Making the most of our environment (From Gazette & Herald)

Making the most of our environment

BARELY questioned last century was the assumption that the more products we buy, use and throw away, the better off we are.

But over-consumption drives environmental destruction and the UK currently consumes far more than its fair share of resources. With just 1pc of the earth's population, the UK uses 5pc of the planet's capacity for carbon dioxide absorbtion, over 2pc of the planet's sustainable timber yield, and 5pc of its sustainable aluminium yield.

Several years ago, a way was devised of calculating how much a country can consume without damaging the global environment and without using more than its share in terms of global population. This is known as the concept of "environmental space".

Using up a non-renewable resource is often not the most pressing problem for the environment. The impacts of mining, extraction, processing and waste can be severe. More often than not, the product being extracted is from a poor country (which is less able to enforce environmental protection) for consumption in a developed country.

As one example, the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine in New Guinea has not only destroyed the ecosystem on which 30,000 tribal people depended for their livelihoods, but it also dumps 89,000 tonnes of mining waste into the local river daily.

Producing metal is also energy-intensive. The energy used to make aluminium is more than the total energy consumed by 45 African nations combined.

Using environmental space calculations, Britain needs to cut virgin steel use by 83 pc by 2050 (when world population is expected to be around 10 billion), virgin aluminium use by 88pc by 2050, and virgin wood use by 73pc.

Product design, waste minimisation, durability and recycling can help to reduce resource use, but we also need to tackle consumerism. This means asking fundamental questions like: is the product really necessary? And could the product be replaced with a service? (eg nappy laundering service rather than disposable nappies).

Deep changes in society will be required if we are to meet with our environmental space targets for a just and sustainable world. But our feel-good factor, fortunately, does not seem to depend on consumption.

A study looking at 20 different countries found that increased income in poorer countries did indeed increase happiness but, in richer ones, the correlation did not occur. Income and happiness stopped being related at about half the income of the average Briton.

JOSIE DOWNS

York & Ryedale Friends of the Earth

Updated: 10:25 Wednesday, January 14, 2004