Let’s review the green cost of consumerism

MARIO Du Preez ( Western Daily Press, November 29) makes some very interesting points about consumerism. But we are in a cleft stick, aren’t we?

Consumerism is a source of wealth. Otherwise we really would still be in the Stone or Iron Ages knocking about the planet trying to live a subsistence life. On the other hand, consumerism is costing the planet.

We almost know for certain now that we are running out of time on this planet, from what scientists have recently said. It will become hotter and more inhospitable, weather much more angry and turbulent. Unfortunately, these effects will mostly impact the next generations, rather than us.

A good place for us now would be to review just what consumerism costs us environmentally. We could compile some statistics on just how long it takes for any made object to go from the factory to the tip. This would be fascinating. After all, most ‘things’ will end up there. It is just a matter of time, varied by each type of object.

Most things will not be of much interest to the next generation and only a few items will end up in museums or antiques galleries. So objects really are time-limited within the excesses of the generation that buys them.

I like going to the recycling tip. It’s fascinating to see what goes over the edge to landfill etc.

Yes, I know quite a few categories do get melted down, or whatever, in the course of a recycling effort.

When we buy a super-duper PC game or a book or a garden fork, for example, it would be interesting to read on the label next to the price, ‘The lifespan of this object is on average X number of years. Can you make it last longer?’

Elizabeth Smith Woodmancote, Gloucestershire