Musings on Building Back Better

“With this restart, a window of hope and opportunity opens… an opportunity for nations to green their recovery packages and shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and more resilient.”

I particularly like that comment by the UN Climate Chief.

Like many people, during the lockdown we experienced where I lived, I kept thinking about what comes next? What will our everyday look like once we are able to leave our houses and take part in communal activities again? But beyond that, I kept thinking about what a chance this is for the collective "us" to rethink our choices and actions - to build back better.

Of course, I did not make that phrase up. Many public and private sector leaders across the globe are applying this principle to classify how they will reopen their economies and societies and how they will press restart with their various stimulus packages. The build back better concept actually comes from disaster relief circles, where you build back better after a disaster strikes, like a hurricane or earthquake.

I don't want to downplay how hard that pandemic has been for millions across the globe - throwing their lives into complete and utter turmoil. Their experiences and their pain matter. For many people, they do not have the luxury of thinking about what building back better means, they need to focus on one day at a time.

That is why it is so important that people who can are thinking about building back better: The choices we make now at this pivotal moment will impact us all going forward.

It is absolutely tragic that it took a worldwide pandemic to cause many to realize that there could be a better way to do business and live our lives. The world is now watching what governments and the private sector do - not only to get jobs back - but to create an inclusive and sustainable global economic system.

I don't want this experience and these realizations to have been wasted.

Sustainability is on the top of my mind every day.

I want to do my part to help build back better. While much of the talk about building back better is largely at a very high-level right now, I want to find a way to press restart for myself and the things I can influence, also. Because when it comes down to it, it is the individual choices that we all make that will ultimately make a large difference going forward.

Never doubt the collective power of individuals.

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What are 5 small things I have done?

1. Educating myself more. I am taking courses on Coursera to beef up my sustainability knowledge. I am a sustainability professional - I know a lot about it - but I committed myself to learning even more and digging into areas that I am not the most fluent in.

2. Informing myself about what governments are doing. I am informing myself about the various stimulus packages - in particular in the European Union where I live. What is being proposed? Which policies will change? How will they affect business? How will they affect consumers? I can't be informed and make good choices if I don't know what I am talking about.

3. Paying attention to the private sector. I set up a Google alert so I can monitor what a few key business leaders are doing currently to improve how they operate - toward all of their stakeholders.

4. (Re-)Examining the consumption choices we make. I am looking very closely at the consumption choices we as a family make - from the energy we consume (Is it from a sustainable source?) to the food we eat to the choices we make every time we hand our money over for a good or service. Honestly, it is exhausting. I thought I was already doing this. But I realized that there is always room for improvement. I need to be supporting the economy I want to see for the future.

5. Talking - and listening - to my children. The Corona crisis scared my kids like nothing else has. It was both far away since nobody had it in our family, and so close, because they felt like it was lurking everywhere. Through observing how the Corona pandemic has impact so many people across the globe so differently, we have witnessed how the broader systems have often failed in the face of this challenge. I am amazed by the questions my children ask and the assumptions they have about how systems should work. I sometimes think they are the smartest adults in the room.

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