My Proposal to Save the Planet

A friend once asked me if I personally cared about global warming. The question was not a simple Yes or No question. Imagine if it was "hey, do you care about global warming?", and I go "I guess. Do you wanna get lunch?” On a second thought, I wish it was like that, it would have been hilarious.

I do care about global warming, but I have a bit of a different take on it. I do not think our individual attempts of saving the environment are going to do any noticeable impact to the planet. I could be wrong, but when we get to read more about where we actually are, and the damage that we have already caused, then one might reach the same conclusion I have reached. If you stop taking plastic bags from your local grocery store, and then your neighbors notice and start doing the same, then good job. That impact, however, would barely even matter in the larger scale of how much we have raped our planet.

Why the dark thoughts, Haitham? Can't we all do good deeds for the environment, become vegetarian, stop using plastic bags and straws and eventually reverse some of the damage? Taking it individually I think is nice to raise awareness, but will never be enough to reverse a damn thing. What will, however, is grand, long term plans. It requires large acts done by large entities: governments & large corporations. To be honest, for the most part they caused it. Not you and me using plastic bags. They can do actual, noticeable impact because they have the large momentum it requires.

Ok, this was not a short introduction. So, let me cut to the chase. Months after the question with my friend, I have a proposal to help save the planet. Not only would my plan help governments and corporations reduce the CO2 footprint, but also they would still save and make money out of it. My proposal is to reuse commercial buildings.

Generally, we can classify buildings to be either residential or commercial. Let us assume that residential buildings are used 24/7. People live in them, eat, sleep and use the space all the time. However, commercial buildings are almost never used all the time. In fact, what is universal working hours? The concept of 9 - 5 is scary. For one reason, this means the building is not used for 16 hours! Let me say this in a different way, we only use 30% of the potential of these buildings. We are wasting 70% of a resource. How is this related to global warming you say?

The sharing economy is how. If we allow the possibility to use the same space in different hours, we will have less need to build more. Do I need to explain how building more affects the environment? Google it. This creates a huge financial opportunity. Let me walk you through some details. First, surely almost every business has some staff members that do not really need to come during the 9 - 5 working hours. A business would spend less in rent if it finds a more efficient way to distribute working hours amongst its staff, and would also rent less space. Second, a building owner can make a lot more money leasing the same space for more than one renter. But wait a minute, renting is about having a physical address, a constant venue where you can always be found, right? Then how can more than one business be at the same place? I'll give you 10 seconds to think about it.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, .......and 1. The numbers were distracting, wasn't it?

Address evolution, that is my answer. It's 2019, it is time we make addresses space AND time based, and not just space based. Think of it: Business A is at Tham St. Building no. 5, floor 61, @ 9 am - 5 pm. Business B is at Tham St. Building no. 5, floor 61, @ 6 pm - 12 am. Two businesses, one office. Less space is used. Less money is spent, and more money is made by the owner. On top of all that, we built less, chopped off less trees, etc. until, in a big scale, we partly saved the planet.

You see, the sharing economy is a concept that is well understood at this point. In a way, it has helped the environment. Uber made us use the wasted resources of private cars, Airbnb made us use the wasted resources of unused spaces in our homes. Why can't we keep building on that in a global manner in many other ways. It would be interesting to see how many square meters (if you find yourself a bit repelled that I used meters, it is time you join the rest of the world with the metric system) all commercial buildings around the world is currently being occupied, and for how long a day. Although I do not know what that number is, I am positive it would be shocking. If for example, we say that number is 10 billion square meters, then 10 billion square meters are being used only 30% of the time. In theory, we could use only 3.3 billion square meters for the same purpose. Or in other words, we can host the next x number of offices within the same space. Maybe we do not even need to build new offices and commercial buildings for the next few decades.

I know this is a grand idea. This is exactly why I am writing about it. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the individual effort to save the planet, but I also find it a cute way that will never save the planet. This is my proposal for one grand way to have a great impact within the next few decades. Of course this will mean governments, communities, and business owners will have to introduce, adapt and commit to new regulations. However, we must look into the future, and start working on new schemes that may sound odd now, but needed and crucial in the near future.