[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

David Suzuki said it in a nutshell. Consumerism will be the end of us all. Hardly anyone in the developed world wants to go back to the bad old days of " Doing it Yourself "
We want it all, and we want it now.
We hop in the car to drive 1/4 a km up to the shops when a brisk walk would be best for our health. We wear clothes made from synthetic fibres when we all know that cotton/wool is better as well as renewable . We eat food that is so processed that it needs added vitamins and minerals to make it nutritious. We can't be bothered to clean dirty nappies, so we make the poor kid wear a plastic one, that won't break down biologically, till that little kids great great grand kids are born. We use solvents and cleansers instead of good old elbow grease.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I've not ever done the same things. The convenience of all the products on the supermarket shelf is a boon to everyone. But is the ecological cost of it worth this convenience?
It is my belief that consumerism won't slow down, it will come to a grinding halt the day we use up all the earths resources.
It is our responsibility to teach our children/grand kids, how to do it for themselves. Little things like learning to sew, cook and grow veges, even how grow and kill your own meat, basic building skills etc etc because the day will come when it will be those that have these basic skills that will survive.
As was said before in this thread, The Amish have the right idea, when the sh*t hits the fan, it won't make any difference to them.
A couple of good books to read on the subject of the end of the world, are-:
" Stark " and " This Other Eden " both by Ben Elton. Wickedly funny, and highly relevant.