< Previous80 HOT 1OO 2O19 | THE HEALTH HEROES What strikes me most about the UAE is the positive energy readily available wherever you turn. It’s the welcoming nature of the region that attracted me in the first place. I use my social media to help educate my followers on climate change. Social media is a strong tool to help influence and educate people for the better. I would love to see more education and help educate the younger generation – they are the true hope of the future. The safety of the future depends on how well we educate the younger generation to clean up the previous generation’s mistakes. My main inspiration is the urge to help the less fortunate. I hope to grow my platform big enough to able to help change people’s lives, motivate and inspire them. My inspiration is the constant reminder of the legacy I could leave behind for generations to come. The person I look up to the most is my mother. I thank her for making me the man I am today. I try to emulate her as much as possible — she is one of the strongest, most kind- hearted women I know, with her heart in the right place. In 2020, I look forward to continue spreading positivity and hopefully, motivating people to go out and change their lives. I hope to try help and positively influence as many people as possible. BAHIJ KADDOURA WBFF Pro @bahijkaddoura isn’t just super fit – he’s also a hoot on YouTube 81 THE HEALTH HEROES | HOT 1OO 2O19 GHIDA ARNAOUT The co-founder of Life Happens Outdoors, with a passion for travel My highlights of 2019 were kayaking the Arctic, climbing my first Alpine mountain and getting proposed to at 3,600m in a mountain hut under the Mont Blanc. I love spending time in nature. I feel myself when surrounded by water, streams, forests and mountains. I feel alive there and it’s where I get most of my inspiration. I stopped using plastic bags completely and try my best not to use plastic bottles. I currently carry a tote bag with me to use for grocery shopping and I bought a reusable water bottle to refill. I try to walk as much as possible when I can and I buy from sustainable brands. I recycle as well. RAMI RASAMNY The other half of Life Happens Outdoors Life Happens Outdoors, the adventure travel community that Ghida and I founded two years ago really morphed into a global player, with experiences on five continents and offerings as diverse as family trips in Bhutan to technical mountaineering courses in the Alps. I don’t presume that I can save the planet; I’m hardly a grain of sand in the hourglass of time. But I do take responsibility for myself and for the square metre that I occupy and because of that I ensure, to the best of my ability, that I do my part. HOT 1OO 2O19 DID YOU KNOW? If you’re still not convinced our planet is in crisis, here are 15 little known facts that are bound to kick-start you into living a more sustainable lifestyle… Every minute one million plastic bottles are being sold. Around 16,000 litres of water is consumed to make just 1 kg of beef. 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. Single-use plastic produce bags are often mistaken for jellyfish when in the ocean, which hungry sea turtles end up eating. The US alone uses 500 million straws every single day. One out of every three chemical cleaning products contains ingredients known to cause human health or environmental problems. 40 percent of the plastic produced is for packaging. It is used only once and then discarded, yet it is built to last for decades. Air pollution kills 800 people every hour or 13 every minute. 2 billion disposable razors are thrown away every year and end up in landfills. The most plastics that have been found in one single bird’s stomach was 274 fragments of plastic, which is the human equivalent of 8kg of plastic in our stomachs. Single-use plastic bottles take 3 times the amount of water to produce than what it holds. Bottled water is also priced at almost a 1000 percent mark-up. Scientists have recently discovered micro plastics embedded deep in the Arctic ice. It takes around 2,700 litres of water to make a single cotton t-shirt. The average time that a plastic bag is used for is 12 minutes, and then it takes up to a thousand years to decompose. It’s time to take action! Join us… #ahlangoesgreen Globally, the UAE is one of the biggest waste producers and water consumers. 82 ORGANISED BY For more information Mr Habib Chams Dubai +971588152161 Beirut +961 76 704 978 habib.chams@itp.com www.dgcgames.com C Level Delegates 500+ Companies 100+ Speakers 35 Countries Book your place now | www.dgcgames.com Join DGC Esports Summit the leading marketplace and forum for the Esports industry serving MENA region Connecting the Global Game Industry 4th Edition 1-2 April 2020 Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE+971 58 226 6443 LAPISCINA@PALAZZOVERSACE.AENext >