Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 29 February 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.636
Column: Muse
Can you build a 'green' city in the desert?
The United Arab Emirates has little cause to boast of green credentials, but that shouldn’t make us too cynical about its new eco-city, says Philip Ball.
There’s something of a collision of imagery in talk of ‘going green’ in an arid climate, where literal greenness imposes such a huge burden on resources.
When Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed his ambition to “make the desert bloom”, he foreshadowed one of the enduring sources of controversy and tension in this beleaguered region of the Middle East: water.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email webadmin@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
There are currently no comments.
