21 days of this lock-down means CORONA i.e. “Cut-down On Resources Otherwise Nothing At all” for sustainability.

In current scenario while you are at home and this current nationwide lock-down is further proposed for next 21 days, cutting down on utilization and wastage of several resource driven lifestyle things like mobile data, food, water, electricity etc would greatly help our society, government machinery, our environment and mother Earth in a several ways.

Do remember that only your money belongs to your and all these resources belong to society and hence we must need to preserve all the available them at their maximum.

AVOID WASTAGE OF INTERNET DATA in this critical time when resources are so precious.

As this current lock-down the need for data will become more and more apparent due to personal and professional needs at home. This also means that data centers will be pushed harder than they ever were to accommodate this increased load.

This simply means that the data center performance requirements will continue to rise high. And although these demands rise, the count of resources will be trimmed greatly due to this lock-down and hence its important to be responsible towards our data usage and curtail its consumption as much as possible in given scenario to help data centers to maintain and meet up the increased requirements.

As this lock-down continues and if the requirement of data continues to surge, one thing is inevitable; data centers will soon be forced act adversely to grapple with a growing mass of data, something that will require a rethink into how it is all managed. This may even lead to revision of rate and usage limits. You can refer to below points to reduce data usage in your home.

• Turn off maps / GPS / locator in apps on your phone as these are almost meaningless right now in this lock-down. These location services are constantly running in the background and if your phone is connected to your home’s WiFi that’s just soaking up the data.
• Avoid unnecessary heavy downloads over WhatsApp or unnecessary / repetitive forwarding of heavy content to others over groups.
• Switch to lighter browsers on your device which compresses (ie: uses less) data on laptops and computers.
• Download your music instead of streaming as Streaming music and / or video hogs up the data.
• Check your router as you can allot data usage per day to certain devices.
• Don’t just turn off the TV while leaving the Chromecas or Amazon Fire Stick  streaming.  Get in the habit of turning it all off at once.
• Use lower quality streaming on YouTube / Netflix / Amazon Prime etc to a decent / tolerable level and save that data.  Trust me, it really does not matter much to our eyes.
• Turn off auto-play. You may want to check the auto play feature on your streaming services so that you do not stream video / audio after you’ve fallen asleep.
• Make sure your security is set on your router. Your neighbors may be using your data without you even knowing.  Secure, secure, secure!

What other ways are we missing?  Let us know in the comments!

AVOID WASTAGE OF FOOD when everyone is struggling for it.

Most obviously, saving food wastage would save the resources and energy that go into producing food at every step of the supply chain, from farming to packaging to shipping where every step requires involvement of human resources to manage the resources effectively and efficiently in these wee hours. If more food gets wasted, it would have subsequent unnecessary load on overall supply chain and bad impact on our landfills – so reducing the amount of food that goes uneaten, and eventually spoils, could lower overall emissions and save precious resources. Wasting perfectly good items also contributes to food and nutrition insecurity, since fresh, healthy items tend to be those that are wasted most, leaving behind non-perishable, processed products.

Though this problem is a global one, but in given challenging situation of lock-down we can certainly try not to be that offender, wasting up to 40% of our food supply each year. Here’s how you can do your part.

• Buy only what you need: Think critically about what you buy. “When shopping, plan your grocery list, avoiding impulse buying or stocking up so much that you can’t use the food by the time it’s going to go bad,”
• Limit your menu: It may be quite exciting to make a lot of variations to show your creativity to all your family members. No harms at all but curtail your excitements for the time being. More menu options means more waste and this is certainly not the good time to take any risk with such precious resources – your food ingredients!
• Keep portion sizes moderate: “Overeating is also a form of food waste, In fact, a recent study published argues that, globally, excess body weight corresponds to 140 billion pounds of food waste. Why to gain weight at the cost of precious food ingredients and most importantly your own good health!
• Eat what you take in your plate: Needless to say this should be always practiced but right now the lock-down situation does not allow you to offer any excuse to leave anything at all in your plate. Be watchful towards others plates as well, especially kids.

What other ways are we missing?  Let us know in the comments!

AVOID WASTAGE OF WATER as every single drop is needed.

Next to air, water is the most important element for the preservation of life. Water is a finite commodity which, if not managed properly, will result in shortages in the near future. Water conservation can go a long way to help alleviate these impending shortages.

• Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket: You may get stressed out due to your busy schedule managing personal & professional priorities at home but do remember that every cigarette butt or tissue you flush away also flushes away five to seven gallons of water.
• Put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank: Put an inch or two of sand or pebbles in the bottom of a one liter bottle to weigh it down. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanism. In an average home, the bottle may save five gallons or more of water every day without harming the efficiency of the toilet.
• Take baths using tub or take shorter showers: A typical shower uses five to ten gallons of water a minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rise off.
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or while shaving: Needless to add any more words here.
• Use your washing machine / dishwasher for full loads only: Every time you run your washing machine / dishwasher, you use about 70 – 90 Liters of water.
• Don’t let the faucet run while you clean vegetables: Rinse your vegetables instead in a bowl or sink full of clean water.
• If you wash dishes by hand, don’t leave the water running in high force for rinsing: First gather all your washed dishes in the sink, then rinse them quickly with lower flow of water.
• Use a broom to clean house instead of hose pipe: Using a hose wastes hundreds and hundreds of liters of water. Being at home should not lead to such convenient excitements to deep clean your house with running water.

What other ways are we missing?  Let us know in the comments!

AVOID WASTAGE OF ELECTRICITY so that we all live comfortably.

Remember that there is a connection between how much electricity you use and your environment. Your personal changes might seem small, but momentum and progress will become visible as more people become conscious of the effects of their electricity use. Until the time when we can fully depend on renewable energy sources, contribute to our collective effort of preserving natural resources and slowing down the effect of global warming.

Here are few ways you and your family can save electricity at home conveniently.

• Unplug devices when they are not in use: This seems like an obvious one, but many people are unaware of how much electricity they burn by having unnecessary devices plugged in. For example, electrical items on standby, such as TV’s, computers and video games all draw a small amount of electricity whilst waiting for use. If you’re not using them for a while turn them off at the wall. The electricity they consume might seem small, but when put together over a long period, it all adds up.
• Use large appliances together: Your washing machine and dryer may be energy efficient, but they’re still consuming a lot of electricity with each use. To save as much energy as possible, pool your laundry together (as a family or roommates) and do it all at once. This will cut down on the number of times the washer is used per week. You can also cut out dryer use by drying your clothes in the sun if you live in a home that allows for it.
• Adjust light and other electrical appliances usage: Must remember to switch off lights / fans / TV / Laptop / WiFi /AC and other several electrical home and kitchen appliances when they are not in use.

What other ways are we missing?  Let us know in the comments!