The world has been going through really challenging times. And every challenging time has a lesson to teach. We may fall, but we should never fail to wake up. The episode of COVID-19 should be made an opportunity to revive the humane qualities inbuilt in our culture. Yes, I am talking about sustainability.
I have heard from many sources that sustainable development is just a book topic as of now. It is hard to practice in real world. Let us do a reality check. In the name of economic development, we have been heavily investing on infrastructure development. From where does the resources for such development come about? We all know that it is none other than from nature. It is not that we are unaware of these facts, but that have just tuned our attitude towards amassing more and more. Our education system needs to ramp up to achieve behavioral changes that align with the goal of sustaining the nature. Let me now drive you through a set of possible technologies that can be used in a sustainable developmental model.
Internet Services -- infrastructure reduction
The next disruption in technology is going be on the penetration of the Internet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of companies offer the option of work from home. In education, teaching-learning process now involves online tools. In this information age, it is known that 'data is the new oil'. This is becoming more evident in the present pandemic situation. In the future transport of people is going to reduce tremendously, there will be lesser dedicated office spaces. This will bring down air pollution and cluttered roads may become a thing of the past. Telemedicine will become a prominent technology, enabling health access in remote villages through healthcare ATMs. This challenging times can become a boon for the power sector by expanding its reach for renewable.
Technology driven Agriculture -- sustainable living
Another interesting area of technology driven innovation is in agriculture. For a country to prosper its farmers need to be adequately supported. IoT technology can be used to conserve water and satellite based imagery can be adopted to identify suitable land. Smart agriculture can be employed to reduce the time to market and can ensure best price to the farmers. Terrace farming opens wide possibilities in the urban sector. Office backyards, mostly public sector ones, are being utilized for growing vegetables. The Cochin airport claims to have grown sufficient vegetables for its employees using the recycled water used for cleaning the solar panels. A major lesson that the COVID pandemic teaches is the need to develop healthy and sustainable food habits. Vegetarianism can be practiced and followed, and thereby decreasing the violence on animals. Scientific evidence suggests that around 40% of global emissions can be reduced by shifting towards sustainable vegetarian diet. In addition to this, healthy food habits can enable one to develop higher taste and ethical behavior.
Soft Skill Development -- cognitive and behavioral skill
The COVID crisis is also helping us imbibe several soft skills. There are encouraging signs to provide holistic education, that caters to developing inter-personal skills and personality development. Humanitarian thinking and inculcating eternal values should also be incorporated. This is also the time for inculcating the habit of acquiring spiritual sciences, which is otherwise mostly neglected. Social decision making has more than ever been a useful consideration in this difficult time. People, in general have attempted to obey government notifications. Another positive effect of the pandemic was on the increased enrollments for music, dance and cultural activities - which were made possible due to video conferencing and social media.
On a positive note ...
The challenges due to the pandemic has set forth time to think and reflect on several aspects of human decision making. It has provided a new direction to correct some our attitudes, and also helped us to think in a humble spirit. Let these lessons be implemented in the coming days, so that we can sustain our planet and hand over a better Earth to the generations to arrive.
