E c oN e w E c oN e w
Blinded by the Silver Lining
Anandmayee N.
From Waste to Fuel : The Power of Gasification
Fast Fashion and overconsumption
Paula A.
AI for the Planet: When Code Meets Climate
A.
Solving the Clean Energy Challenge
Sri N.
Paper Bin Initiative
K.
Looking Ahead
a.
By Anandmayee N.
Half a million people die in developing countries every year because of the climate crisis. The first thing that springs to mind?
‘On the bright side, there are another 8 billion people.’
‘It doesn’t matter, just don’t think about it.’
‘Well, that’s in a nameless country far away and doesn’t affect me.
We as humans have developed so many of these cognitive barricades to sweep the ugliness of our world under a tastefully designed rug imported from Morocco. To convince ourselves that so many of the very real problems that we are facing do not exist.
This can be a gift and a curse. Looking at the silver lining is a way of holding onto hope and shielding our psyche from the weight of all the heartache in the world- but the line between protecting our space and cowering from the truth is a very fine one. In our towers in the sky, we have the luxury of any expense, any grandeur that we decide we want, handed to us on a platter whenever we choose. It’s almost too easy to hide in the splendor of our lives, to stay blinded by the opulence we are showered in. Who would want to open their eyes to reality after that?
Cognitive dissonance is a prime example of these psychological prejudices: when presented with facts that contrast with our lifestyles, we experience discomfort and are unable to face the facts. Instead, we dismiss or reinterpret the information, so it fits neatly into the jigsaw puzzle of the world we choose to see. Over a third of all animal species are in danger of going extinct by 2100. You squeeze the unpleasant idea into a little square piece, so it fits neatly into your puzzle. ‘Well, they survived this long, I’m sure they’ll be fine.’ You fall comfortably back into your silk sheets and keep dreaming.
Maybe you tell yourself not to think about it, and ignore the extra, misshapen piece that just won’t fit. The classic ostrich method - it’s the oldest trick in the book. The automatic response is to bury your head in the sand. Unable to trick ourselves into downplaying the stark truth, we refuse to let it enter our consciousness at all.
This way of thinking - the negative footprint illusion - is how we justify unsustainable decisions. It is dangerously common, and it is a complete myth with the sole purpose of dodging the blame for our
Hopefully if you can’t see it, it’ll go away. When this doesn’t work, people use heuristics shaped by social exchange, such as balancing “good” and “bad” behaviors. They try negotiating their way out of accepting responsibility and feeling an uncomfortable guilt. ‘Yes, I ran a four-hour bath yesterday, but technically it doesn’t matter because I recycled my paper last week.’ How many times have you told yourself something along these lines? actions.
Evolutionary and social factors are key to our delusions. Human brains have evolved to prioritise local, immediate-impact problems over ones that are further away; that was key to survival in the huntergatherer era. But in 2025, where the carbon released by China can affect the weather in Somalia, this way of thinking is hindering rather than helping. A drought in Africa caused by climate change led to 258,000 deaths. ‘Nameless country far away- doesn’t affect me.’ People are more likely to act in the interest of their own group and less likely to support policies benefiting distant or unfamiliar groups, which is problematic for addressing global environmental issues. But if this ‘every man for himself’ mentality was more prevalent, humans wouldn’t have advanced even a fraction of far they have.
The problem is that global warming is not mainstream. It’s as simple as that. Social comparison and norms are without a doubt the most damaging cognitive biases we have. Individuals often look to peers for cues on how to behave. If sustainable behaviors are not the norm in their social group, people are less likely to adopt them. I think we can all agree that sustainable behaviors are definitely not the main issue on our minds. Our inner monologue tends to sound more like ‘Why doesn’t that girl like me? Ugh, why do I have to do math? What am I having for dinner?’
But ‘how can I adopt sustainable behaviors into my lifestyle?’ I don’t think so.
Recent models emphasize the interplay between cognition, emotion, and the environment, suggesting that immersive experiences can reduce psychological distance and foster sustainable behavior.
Think about it. Everyone buys a Stanley, so you buy a Stanley. Everyone gets a new Longchamp, so you get a Longchamp. If we just normalized caring about the climate crisis, made it a habit to talk about what we’re all doing to reduce our carbon footprint, add global warming to our jigsaw puzzle and flaunt it, rather than suppress it into the pretty picture we want it to be, we could achieve so much.
All we have to do is normalise caring.
By Shreya K.
We are all aware of the downsides of fuels which come from crude oil, considering our dwindling natural resources. It begs the question: what on earth are we going to do when there isn’t any oil left? Well, what if our diesel, kerosene and all the rest were renewable? And could we utilise the chemical energy locked up in our waste streams to power our lives? Could we kill 2 birds, namely our accumulated waste and our energy crisis, with one stone?
Potentially, yes! We can in fact convert our waste into fuel through gasification. Gasification is the process of converting a high-energy, carbonbased solid or liquid (say, coal or biomass) into useful gases at extremely high temperatures of about 700-1000 degrees [1]. Gasification produces hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and so on, all used in industry, and some of which are components of natural gas. Let’s go through the steps. Firstly, we need a carbon-based feedstock. Usually, coal is used due to its availability and energy density. But we could also use renewable sources, like farm and agricultural waste. Our municipal solid waste, or industrial waste, is also energy dense and would be a suitable option. This is broken down as much as possible to provide the particles a larger surface area to volume ratio, therefore improving the reaction rate. Along with a gasifier medium, like air, steam, or oxygen, the solids are fed into the gasifier machine and heated at extremely high temperatures. There are 2 stages of reactions inside.
The first stage is the oxidation of the carbon to form carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Notably, the formation of CO and CO₂ through combusting the carbon is an exothermic reaction, meaning it releases energy; on the other hand, the reaction of carbon and water vapor to form hydrogen and carbon monoxide is actually endothermic. Here is a quick breakdown: C + O → CO (exothermic) C + O₂ → CO₂ (exothermic)
+ H₂O → CO + H₂ (endothermic)
In stage two, the reactants of stage one start to react with each other with the energy released in these reactions allowing for following endothermic reactions.
CO + H₂O ⇌ CO₂ + H₂ (exothermic) CO + 3H₂ ⇌ CH₄ + H₂O (exothermic, but products of the endothermic direction are used)
So, you end up with a mixture of various useful gases. Syngas, or synthetic natural gas, is the most important, being a mixture of CO and H₂. The syngas can be wet scrubbed to remove any particulates, which can be fed back into gasifiers to retrieve any carbon, and any acid gases can be removed with solvents. And then we can use that natural gas in exactly the same way as we do with the oil derived version!
So why don’t we just straight-up burn our waste?
There are a few reasons. Firstly, the products of gasification are a lot more versatile than waste on its own: we can’t simply load up waste into a combustion engine and expect it to work effectively; it needs to be in a transportable fuel form to be used!
Secondly, the gas produced has a higher calorific value than the reactants; more energy is released on its combustion compared to the waste. Thirdly, the process releases fewer tiny particulates, like fly ash, which could contaminate the atmosphere. Gasification produces more slag instead, which can be considered all the non-gasified material in the feedstock. These by-products can also be used in different ways, like other chemical feedstocks or construction material.
While there is a struggle to upscale gasification technology specifically for municipal waste and agro-waste, there is such a strong argument in its favour. At some level, the process could even be analysed as carbon-neutral: " This is because carbon is absorbed in the trees initially, and some of the carbon is sequestered in ash and unconverted char from the gasification process; furthermore, co-producing electricity while making transportation fuel offsets even more carbon emissions." [2] While the process does technically rely on our waste generation at first, it's a great way to make use of our wasted carbon and prevent leaching and greenhouse gas production
in the landfill. Maybe using fuels shouldn't be our only way forward, considering the combustion of the fuel itself would still release greenhouse gases; but there is no doubt that this amazing technology has a place in the future of alternate energy.
1. Muhammed Sajid, Abdul Raheem, Naeem Ullah, Muhammad Asim, Muhammad Saif Ur Rehman, Nisar Ali, Gasification of municipal solid waste: Progress, challenges, and prospects, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 168, 2022, 112815, ISSN 1364-0321, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112815
2. Micah Jasper, Navid Rafati, Keith Schimmel, Abolghasem Shahbazi, Fanxing Li, Mark Mba-Wright, Lijun Wang, Carbon-negative transportation fuels – A techno-economic-environmental analysis of biomass pathways for transportation, Energy Conversion and Management: X, Volume 14, 2022, 100208, ISSN 2590-1745, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2022.100208.
and by Paula A.
The average person has between 108- 148 items of clothing in their closet. The average American home consists of around 300,000 items. Excessive consumption has led to significant negative consequences for the environment, including resource depletion, pollution, and climate changewe currently need 1.7 earths to sustain our combined lifestyles.
Fast fashion refers to inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends. It involves quick designing, producing, distributing and marketing of clothing meaning that firms are able to make large quantities of products to allow consumers to get more variety of products and fashion at a low price. The term was first used by the New York Times in the early 1990s for when Zara opened in New York and has stuck ever sincedescribing clothing from brands such as Zara, Shein, forever 21 and H&M.
One impact that the sector has on the environment is energy consumption. It takes about 70 million barrels of oil to produce the polyester used in fabrics each year. The amount of energy used to produce one t-shirt could power a light bulb for 10 days. Overall, producing clothes is a very energy intensive process using up more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined- contributing for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions as of 2018. In addition, the fast fashion industry also effects water sources. According to the European Parliament, textile production is estimated to account for around 20% of global clean water pollution (mainly due to the dyeing process). A single load of laundry of polyester clothes can discharge about 700,000 microplastic fibres, in fact, 35% of all microplastics found in the ocean come from synthetic textiles such as polyester. These then travel through bodies of water, contaminating them and potentially ending up in the food chain.
However, fast fashion isn’t only harmful to the environment, it also has a huge social impactsespecially in developing economies. 80% of apparel is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24. Not only this but children are also employed. UNICEF estimates that more than 100 million children are affected by the production of garments and footwear.
But what has actually led to fast fashion and overconsumption becoming so prominent in today’s world?
Firstly, our economic model revolves around production and consumption, over time, by increasing the overall number of firms in an economy, competition increases, firms lower prices and often, need to lower production costs by using cheaper materials, exploiting workers, disposing of waste unsafely or using machinery with high greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to this, capitalism promotes constant growth and rewards consumerism- this leads to people buying more than what they truly need. In addition, by firms producing lower quality products, the items of clothing often need replacing, this leads to a cycle of buying and then needing to replace what you bought.
Another reason for fast fashion being so relevant is due to the ability to find clothes that are in style or trending.
Social media has played a big part in feeding overconsumption, we are faced with 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day- most coming from social media. This along with seeing fashion influencers promoting microtrends can lead to a pressure to keep up with trends and impulse buying.
How can we reduce the impact of normal consumption and fast fashion?
Rethink what you buy. Sometimes, people turn to buying as retail therapy or due to a fear of missing out, do you really need that piece of clothing? Or is it just a short term want. If you do want that item, maybe try finding a more sustainable way of having it, borrowing, renting or thrifting are great ways of still being able to change up your style without the huge environmental impacts.
Choosing good quality over quantity. By investing in good quality pieces, an item can last you for years and even if more expensive in the short run, it can end up saving you money due to not needing to replace clothing that wasn’t very durable.
Support a circular economy. Instead of just throwing away clothes, try to give them a new life- repairing old socks with holes or donating clothes that don’t fit you anymore to a shelter or even turning towards second hand markets and sustainable brands such as Patagonia, Pact, Tentree, Veja and Reformation.
The world today generates more data than the total number of stars in the observable universe every single day. Buried in this endless sea of numbers lies a paradox: the same technology that drives consumerism, fuels energy hungry servers, and deepens inequality could also hold the key to reversing our environmental crisis. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is quietly emerging as one of humanity’s most powerful allies in protecting the planet. We often think of AI as the reason behind self-driving cars, chatbots, or eerily precise TikTok recommendations. But its potential goes far beyond convenience. What if algorithms could track illegal deforestation in real time, predict the next major wildfire before it starts, or map coral bleaching from space? Across the world, scientists and engineers are harnessing machine learning to do exactly that.
In the dense Amazon rainforest, satellites capture millions of images each day. The human eye can’t possibly analyse them all, but AI can. Google’s Earth Engine, for example, uses neural networks to identify deforestation patterns and alert local authorities within hours. What once took months of field verification can now be detected in near real time, potentially saving thousands of trees. Similar AI driven systems are being used in Indonesia and the Congo Basin, where illegal logging has been notoriously difficult to monitor.
In California, machine learning models trained on historical data are predicting where and when wildfires are most likely to ignite. By analysing weather, wind, and vegetation patterns, these models help allocate firefighting resources before a spark becomes a catastrophe. In the Arctic, AI is being used to monitor sea ice melt and track endangered species like polar bears whose habitats are shrinking faster than scientists can manually record.
But the impact isn’t limited to research labs or satellites. AI is helping to make renewable energy smarter. Wind and solar power fluctuate depending on the weather, but predictive algorithms can forecast energy generation and adjust supply in real time balancing the grid more efficiently than any human operator could. Google itself has reduced energy use in its data centres by 40% using AI driven cooling systems, cutting emissions equivalent to taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road. Even agriculture responsible for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions is being transformed. Farmers are turning to AI powered drones and sensors to optimise irrigation, detect crop diseases early, and reduce fertilizer waste. In India, AI platforms are helping smallholder farmers make data backed decisions about planting and pest control, improving yields while reducing water and chemical use.
Of course, AI is no magic wand. The very data centres that power it consume enormous amounts of electricity and water for cooling. Training a single large AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars over their entire lifetimes. And then there’s the issue of bias algorithms are only as good as the data we feed them. If environmental decisions are based on incomplete or skewed information, the outcomes could amplify inequality or harm vulnerable communities. That’s why a growing number of researchers are working on “green AI” models designed to be energy efficient, transparent, and ethically trained. Efforts like Climate Change AI and Microsoft’s AI for Earth are showing how collaboration between data scientists, environmentalists, and policymakers can make machine learning part of the solution, not the problem.
The intersection of technology and ecology might seem unlikely, but in a world that needs urgent climate action, every byte counts. Imagine a future where satellites, drones, and sensors guided by intelligent algorithms form a digital nervous system for the planet, constantly monitoring its health and alerting us before disaster strikes.
AI will not replace the need for human responsibility or empathy. It cannot feel the despair of a disappearing glacier or the awe of an untouched forest. But it can give us something we desperately need: time. Time to see the problem clearly, time to act faster, and time to build a sustainable world where innovation and nature coexist. If we teach machines to care about the Earth, maybe we’ll learn to care a little more ourselves.
By Sri N.
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the world today, and the way we produce and consume energy is at the center of the problem. Energy production accounts for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions, with fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas still supplying most of the world's energy needs. As populations grow and countries continue to develop, electricity demand increases, placing even greater pressure on energy systems that contribute to climate change. If society continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise, leading to more extreme weather events, environmental degradation, and long-term economic and social consequences.
The core issue is that modern society depends on reliable energy every second o the day. Fossil fuel power plants have historically been effective because they can generate electricity whenever it is needed, allowing supply to match demand However, this reliability comes at a significant environmental cost. Burning coa and natural gas releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into th atmosphere, accelerating global warming. While reducing emissions is essential simply shutting down fossil fuel plants is not a practical solution unles alternative energy sources can provide the same level of reliability.
Clean energy technologies offer a promising solution. Renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind energy, and hydropower generate electricity without producing large amounts of greenhouse gases. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity, wind turbines capture the kinetic energy of moving air, and hydroelectric dams use flowing water to generate power. These technologies provide cleaner alternatives that can significantly reduce emissions while meeting growing energy demands.
However, renewable energy introduces a new challenge: variability. The sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow. To overcome this problem, investment in energy storage systems, smarter power grids, and a diverse mix of renewable energy sources is essential. Battery storage, pumped hydro systems, and advanced grid technologies can help balance electricity supply and demand, ensuring reliable power even when renewable generation fluctuates.
The transition to clean energy is not simply about replacing one power source with another. It is about creating a sustainable, resilient energy system that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining reliable electricity for communities and industries. By expanding renewable energy and improving energy storage and grid infrastructure, society can address the climate crisis and build a cleaner, more sustainable future for generations to come.
As another busy year for Environmental Society draws to a close, it is also worth looking ahead to some of the projects and initiatives that have been taking shape behind the scenes and will hopefully come to fruition next year. One of the most exciting developments is the launch of the GreenBridge Summit, which is scheduled to take place in October. The summit will bring together students, schools, environmental organisations and industry representatives from across Dubai to share ideas and experiences in sustainability. Rather than simply presenting a list of successful initiatives, the aim is to create honest conversations about what has and hasn’t worked, the challenges schools face when implementing environmental projects, and the lessons that can be learned from them.
Schools will have the opportunity to present student research and sustainability initiatives, while organisations and companies will discuss the work they are doing and ways in which they can support young people. In the longer term, we hope GreenBridge can become the starting point for a wider network of schools that regularly collaborate on sustainability projects and learn from one another.
Alongside GreenBridge, work has also been taking place on a proposal for a new Dubai College Sustainability Council (DCSC). The idea grew from discussions with Mr. Piper about how sustainability initiatives can be better coordinated across the school and how successful projects can continue beyond a single year group. The proposed council would bring together different environmental efforts under one structure, with dedicated teams focusing on areas such as transport, energy, waste and the campus environment.
The proposal has already been presented to members of the Senior Leadership Team and has received encouraging feedback. Further discussions with staff and school leadership are now taking place as the concept is refined and developed. If introduced, the DCSC would help provide greater continuity between year groups and create a clearer framework through which students can lead sustainability projects across the school.
Both GreenBridge and the proposed Sustainability Council are ultimately focused on the same idea: ensuring that sustainability at Dubai College continues to develop in a structured and lasting way. We look forward to seeing how these plans evolve over the coming year.
~Saiyette A. Head of Environmental Society