Need of self-sustaining units
And long term plans for future
Life is facing unforeseen challenges nowadays. Our needs are changing from luxury to survival in many incidences. We are facing back to back threats in the form of disasters and pandemics. But on many conditions, we stay so helpless since our current systems are outdated and inadequate to deal with it. We need different types of small and long term action plans to equip our society vigorously to fight against these unexpected threats. We may need to adapt in all aspects of life which extend from our day to day activities to long term investments.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF LIFE
Air, Water, Food, Shelters are the fundamental requirements for anybody to live. I may add up electricity to that. Nowadays everything runs on it. A unit will be self-sufficient if it could provide these to a certain level to its inhabitants. We are operating in a top to the bottom method where a system provides all the services and we pay for it. We are not directly contributing anything to the resource production level at all. This was effective in the old days where things were happening like the way how we planned. Now the scenario has changed. Many disasters are occurring and we are always expecting the system to correct it.
What if the system goes off or any unfortunate issue comes up? What if a brake down to the system happens by various means? It could be social, environmental, political, or economic. What we forget is, we are also part of the system and we can also contribute to it. This is where we realize that it’s time for our reformation to face the challenges that we expect in the nearby future.
FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF SOCIETY
Let’s deal with it one by one. A fundamental unit of society need not be a family always. A unit can be any shelter where people live. This could be a regular house or a temporary one. Any place a person uses for shelter should capable of providing these many life requirements. The various government policies have to be directing society eventually to achieve this goal. We made compulsory regulations in the housing sector for water supply and sanitation to resist the modern-day water crisis. Rainwater harvesting rules and sewage treatment guidelines are examples of that. Even though these are not notably effective, it is a baby step in that segment.
Each individual can be part of the fundamental resource production. In this method, the government should not take all the burden for production and cater all. The government has to be a facilitator and a responsible monitoring authority for support and validation. It can make policies to achieve people’s participation by imbibing a culture within them providing different types of subsidies and exemptions. This will induce the practice of new methods and attract their interest in it. Also simultaneously conventional methods can be improvised. We are having mostly macro-level policies that are inaccessible to the common people. Grass root level reincarnation is needed to make things as a custom to society. Here we need a combination of policies and regulations to make it done. There are some concepts are discussing below in which a common man can contribute to the basic factors of living using their “self- sustainable units”
Electricity
The unit wise collaborative production process can be a solution for resource production. We take the production of electricity as an example. Electricity is the predominant element that will be driving the future. Solar energy is the major renewable energy source which we anticipate for the production. Since the automobile industry also steps into the electrical segment the consumption rate is going to shoot up like anything. Cost of solar panels and the efficiency are the major challenge what we face in production. We can’t always rely on solar energy since it varies much depends on the weather conditions. Here the solution can be “Production by the mass” method instead of “mass production”. The amount of sunlight incidents on the solar panel matters the output. So for mass production, we need a lot of areas to set the panels. But If each household unit can get a minimum amount of solar panels, that will be connected to a central system for a certain number of units can solve this problem
Now we need to see it systematically. Let’s analyze the role of the government and a unit step by step. The government can make compulsory rules for the installation of solar panels to get a housing permit. It’s a one-time investment process. A person who applies for an electrical connection should authorize the government to have his solar energy electricity. These independent units could only produce a very less amount of electricity. But once it connects to a central line, collectively several households altogether produce a considerable amount. This can be accountable for resource production.
The government can give subsidies and tax benefits for panel installation similar to the LED light promotion. The electricity bill can be calculated based on the production and consumption of each household so that this will benefit the users also. Since the production process is not consistent, we may have to couple it with the conventional distribution lines. This will eventually create various types of employment and manufacturing processes which also boost up the economy.
Agriculture
Agricultural sector is a very important space where we need to concentrate more. A house hold require small amount of food produce daily. If we can cultivate something which are fresh clean and harm free, it will be great We all are having a perception that agriculture needs large amount of land parcel and effort. Here introduction of new methods by integrating technological advancement will play its role. Spatial constraints, availability of sunlight and water challenges urban small households in this process. There are multiple ways to solve this in modern world.
Terrace & community gardens are certainly an alternative but indoor vertical farming is a promising solution which we can practice for small spaces in future.
I would say each house hold should have at least an agriculture room for cultivation. It can be a dedicated room or balcony space which is exclusively for agricultural purpose only. This can be added to the mandatory requirement like rain water harvesting in the norms. This hardly needs 3 to 5 sqm area for a nuclear family. It will make the unit to contribute to the production process chain.
Controlled Environment Agriculture is a technology-based approach to food production. The aim of this is to provide optimal growing conditions throughout the development of the plant. Production takes place within an enclosed growing structure such as a greenhouse or a room. Many closed urban realms don’t have the availability of fertile soil. The practice of Hydroponics solves it through growing plants in solutions of nutrients that are essentially free of soil. In this vertical farming innovation, the roots of the plants are submerged in a solution of nutrients. This works with tissues instead of soil. It optimizes the use of resources such as water, energy, space. We can use supplementary lighting for growing lettuce under a hydroponic system
Community cultivation
Urban High rise apartments can also be a part of this by providing community vegetable gardens or balcony garden patches. Many builders are providing community parks and play areas for their inhabitants. In the same manner, we can introduce community cultivation spaces also. If this can be a practice, people living in vertical units can cultivate together and be a self-sufficient urban society. This practice will increase social gathering and create harmony within a society.
Similarly Educational and health institutions, Government offices, Cyber parks etc. can also practice this. It acts as a relaxing space for the employees and students and contributes to the landscaping and food produce production.
This green initiative will surely reduce air pollution to a certain level. This will act as a natural sound and dust insulator to a unit. Likewise we need to be independent and interdependent socially to achieve self-sustaining units. It’s high time to think similar ideas and equip the society to fight for it.
Earth!
Various ways to conserve water and air are happening all around the globe. We saw the ozone layer has recovered itself. Nature always has a way of balancing. We all were talking in the global conventions that earth won’t be lasting if humans continue to do the manipulation. What we miss that, it is the other way around. Earth will be there as such or slightly different, but humans won’t. Humans are the most vulnerable species on earth. We may not be able to bear any change in the current environment. Most of the other living beings are more resistive and adaptive than us. We have evidence of unanswered extinction of many species including dinosaurs. These disasters are a gentle reminder of that. So we need long action plans to heal naturally with these short term survival plans.
Reality!!!!
These self-sustaining units can be a short term solution for the problems that we face now. But longer action plans are needed to create an attitude change within society. Attitude decides our behavior in all aspects. We should create a culture within us to sustain the climate and humanity as well. This awareness should create within people rather than beating the bush always. Mostly all of our “planting a tree”, “climate-resilient architecture and planning” movements stay namesakes in social media statuses on environment day.
Basic education is an effective solution for this. Let the students “learn things through experiencing it”. Experiencing scenarios with the help of technologies is a promising idea to think of. Teaching earthquake or effect of a nuclear bomb by using a video that shows the grievances will surely make them think from the affected one's side. Once they practically feel the misery, sympathy, empathy, and compassion towards everything will grow within them more than religion and region.
We all follow our heart and it never feels for the environment and humanity until it gets close to it. There should be creative ideas to connect people to nature. We saw when the globe went to quarantine, a lot went back to nature. They planted seeds and lovingly observed the evolution of the saplings like their baby. So this attachment should be there for nature. Then only we won’t harm it. We all have to co-exist here. ”We live, and let live”
