita footprint to be at least double the average.

While I acknowledge your sentiment, making these kinds of arguments is not acceptable. Please base your conclusions on facts or at least coherent, easy to follow logic. This will be better for you as well as your point will come across more easily.

Right now it just sounds like a lot of prejudice from someone who watched a lot of (quite sad) documentaries but actually has never been there in person nor is very well-versed in its politics and/or statistics.

I'm not the OP, but I really think you are taking a very negative approach to their comment, and you come off like you are accusing them of something.

It is a fact that there are a lot of low-paid migrant workers from India and Pakistan in Dubai, and it's a fact that many live in dormitories, and it's a fact that Dubai and the Emirates have a very dubious record on migrant worker rights, and indeed on human rights in general.

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