It doesn’t matter where you live or how environmentally conscious you are, eco-guilt can strike anyone.
The Urban Dictionary (that bastion of vocabulary) describes eco-guilt as: “The feeling you get when you could have done something for the environment, but consciously made the decision not to.”
Living in Dubai, I get it all the time. I could turn my air-conditioning off far more than I do. I could recycle more. I could compost my fruit and vegetable scraps. I could replace the real grass in our garden with tiles or even a faux lawn. I need to stop forgetting my reusable shopping bags!
I could go on – and I do, in my head, with endless running subconscious commentary on my carbon footprint and how I could, I should, be doing better.
Experiencing eco-guilt means you are aware of your choices. This is the first step in your journey towards making a difference
Puja Karani,
partnerships manager at The Goodness Company
How do I manage it? Not particularly well, but mostly I have to remind myself that I'm doing my best. That if I forget the tote bag this time and take a plastic one instead (or end up buying another one for my collection of hundreds, which does rather defeat the point), then I can reuse it and do better next time.
While some might find this emotion motivational, sparking a passion in them to do more for the environment, others may start to feel a sense of paralysis, as they consider themselves a bad person for not already doing so.
I fall into both camps, switching between wannabe eco-warrior and apathy, and I have no doubt that I'm not alone on this.
Puja Karani, partnerships manager at UAE sustainability-focused everyday essentials brand The Goodness Company, says she’s prone to eco-guilt, too, despite her planet-saving job.
“In today’s fast-paced and demanding world, we are all experience eco guilt at some point in our lives,” she tells The National. “From using disposables to purchasing high street fashion, and to the food choices I make sometimes, I do experience this guilt.”
To manage this, Karani has reviewed what’s within her control and how she can realistically make a difference. “I set goals for myself and my household that are achievable. We started with educating people at home to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Carrying reusable bags, avoiding the use of plastic straws and plates, and, when possible, refusing to take bags with our new shopping.”
Other small changes we can make at home include swapping toiletries for eco-friendly alternatives, for example, or eating less meat, buying produce from local vendors and choosing secondhand clothes and furniture.
Karani’s now teaching her children about how to reduce their own impact on the planet.
“Experiencing eco-guilt means you are aware of your choices,” says Karani. “This is the first step in your journey towards making a difference. Start by setting small, realistic goals initially for yourself and then extending these to your homes and workplaces.”
Nada El Barshoumi, the brains behind blog One Arab Vegan, also feels it. "Although I try to be forgiving towards myself, I definitely feel eco-guilt from time to time, especially around recycling," she admits. "I do my best to recycle as much as I can, but it’s not always possible 100 per cent of the time."
It's easy to be struck by a sense of apathy when you remember the planet will only be saved if those in charge act. "Although individual contribution is paramount, what we really need is institutional support and policymaking to help make real progress on environmental issues," says El Barshoumi.
But we can, in the meantime, at least increase demand for sustainable products in our local areas, ask brands and businesses to do better and generally make noise about what we will no longer stand for among governments and communities.
"My guilt around recycling may prompt me into making more conscious choices, for example, but what we ultimately need is for governments and institutions to help create and mobilise a better infrastructure for recycling," says El Barshoumi.
Karani, meanwhile, specifically calls out e-commerce businesses for the waste they contribute. “They are one of my biggest eco-guilt contributors. I would highly advise them to look at alternatives to the plastic packaging materials they are using or use recycled packaging where possible.”
The fact is, no one’s perfect, not even Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who in 2019 sailed across the Atlantic to make the point that it’s near impossible for people to live sustainably today without world leaders taking charge and creating new policies.
Whether or not you forgot to turn off your AC off overnight will make little difference in the grand scheme of things. All we can do is try our best.
It's as El Barshoumi puts it: "We should always aspire towards progress, no matter how incremental it is, and not perfection."
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Jebel Ali card
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
The National selections
1.45pm: Cosmic Glow
2.15pm: Karaginsky
2.45pm: Welcome Surprise
3.15pm: Taamol
3.45pm: Rayig
4.15pm: Chiefdom
4.45pm: California Jumbo
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: From Dh280,000
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
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Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
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A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
MATCH INFO
RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 24', Schick 68')
Hertha Berlin 2 (Grujic 9', Piatek 82' pen)
Man of the match Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Norway
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
