"Dubai Has Endless Sun But No Solar Panels"

The world's tallest building opened for business yesterday. It is really tall. Twice the height of the Empire State Building. It dwarfs any other building on the planet.

In today's Johnson City Press:

Its backers wanted the skyscraper to be a monument to the boundless, can-do spirit of Dubai — one of a federation of seven small sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates — but the timing could not be worse. Property prices in parts of Dubai collapsed by nearly half in the past year, the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst.

It is a monument to oil. It is a tribute to the exploitation of non-renewable resources. Dubai is an artificial city.

For a new year's resolution you might watch the film, Home. You can sit in front of your computer and watch it on YouTube.

This is one of the most important films of our time. Watch the section on Dubai at 35:15 to 36:45. It shows the skyscraper under construction.

Here is a transcription of the narration:

Dubai is a sort of culmination of the western model. A country where the impossible becomes possible. Building artificial islands in the sea, for example. Dubai has few natural resources but with the money from oil it can bring millions of tons of material and workers from all over the planet.

Dubai has no farmland but it can import food. Dubai has no water but it can afford to expend immense amounts of energy to desalinate seawater and build the highest skyscrapers in the world. Dubai has endless sun but no solar panels.

It is a totem to total modernity that never fails to amaze the world. Dubai is like the new beacon for all the world's money. Nothing seems further removed from nature than Dubai. Although nothing depends on nature more than Dubai. Dubai is sort of culmination of the western model. We haven't understood that we're depleting what nature provides.