The Democracy Now! columns of Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan are regularly published in my daily newspaper. I think they show up weekly, and I always read them. On Saturday, December 15, 2023, their commentary was titled, "Big Oil wins big at COP28 in Dubai." This link will take you to their column, though I am linking directly to the Democracy Now! website, and not to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Pictured above is the biggest ferris wheel in the world, mentioned in the Goodman-Moynihan column. It is called "Ain Dubai," translated as "The Eye of Dubai," in English. Here is what Goodman and Moynihan have to say about it:
The Eye of Dubai is touted as the world’s largest ferris wheel. The 820-foot tall wheel dominates the man-made island on which it rests. The massive, unblinking Eye permanently stares upon Dubai’s beachfront, its thicket of high rise luxury hotels and its marina, brimming with foreign-owned yachts. The Eye operated for only a few months before being abruptly shuttered in 2022. People can only speculate why, as the United Arab Emirates, the autocratic petrostate that governs Dubai, won’t say. One theory posits the wheel is slowly sinking into the sand, and that the structure, 25% heavier than the Eiffel Tower, will eventually topple, crushing the luxury residential high rises that surround it. The Eye thus stands as a glaring metaphor for humankind’s folly, trying to bend Nature to our will, and failing (emphasis added).
Those who read these blog postings of mine on a regular basis will, perhaps, remember my earlier comment on Dubai, "The World We Make For Ourselves."
In that earlier blog possting, I included a picture of Dubai, and the "Eye of Dubai" is right in the middle. I didn't know, then, that this massive ferris wheel was inoperative, but I echoed the concerns of Goodman and Moynihan. When we act as though the world we make for ourselves can ignore our dependence on the World of Nature, we are picking the "losing horse."
We must live within the limits of the World of Nature. No exceptions!
You don't actually need to go to Dubai to figure this out for yourself!
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