Why can’t cleaner air last beyond circuit breaker?

I refer to the report, “Cleaner air in Singapore with reduced activities but it’s unlikely to last” (May 13).

The report underlined a grossly underrated benefit of the Covid-19 pandemic: The improvement in the air that we breathe.

Singapore is not the only place to witness this. Reports from countries such as China and India have shown that people are enjoying clearer skies.

A straightforward correlation between the decline in human economic activity and the improvement in air quality should tell us something — that our way of doing business was damaging nature. There is no point in making lots of money if the air you breathe harms your health.

If there is a lesson that we need to learn from Covid-19, it is that we have to change how we do business in a way that drives prosperity without damaging the planet.

We cannot afford to think of economic growth and environmental preservation as separate concepts — we should place equal importance on both concurrently. We should not view the improved air quality as one that is “unlikely to last”, but instead, ask ourselves “why can’t it last?”

This is a question we need to ask ourselves during this circuit breaker to contain Covid-19.

Even though environmental activists sometimes like to “demonise” how businesses operate, environment and business are not necessarily a zero-sum game; they can co-exist.

Many new technologies can keep growing without damaging the environment and such technologies have been developed in our national laboratories, such as the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute.

Entrepreneurship is about finding marketable solutions to the challenges people face. The problems confronting our environment are apparent, and we are challenging entrepreneurs to find commercial solutions. We need entrepreneurs to challenge old notions and clean up industries for the better.

The Covid-19 pandemic has damaged the global economy as governments around the world have had to shut down their economies.

We should not look to go back to normal, for the new normal is already here. Our habits have changed since the circuit breaker started. Let us continue to embrace our newly discovered fresh air, and start building businesses that are both sustainable and profitable.

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Dr Alex Lin is the interim chief executive officer of NTUitive, the innovation and enterprise company of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

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