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Consumption - The global killer blighting the planet
Most of what we buy is not necessary for us to live comfortable lives, but as prosperity increases so do our expectations. Our cravings are fuelled by clever advertising that beguiles us and generates gaps in our lives. But in all this we are blinded to the strain our continual cravings are putting on us, on people living in the developing world and on the earth. Juliet Ash spells it out in black and white to ensure we get out of the red and back into the green. In the UK we live as if there are a couple of planets going spare, consuming three times our fair share of the earth’s assets. Every day we each use around 150 litres of pure water, water that is fit to drink but which we use to wash our clothes and flush our toilets. Every year we each produce over half a tonne of rubbish, most of which ends up buried in holes in the ground, out of sight and mind. Our high-protein diets have caused us to, quite literally, fish the cod out of the North Sea and the salmon out of the Atlantic, and we dedicate great swathes of the planet to satisfying our ever-increasing demands for meat. Our lifestyles have made our ecological footprint too big for our ecological boots. More than half of Britain’s ecological footprint is made up of the resources required to absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. Many of the things we buy and do cause the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere: we burn natural gas in our boilers for hot water and warm homes; we use electricity for lighting, entertainment, cooking; we drive – to work, to school, to the supermarket. Even the food we eat is dependent on the use of fossil fuels for its production, its packaging and its transportation. And the gadgets and gizmos we own, while not obvious emitters of carbon dioxide, will have needed energy for their production and distribution.
by ks
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