#emiratesliteraturefestival
We Can All Be Eco-heroes
Colette Barr graduated from Strathclyde University in Glasgow with an Honours Law Degree before being selected to work for a Big Four firm. After 8 years in International Trade Consultancy, Colette worked in the Oil & Gas industry for 10 years, in numerous challenging projects internationally and across the Middle East. Her most recent role […]
GERD LEONHARD: TECHNOLOGY VERSUS HUMANITY
Q. Has the point of no return – where technology has clearly taken over humanity – been reached? A. Not at all. We are still 20-30 years away from truly intelligent machines ie AGI – artificial general intelligence. If you equate that with what is called the Singularity – when machines become limitlessly powerful – that would […]
RICHARD BALDWIN: THE GLOBOTICS UPHEAVAL
Q. What should humans do to prepare for the globotics upheaval? A. The jobs of the future will be doing things that software robots cannot automation – experts think that the most human tasks like creativity, empathy, motivating and managing groups of people, applying ethics, dealing unknown situations and such things will be very hard for […]
TONY DE SAULLES: WHY DOES THE WORLD NEED BEES?
Q. What inspired the Bee Boy series? A. Success with our first Horrible Science title, Ugly Bugs, published by Scholastic in 1996 was the start of 20 years of illustrating plants, mammals and insects for children’s books. So when it came to writing and illustrating my own series it is perhaps no surprise that I chose a […]
Insights from Douglas Coupland – Effects of Consumerism & Technology
Q: What causes you the highest level of anxiety when it comes to looking at the future? What about excitement? A: I don’t get anxiety about the future — I think it’s a terrific place. I’m always baffled when people think the future is somehow doomed. Throughout my entire life, the world has only gotten […]
Award Winning Journalist and Author Vince Beiser on the Importance of Sand
Q. How did you become passionate about the topic? A: As an independent journalist I read a lot of obscure, out-of-the-way publications, especially ones focussing on international issues. About four years ago I ran across an article in a little environmental website that told me 2 things: 1. sand is the most used natural resource […]
In conversation with eco lifestyle expert Lucy Siegle
Q: How did you become passionate about the cause? From an early age I was very interested in the story behind things, including clothes and toys. I was obviously a strange child! My grandad told me that oil and other resources should be used carefully. Back in the 1980s this was a very unusual viewpoint, […]
In conversation with Trine Hahnemann, the Danish Chef
Q. How did you become passionate about the cause? A: As a child, I was brought up to be aware of both social injustice and our responsibility to treat nature with respect. My parents were of course more optimistic back in the 1970s about, how we would change our ways. Now climate change is upon us. […]
