The crisis is all we hearing right now through the news. There is good news, bad news, how to cope up with anxiety news, what to eat during COVID time news, where and how to get oxygen cylinders news, unavailability of beds in the hospital's news, how to work from home during lockdown news, this news, that news is what my mind is filled up with.
The whole news thing mostly said, "This is a crisis like no other" and there is substantial uncertainty about its impact on peoples lives and livelihoods.
The world is facing a crisis as a result of the pandemic or are we facing the pandemic as a result of the climate crisis? one way or the other, it is affecting all of us.
What if the news before the crisis was about people planting more trees to get oxygen, what if the news was about how people opposed the destruction of forest and wildlife, what if the news headlines were "The usage of plastic decreased drastically", what if the news was about how workspaces have a better environment than ever. What if the news said the risk of the climate crisis is low and certainly there is a positive impact on peoples lives and livelihoods. But only if it was true we wouldn't be discussing the crisis now.
There are many aspects which we can discuss but let's focus on the trend
There is a trend toward purchasing local or sourcing locally to reactivate the economy following prolonged lockdowns, the closure of many operations, the loss of jobs, and other factors.
The need for a new perspective
The "Made local" approach reflects a growing number of manufacturing companies that are primarily concerned with the environmental impact of their buying decisions.
Despite all the available materials in our country, the usage has been limited. let me take you to look at the bigger picture for that we need to know the meaning of few terms first like carbon footprint
What is a carbon footprint?
The amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment as a result of an individual's, organization's, or community's actions are called carbon footprint.
The lower the energy required the less is the carbon footprint. The locally available materials have a lower carbon footprint when compared to the materials which get transported from other places.
What we try to do?
As a designer, when we hear of the carbon footprint, we try to reduce the overall electricity demand, we work on updating to more energy-efficient appliances, or at least we try to shift to LEDs.But we ignore the smallest changes we could make by looking at embodied energy.
What's embodied energy?
The total amount of energy used during the process of building homes includes transportation, processing of raw materials on site. Most of the times the embodied energy is so high that it has more carbon emission than the actual usage in the home.
What to look at?
if you have read my previous posts
While choosing the sustainable way, choices we make about the materials are extremely important, materials are just one part of sustainability as a whole. There is more to look into which we will discuss in the next posts.
Rather than reacting to crises like COVID-19 after death and devastation have already occurred, we must have the vision, insight, and compassion to resolve fundamental root causes and act now to minimize and avoid the countless disasters that are literally on the verge of occurring.
It's past time for us to reconsider our relationship with all life on this planet, including other humans, non-humans, and the earth, which is a living organism in and of itself.
Given the fundamental interconnectedness of all life, what is good for non-humans and the environment is almost always in the best interests of humans. In the interests of human what if you took steps to reduce carbon footprint?
Do share your views in the comments
Love,
Varsha
Proud of you varsha 😃💞
ReplyDeleteThank you 🤗
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