Warm and Calm
12 October 2023
Today the weather is quite warm, the afternoon class until evening is located in building B2 on the 3rd floor. I have used this class before and indeed this small class feels quite warm. But today this class feels hotter than before.
Then I thought, “Is today’s class part of the challenge of living with 4kWh per day?”, “Are we currently engaging in learning and teaching activities with minimal energy?” Hahaha, I just murmured to myself,
I observed the condition of the class getting hotter, some students started looking for solutions by making fans out of notebooks or cardboard. Some students seem unfocused in following the lesson, some even fall asleep haha 😂
Today the class only uses a few lights and the air conditioning is off, the Professor explained the cause briefly, but I didn’t understand what happened. Until everyone in the class couldn’t stand it anymore, the professor paused the class, asking everyone to go out and breathe.
This condition is uncomfortable, and not effective for the class but we managed to save energy usage today, yay! 😅
I try to imagine today’s experience with more extreme conditions, I wonder how the class would be living in a rural area.
Although it’s actually easy for me to imagine living in a rural area because when I was a child, the area where I lived was still a rural area. Electricity was accessible but often unstable. I have experienced days without electricity. But in this context, it’s difficult to imagine in the present time, to carry out learning activities without electricity, all learning and teaching activities in this class use electronic devices, such as projectors, laptops, iPads, and smartphones.
Then imagine living in the middle of conflict, these learning activities must be carried out in areas experiencing conflict or war.
When it’s uncomfortable in this class because the temperature is hot due to the air conditioning not working, we can easily go outside to seek fresh air. But what if we have to stay in the class because it’s even more uncomfortable outside?
Let’s assume today’s incident is a simulation of conducting lectures with limited energy, so someday if the condition repeats or even worsens, we know how to deal with it.
And incidents like this can happen more often in the future due to the energy crisis, do we want to just protest? or do we want to be part of the solution?
This moment made me reflect on how difficult life is without energy, and we are actually heading towards that condition if we don’t find solutions for energy soon.
I invite everyone to take minimal steps to reduce #minimalmengurangi, it can be the beginning for us to prolong the comfortable conditions on Earth.
