I had the most interesting call the other day at work.
Hello
Yes?
I am calling from XXX (can't even remember the name) magazine and we are publishing a special publication on environmental issues and were wondering whether you would be interested in receiving this publication?
Sure
Are there any Brits in your organisation?
No.
Any Australians, South Africans?
Nope - its a small organisation. Just me and a minion.
Would you like to receive the publication?
Of course.
Really? (he sounded so surprised - that I almost laughed out loud and felt the need to explain myself - don't know why)
What did he think- only Brits, Ozzies and South Africans understand environmental issues? Sounds like he had a very sheltered upbringing or was badly informed or... I dare not even speculate.
In his defense, once I had explained my association with environmental issues especially on a personal level, he was a bit embarrassed. But I bet I don't get that copy of the new publication. My name is wrong and so is my nationality, apparently!
Nachhaltiger Ökotourismus in den VAE
3 days ago
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9 comments:
Oh and that's not much of a surprise, is it, if you've lived here for a while?
I was once being actively headhunted by a HR company (namely Talent) after a British (former) colleague recommended me, and they assumed I was British as well. Somewhere along the wooing process it became apparent that I was not, and the lady began backtracking furiously, trying not to show an error had been made. Desperately trying to extricate herself from the situation, she had quite a bit of difficulty explaining that she had no idea I would be the wrong colour.
When I commented on their remarkable priorities, all she could say was: "I'll let you know if the client changes his requirements."
Meta, perhaps it is true that Brits Aussies and South Africans are statistically more concerned about environmental issues than the Swedes?
based on whose stats?
Of course I have been around - I found the incident amusing because I just wanted to see how this caller would extricate himself from the situation.
To Dubai Jazz, I am Indian not Swedish, and Indians (probably through sheer necessity)have been reusing, and recycling since time immemorial!
Oh God, look at what we are like here - the biggest producer of waste per capita in the world, the biggest users of bottled water, the 3rd largest user of electricity in the world per capita, it goes on and on. And actually anyone is better than us. Mehta are you Indian? I ask because I know that there is some serious and valuable environmental stuff coming out of India - this kind of stereotyping that isn't even correct (shows how much they know about the subject) makes me puke.
Let's all protect the planet - if we have kids, plan on having kids they are gonna give us such a hard time when they grow up cos we have really screwed up the environment, created climate change and destroyed the natural balance of planet - aren't we cool (not!)
Mita, you are right about the recycling and all. But to give balance to the topic, we should also remember that countries like India, Egypt, Syria (my own) are plagued with some environmental miseries: over population, poor planing, lack of sanitation in certain places...etc..
Perhaps we can learn a thing or two from those Brits and Aussies...
Hmmm,maybe this is why you wanted to have the magazine in the first place..
australia is one of the worst environmental offenders in the world from the perspective of water abuse and carbon emissions..
recycling is getting a bit better and they have decent systems to encourage consumers to purchase "green" electrical appliances and also have green building code ensuring that environmental interests are incorporated into construction..
oh and another good thing is you can determine the greeness of your energy supply..
you nominate a certain percentage - up to 100% - for which you pay extra but thats cool (i think) and for every megawatt you use they undertake to purchase the same amount from a green source - ie wind solar etc..
obviously they cannot assure that the electricity you receive is green given it comes off the grid but they at least suppost the industry if you so elect..
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