Rampant consumer behavior may lead to tragic end

To The Daily Sun,

Ever wonder what happens to all those Christmas lights we throw away? The author of the book I mentioned in a previous letter says that they probably wind up in China. They are baled and sent back to the same area that they came from as a manufactured product. What are we missing here?

Well, over there, the EPA is not looking over the process. It is just one of the “dirty” little secrets of international trade and the imbalances it creates. Look under the hood of this business and you find that rampant consumer behavior is to blame. Even so, given the facts, no matter how ugly, recycling is very important because the mining for raw materials is expensive and detrimental to the environment.

It is clear that we have a worldwide problem. It goes something like this:

1. Being human, we will continue to consume manufactured products.

2. Those products not consumed in some way become a waste product when worn out.

3. Demand for marginally useful products like Christmas lights seems endless. Therefore, they continue to produce a waste stream into infinity.

4. The salvage people, recyclers, will always have a supply on which to draw. Unfortunately, their waste product is useless dross that often gets burned.

5. Without environmental controls to prevent open burning, air pollution of epic proportions occurs. China is beginning to see the error of their ways as relates to air quality.

6. Even though we are recycling items such as metals, plastics, and paper, the earth is not blessed with endless supplies of ores. Wood is somewhat renewable but we are not managing that resource well, either.

7. There appears to be a solution. Alas, no one seems to be in charge of seeing to it. The developed nations should be the ones to take the lead but they continue to create demand for products.

8. That demand causes a dynamic that is out of sync with the natural world. At some point, the natural world will be used and abused to the point of catastrophic failure.

I can visualize the end point, but I probably won’t be around to experience it, given my current age. Air quality will decline, eventually becoming poisonous. Climate will become tropical and become more violent. The ability to produce food sufficient to feed those who are hungering will diminish. It’s not a feel-good movie. It is a tragedy that doesn’t need to happen. The current political agenda is not promoting an air of cooperation. We, the world, cannot solve the problem with more division. On the current course, it would appear we will have rampant consumption and more wars with their destructive results.

It’s hard to love your neighbor as yourself. Excuse my gloom, but I see a tragic end of the “civilized” world. As they say, it’s only a matter of time.

Bill Dawson

Northfield