In the UAE
Earth Day: UAE Restaurants that are Environmentally Friendly

You may think that one straw, one plastic can, or one water bottle won’t make that big of a difference, but you are unfortunately wrong. Every single-plastic use leaves an impact on our environment, whether it ends up in the ocean or burned, both ways our environment gets severely harmed.
The following list are of restaurants in the UAE that took it upon themselves to try and limit this harm, from banning straws to limiting plastic use, they are doing their fair share of environment saving.
1- La Petite Maison
The restaurant has replaced plastic straws with an eco-friendly one that is made from potato starch. The place also hopes to soon replace all the single-use plastic with stainless steel substitutes.
2- Rove Hotels
The hotel is on the road to full sustainability, and they have even recently won the Green Key Eco-Label Award. The impressive part is the kind of encouragement that the Hotel does; in order to push visitors to act environmentally. So for instance, on Sundays, the hotel offers customers who bring their own bottles, discounts on food. And then, the restaurant sends these bottles off for recycling, where they get turned into actual useful products.
3- Zuma Restaurant
The Japanese restaurant Zuma has banned plastic straws, and is now substituting them with biodegradable paper straws. This initiative isn’t limited to the Dubai branch, but rather a step that is taken across all Zuma branches globally.
4- Armani Hotel- Burj Khalifa
The Hotel partnered with Winnow, to provide them with ways that they can use in monitoring and reducing their food wastes.
5- Renaissance Downtown Hotel
The hotel aims at riding the ocean of plastic, and has successfully become the first restaurant in the Middle East of substitute plastic straws with ones that are made from pasta!
Founder David Myers says, “being someone who loves spending time in the ocean, I witness the consequences of our overuse of single-use plastic first hand. I like to think that by stopping the use of plastic straws, we are making a small mark right here in the UAE.”
More and more restaurants should begin to follow the steps of these places, it may seem like a small initiative but the impact is certainly huge on the environment.
Going sustainable should become a lifestyle, a choice, and a commitment to a cause.
In the UAE
Majid Al Futtaim Death

The visionary UAE business man, Majid Al Futtaim died in December 17. Founding his empire group Al Futtaim, in 1992, and operating across 13 countries, in the MENA region, with three main subsidiaries, retail, ventures, and properties. After a Tweet from the company and his fellow employees about his death, Mr. Majid Al Futtaim passing and condolences was shared amongst all people. As Alian Bejjani the ceo of the group paid tribute to the late businessman. In a statement by Al Maktoum, “Mr. Majid was a visionary entrepreneur and a truly exceptional man who transformed the retailing experience both here in the UAE and more widely across the region,” he posted on Twitter. “His extraordinary foresight and clarity of purpose not only set our company on the path to success, but greatly contributed towards the UAE’s global reputation for innovation and excellence.” As his company tweeted, Majid Al Futtaim was a visionary entrepreneur who transformed the face of business in the entire region and his lifetime achievements have been an inspiration for many, “Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Majid’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.”, as his death remarked the legacy of the empire he had built. Initiating from the UAE his career had brought the skyscrapers of the city.
In the UAE
Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena Will Welcome Back Visitors on November 20

Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena has announced the return of its live shows, in respect to safety procedures of course and a new protocol called ‘Venue Shield’.
The venue will welcome back audiences for the first time since February this year as OJ Lifestyle presents their Dark Knights Edition 1.0 event.
The arena first opened its doors last year in June, with many celebrities making headlines including Russell Peters and Maroon 5.
“We are very pleased to be able to provide live entertainment to the community of Dubai again, and we are excited to welcome the OJ Lifestyle team to Coca-Cola Arena on November 20th,” said Guy Ngata, CEO of Coca-Cola Arena.“There has been a tremendous amount of work implemented across many sectors in Dubai to get to this point, and we are pleased to now open our doors again with the safety of our guests of the utmost importance.” He added.
“It’s critical that we assure people they are attending a safe environment allowing fans and artists to enjoy an amazing live experience, which we are confident will be the case,” Ngata continued.
In the UAE
UAE Announced the Relaxing of Islamic laws to Promote Personal Freedoms

The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday a massive overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, which will allow unmarried couples to cohabitate and loosen the restrictions on alcohol and more.
This aims at broadening personal freedoms as the country is positioning itself as a Westernized destination for tourists. These reforms will boost the country’s economic and “consolidate the UAE’s principles of tolerance,” said state-run WAM news agency.
These changes is also a reflection for the efforts of the Emirates’ rulers to keep up with the rapidly changing society at the UAE.
The amendment will allow for “cohabitation of unmarried couples,” which has been criminalized before in the UAE and in an attempt to “protect women’s rights,” the government will also get rid of the laws that defend “honor crimes,” a widely criticized tribal custom in which a male relative may evade prosecution for assaulting a woman seen as dishonoring a family.
What do you think of the UAE’s move in adapting with the current changes that the country is facing?