Designing A Sustainable Future
The country is like any other living organism. It contains its own environment and ecosystems. Now and then, like any other organism, the country gets damaged, overused, or even erodes with time. To make the country last longer, we try to repair it. Designing a sustainable future does just that. It's medicine, an antidote to improve the well-being of the country and the tiny cells (us) who depend on it. But to understand how to medicate the country, we should understand its symptoms first.
What Are Some Challenges India Faces Currently?
Our country has a highly populated urban area and a weather-dependent rural area. Large infrastructures in urban areas, like concrete buildings and bridges, have huge operation costs. With changing climate, the state has to spend billions of dollars on new repairs and reinforcements. The lasting heat waves, water problems, and land displacement issues have led to more rural-urban migrations and loss of employment.
Urban areas' poor planning has caused housing difficulties, traffic congestion, and employment issues. According to Health Effects Institute, 18% of the total death in 2019 were caused by carbon emissions. MHUPA, in its recent report, states that about 18 million people are experiencing housing shortages in urban areas.
How Does India Respond?
In the UN General Assembly Summit of 2015, India plotted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to reduce inequalities, clean the environment, and increase the incomes of people. SDGs look at society, economy, and the environment as one. It attempts to nurture the country wholesomely. By 2030, India hopes to attain a sustainably developed country on all fronts.
At the Paris Agreement on Global Climate, India had set the target of meeting 57% of its energy needs through renewable sources by 2027.
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The Indian Railways, the daily transporter of 23 million people, plans to switch to low-carbon energy use.
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Solar panel costs have been brought down by at least 30% for domestic use.
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The Supreme Court ruling made the vehicle emissions norms stricter.
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The wildlife (protection) amendment bill 2021 aims to protect and manage areas and species defined in the act.
What do we do?
Lawmakers, manufacturers, civilians, and private and public organizations can do their part in practising environmentally friendly decision-making. For example, a manufacturer can design a water sprinkler that uses processed or desalinated water. The government can incentivize the sale of such products, and civilians can choose to support local businesses. Legislators can uphold standards and requirements for the private sector and individuals to scale up their green efforts.
Manufacturers and private companies can bring innovative engineering like selling hybrid vehicles, switching to green packaging, using recyclable materials, and following proper waste disposal protocols. Nowadays, companies are switching to AI and the Internet of Things to monitor their waste and carbon emissions and are strategizing ways to curb that.
From an individual standpoint, adopting sustainable principles means looking at the nation socialistically. It implies gathering data around vulnerable social issues, analyzing them, and acknowledging class, religious, caste, and gender conflicts pervading the country. It demands political advocacy by everyone to improve legislation and reduce inequalities.
From the point of the state, it requires policy-making that will include everyone. This reduces resource concentration and spreads it evenly across the country, leaving some for everyone. With an everyone-friendly approach, the state can then invest in endeavours like public transport, provide incentives for green buildings, and redesign construction regulation to enable equal distribution of floor space per-person.
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