Limiting face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease. As people practice social distancing and limit close contact with individuals outside their household, they have more time staying at home for entertaining activities or hobbies. There are so many things to do, and there are a lot of options out there. Staying at home can be a great time to set new goals, learn new knowledge, and pick up positive and sustainable habits.
Together with other local tertiary institutions, PolyU plays a part in promoting the UNIfy: Sustainable Living (Stay At Home Edition) Campaign to students, staff, and the community. This Campaign makes good use of social media channels to highlight four key messages to its audience, asking them to reflect on what they can do with their time at home, and make their days more sustainable and meaningful.
With extra time on our hands, the Campaign suggests that we can pay attention to our physical and mental wellness – that we can do more exercises, practice Mindfulness, and try Traditional Chinese regimens. When we find ourselves stuck at home for most of the day, we cannot always turn to takeaway meals and processed foods. The Campaign reminds us that there are convenient and healthy alternatives. It’s good to turn to low-carbon and plant-based options that are nutritious and can help us build healthy eating habits that last a lifetime. We can also examine our daily habits and find ways to make our home more energy-efficient, particularly when we have most of the electrical and kitchen appliances on when we are at home now.
The novel coronavirus epidemic also invites us to re-shape our consumption patterns and behavior. The Campaign advises that it can be a good opportunity to clean out the closet and drawers and repurpose and upcycle unwanted items. It is also the best timing to develop a green dining habit and bring our reusable meal boxes for takeaway food.
We realise the disruptions we encounter recently, and they may at first seem overwhelming. But let’s remember that there are ways of making the best out of any situation. The effort and time that is no longer being used to conduct our daily tasks can now be invested in resetting our lifestyles and taking our sustainability experience to the next level.
