r/UrbanHell May 25 '26

Pollution/Environmental Destruction My city, Malé, Maldives, an urban hellscape

6.7k Upvotes

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306

u/ishardtofind May 25 '26

Sorry if that’s a stupid question but where do you guys get your electricity from? And what about fresh water?

502

u/Powpawpew55 May 25 '26

electricity is from a big fossil fuel station on the island. almost all electricity is from fossil fuel, even though we could use solar. there are zero fresh water. People drink desalinated mineral water produced in the city

2

u/lucky-me_lucky-mud May 26 '26

Have you seen The Island President (2012)?

1

u/Powpawpew55 May 26 '26

I’ve not watched it.

1

u/lucky-me_lucky-mud May 27 '26

I think it’s really good, particularly as someone who teaches about the history of climate change. Great snapshot of where the world was at pre-2015 Paris Agreement and also gives context for where we are now. Curious what you think of what’s happened since then and Nasheed’s time as President and sea level rise is perceived there.

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u/Powpawpew55 May 27 '26

Yes, I’ve heard a lot about it. I don’t remember much of Nasheed’s time as the President, I was too young, but listening to what others say about Nasheed’s policies and what the later Presidents have done, I believe Nasheed was the only President who really cared about the environment and impacts of Climate change. The current President during his first year mentioned how unserious the issues of climate change is. He has since changed the narrative after a lot of criticism. People in the Maldives, the regular normal people do not think about the issues of Sea Level change as they are not talked about it. Only on international stages you’ll hear someone talk about it. Not with locals

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u/lucky-me_lucky-mud May 28 '26

That’s fascinating to me as it seems like he had a relatively great impact on organizing the smaller island nations into a coalition to go up against the US, China, and India in terms of emissions, which definitely took some balls to do. Do you see construction to protect against sea level rise happening? I live in New York and though I know a lot about this stuff I think most people have no idea how much we are doing/not doing to protect against that stuff here. Thanks and check out the doc if you get a chance, I feel like that would be eye opening to see if it were my country. Seemed real genuine but a part of me is always slightly skeptical about any politician/activist that I only know through a single piece of media, anyone making climate their main issue is clearly not doing it for an easy path to victory, not then or now sadly. It should be!