Five components of Resilient Living in the wake of climate change

by Dr Umar Iqbal Bhatti

Climate change is real and is affecting our daily lives as anything.  Disasters are happening in every continent if not in every country such as flash floods, heat waves, rising temperatures and rapidly receding winters. These have disrupted normal lifestyle and health of mankind. Life is threatened and precious natural resources such as water is depleting fast. Habitats throughout the world and losing their character and maintenance of life is heavily burdened. In this article we will suggest a four pronged approach to tackle this phenomenon to combat its ill-effects. These measures will not only ensure safety of life but also improve its quality. These steps will ensure replenishing of precious natural  resources such as water, farmlands and forests. 

 *1. Adoption of eco-friendly construction*   These days, construction of our houses and workplaces is done by heavy use of concrete based material. This is a very suitable material with regard to its ease of use and durability. However, due to excessive use of water in making concrete, its use puts a heavy burden on healthy environment. It repels water and runoff of water results in drying of land and climate. Release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases amid use of concrete contributes towards heating of the environment. Its use is to be replaced by water absorbing materials. Use of other construction materials such lime, mud and bamboos is recommended to perform eco-friendly construction. When done right, these type of constructions not only save the environment but also money. In the last two decades, these types of ideas have been investigated thoroughly due to their importance. It has been proven in various experiments that such buildings can be constructed in less than half the cost of concrete. In Pakistan, at the time of major earthquake of 2010, around forty thousand houses of these kind were built and are still in use. Due to lighter weight of these materials, buildings are earthquake and flood resilient. This is also ensured through fatigue and strength testing using modern design methods. 

*2. Eco Friendly Energy Management*

Living needs comfortable environment for easy performing of daily chores and getting healthy sleep. For these purposes, provision of energy is a must. The energy requirements in present day society are met by advance technological means which result in destruction of heathy environment. One example of this is the use of fossil fuels which result in high pollution in water and air. We need to avoid these kind of methods.

There are three changes which will modufy the way our energy management system interacts with the environment. First, use of alternative energy resources such as solar or wind power to keep home temperature comfortable, second is the use of natural wood pellets for cooking purposes and third is exploitation of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is based on a system that extracts energy stored beneath the surface of a house and once installed will decrease heating and cooling expenditures to a large extent.

*3. Adoption of plant growth as occupation*There is no need to convince anybody that winning daily bread is essential part of life. The occupation you choose can make this world better or worse. In this respect, working in a plant nursery or an organic farm may earn you lesser money but the lifestyle and its impact on the environment will be healthy. In the supply chain of food there are many opportunities to earn money from growing food till presenting it on the table.

*4. Adoption of healthy diet * This seems to be a trivial matter and has been discussed in many different contexts in social literature. However, its need is to be understood very clearly. Healthy and balanced diet will consists of primarily plant based food and only minimal dairy and meat products. When compared to prevalent food choices such healthy diet not onlyy require lesser water to produce but also requires lesser water to ne digested. It also fights against disease to reduce or eliminate use of medicines which typically consume a lot of water to be made and harmful chemical processes for the environment.

*5. Recycling of the created domestic waste*  Last but not the least is to recycle the waste you are producing each and every day. This starts from recycling daily newspaper and kitchen waste and may also include installing a domestic wastewater cleaning system. Such measures will not only save the environment but also generate that extra money required every now and then.

Conclusion : This article summarizes nice ways to change daily living towards a lifestyle that will ultimately result in a healthy and prosperous society. Its not necessary to adopt all of these actions at once rather changes should be made one at a time so as to make the transition easier.