Today’s class with Antonios Vouloudis was actually very insightful and not only on the topic of the UAE’s environmental plans but also on the topic of working with others which was super interesting to hear. I was shocked to hear about the Ghadan 21 grant because I hadn’t heard of it before and while researching more about it I discovered they are creating a lot of places to try and learn more and battle the climate problems we face. One example is Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem Hub71 which will include a climate lab that is working towards fast-track research and development in water and climate technology. This made me realize I don’t hear about the ways the UAE is working towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly future and that I should really throw myself into more articles on this topic to learn more and to find ways I could potentially help myself. Creating parks that are sustainable, as well as financially sustainable, is really something I hope to see more of. It really made me feel more hopeful about the path we are taking and now I am on the lookout for more things to come in the UAE. The fact that they are focusing on not only that the urban space is aesthetic and nice to look at but also that it is balanced in performance and uses fewer mechanical systems, using only things like misting. He mentioned how the park was created to reflect light instead of absorbing it and that they installed weather stations too. All this progress and I didn’t hear about this until Antonios Vouloudis came to speak to our class!
A really helpful topic Antonios Vouloudis spoke of, which didn’t have anything to do with our topic but I greatly appreciated, was how to work with others and face challenges. I wrote down several of his quotes that really stuck with me such as “Never say NO! Always try no matter how unrelated it may be to you and your abilities” and also when he spoke about the patience you need to attain when talking to people you work with and how you need soft skills to convince and talk to people about what you want. I found it reassuring to hear such honesty from him about his journey to working where he did and to gain information from someone who has been through what he speaks of. Last thing he said that stuck with me was to “listen first, talk later.” This made me think a lot about how people converse and how it gets frustrating to do so at times. When Hannah spoke about trying to convince campus to get recycling bins for every dorm and that was shut down I realized that maybe it would be hard to do this whole saving the earth thing without having someone to listen to you so maybe we should be the ones to listen first and that way we can address topics with more knowledge and assertiveness. Wish I could thank Antonios once again for his visit and tell him just how informative it really was!!
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