Monday, August 10, 2009

This Disposable Lifestyle

I've noticed lately that things aren't lasting as long as they used to. Is it me or is it that we're now living in a throw-away society? A few months back, Mum and Dad helped me purchase a new bookcase (well, they were transport, I had the money to buy it; getting it home was another thing!). Well, I got it home and Dad helped me put it together. However, when I began putting my books into its shelves, I found that I had to moved some of the heavier books from it to another bookcase that could handle the weight.
This new bookcase couldn't handle the books I wanted to put into it; and it made me angry that I had to stuff around with my collection to make sure this bookcase didn't fall down... and yet it was only a few months old. However, my older bookcases (one of them is over 10 years old) have been going strong and are holding books without bowing at all.

Are our lives becoming so disposable? There's disposable nappies, phones and contact lenses, plates and other items that are piling up in landfill all around the globe. And it's not only on land where things are filling up. Between North America and China, there's been a floating dump which stays on the tide lines in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's massive and disgusting; and it's getting bigger. And who is its main contributor? Us... humans. We are making this world our own disgusting, horrible little garbage dump when we should be looking at what our ancestors did and built. We should be asking how they made things that lasted for so long. Instead of making things that fall apart easier and need replacing sooner, we should be looking at products that don't break at a moment's notice and will last because that's what they used to do in the old days.

There's another reason why I'm questioning the quality of things in our world; and it's the future generations. What are they being taught now that will affect them when they are older? The fact that when something doesn't work the first time, well, that's it, chuck it out and buy another? No... I don't think that's the lesson we should be teaching our kids of tomorrow. The children who are going through primary school now should be taught that things can be fixed with a little know-how and guidance from a grandparent or somebody who knows how to fix things; no matter how small.

This world has turned into such a disposable world, our lifestyle has come to reflect it as well. We throw out so many tonnes of waste that we don't even think of cutting back on it all. All it takes it leaving the food wrapped in packages and grabbing some fresh produce and putting it a paper bag. Take those 'Green Bags' to the shops and back off using the plastic bags; which are made from crude oil and take around 20 years to break down. and even then, the gas they give off is harmful to the environment.
Instead of pointing fingers at the politicians and blaming them for our problems (and I'm not saying they're not part of the problem), we should begin looking at our own bad habits first and change them for the better. Why buy brand new clothes when you can get them at a Vinnies or Salvation Army store at a quarter of the price? It's recycling and feeding the poor at the same time.

Help stop this disposable lifestyle from taking over. It's bad for us, our planet and the future generations of our home.

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