The meaning of home in Covid-19

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There will undoubtedly be many important lessons learned as we emerge and prepare for life after the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons on how to more quickly identify virus spread and transmission, how to better prepare people and communities for future public health crisis, how to best protect the most vulnerable populations around us and how we adapt as humans to the world and spaces around us. And all of these lessons are also being learned alongside one of the greatest existential threat of our lifetimes: climate change.

India has been uniquely affected by this crisis, having both the second-highest population in the world and Covid-19 triggering one of the worst domestic migration crises ever—with millions of people fleeing overpopulated cities into rural areas as wages for the most vulnerable all but disappeared.

One of the places many of us have had to adapt to in unprecedented ways during the pandemic is our home. For some, our home symbolised steadiness in unsettling times. It was our safe space where we could engage with family, connect with the nature and the community around us, and in many cases, with a little adaption, seamlessly do the work that we once did in our offices. It wasn’t always easy, but we could make it work.

But for the close to 50 percent of the world’s population that lives below the poverty line, the meaning of home during Covid-19 may represent something quite different. This is especially true for homes in communities all across the globe that are greatly underserved and lack the essential services and amenities that many of us take for granted. Consider homes that don’t have natural sunlight or outside spaces, homes constructed with toxic materials, homes without access to safe and drinkable water or homes with dangerously inefficient energy systems that are not only a significant financial burden, but are actively destroying our environment at the same time. Residents of such homes are the population most vulnerable and hardest hit during any health pandemic and extreme climate event.

Affordable green homes are more important now than ever before and they need to be a significant part of our Covid-19 and climate crisis recovery strategies. Across the world, the green building community—largely through certification programs—has focused on helping people and communities become more adaptable and more resilient. This collective work has built a strong foundation for sustainability.

Green residential construction offers tried and proven strategies and outcomes across the environmental and human health and wellness spectrum. Consider the following:

• Green homes support human health and comfort by incorporating design considerations for improved indoor air quality. Enhanced ventilation supports proper air flow throughout a home, bringing fresh air inside while flushing exhaust and contaminated air out, making indoor air cleaner and healthier for occupants. In multi-family green projects, enhanced compartmentalisation strategies help prevent air, odour and smoke transfer between units.

• Green homes support human health and wellness by promoting healthy materials. The materials you choose for your home can have a significant effect on your health, because too frequently they contain chemicals and toxins that can be released into the indoor environment. Green homes use non-toxic building materials that emit fewer volatile organic compounds ensuring a healthier indoor environment.

• Green homes improve human health and wellness, as well as help to fight climate change, because energy-efficient homes burn fewer fossil fuels, decreasing air pollution associated with buildings. Green homes make use of clean, renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, and help to reduce energy consumption. Improved performance reduces both energy bills and energy-generated pollution that contributes to climate change.

• Green homes improve human health and wellness because they promote water efficiency. Green homes reduce water waste by utilising efficient plumbing fixtures. They also make use of alternative water sources, such as rainwater collection, and utilise recycling and purifying systems for their irrigation and water needs.

Despite this promising foundation, the health disparities and vulnerabilities revealed by Covid-19 have shown us that significant work still remains to be done. Climate change, Covid-19 and future pandemics have challenged all of us to adapt, to think differently and to challenge all of our previous assumptions on many issues. And time is not on our side.

If we are going to effectively reverse the damage done by climate change—and invest in equity for vulnerable populations—our homes, buildings and communities must move from not just doing less harm, to becoming truly regenerative. Our homes and buildings should generate more energy than they consume, save more water than they use, remove more carbon than they produce and have a positive impact on the physical, mental and social well-being of the people inside them.

These last few months have shown us that staying resilient means prioritising each other and leading with our values and compassion out front. As we move from staying at home to rebuilding our economies, businesses and communities, let’s lead with green homes, green buildings and green communities for all. Home is where the heart is and we all need to work together to make sure the future is healthy, sustainable and accessible to all.

The writer is President and CEO of USGBC and GBCI

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.