CONSUMER advocates, worldwide, have always lent their support to environmentalists and their programmes. Indeed, many of their programmes coincide with those of consumerism. Accordingly, we endorse the New Year ‘green’ resolutions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and refer to them in this article.

The first environmental concern we would highlight is the urgent necessity of saving the soil of the planet. For thousands of years until the last two centuries, human beings comfortably sustained their livelihood by cultivating the soil of the planet. Indeed, all ancient civilisations recognised the earth as the greatest living organism, and deified and revered her. Over the last two centuries, however, with the growth of the Scientific Revolution and the belief in Materialism, the earth was regarded as inert, and reverence for it waned, and the ancient wisdom of returning to the earth the organic matter which had been taken from it was ignored. The earth was cultivated and exploited with insensitivity, and became exhausted. Less vegetation and trees grew naturally, and rivers began to dry up, and desertification began to occur. An example of this was parts of the American Midwest, which became a dust bowl, as was recorded in the great novel, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’.

In those areas which were wealthy enough, chemical fertilisers provided relief, and good crops were reaped, but food produced with chemical fertilisers was not as wholesome or safe, and food produced by normal organic earth and the continuous dependence on fertilisers was not only expensive, but never allowed the soil to recover, and it became thinner.

The way of saving the soil is simply to feed back into it the organic matter which had been derived from it, such as animal excrement, leaves, skins from milled grain, food waste, and so on. The use of compost in gardens is an example of this. Another way of saving the soil is by the rotation of crops, and allowing land to lie fallow with a green covering, and the planting of trees. One of the greatest modern advocates of saving the soil is the Indian mystic, Sadhguru, whose talks can be found on the Internet.

PLASTICS NEVER DISINTEGRATE
The next environmental problem we highlight is the indiscriminate use of plastics, which has now become an integral part of modern life. Plastics never disintegrate, and never eventually reintegrate into the soil as wood or metal or glass do, and this characteristic makes them, in many ways, deleterious to human life. Plastic bags and plastic bottles are cheap and very useful, making them an indispensable part of human life. It has also resulted in millions of these items being discarded and thrown into the environment every day. These eventually find themselves in waterways, where plastic bottles block or impede drainage, and bags are eaten by birds, turtles, and other aquatic animals, destroying their digestive systems and causing them to die a painful death. Often, fish harvested for human consumption have plastic bags in their stomachs, with dangerous bacteria or even poisons resulting in a danger to human health. The only answer to the plastic bag question is to curtail or stop using them, and to substitute alternatives made of paper, bamboo, cloth, glass or metal, such as tote bags, paper cups and plates, or even glass and metal utensils.

The excessive waste created by modern societies is among the greatest environmental problems, and this is due to the “throwaway culture”, where perfectly usable clothes, furniture or other items of household and personal use are discarded and thrown into the environment, thereby creating health hazards, since such cannot be easily and quickly removed. Electronic waste is a good example. Curtailing waste could be achieved if citizens could give full usage to the items they throw out, and find other uses for items they wish to discard. Curtailing waste could, therefore, be a money-saver and an environmental plus.

Modern life has witnessed the elimination of trees and other greeneries in towns and cities. In old Georgetown, for example, the main streets were tree-lined, and most yards had fruit trees and small flower and kitchen gardens. Georgetown was known as the Garden City of the West Indies. In the Guyana countryside, trees were planted everywhere, with farms growing food crops in addition to sugarcane and rice. Trees store carbon dioxide, and help to control warming. In the new year, every family should be encouraged to plant trees in their yards and surroundings, so that, once again, people would have fresh fruit and other food such as breadfruit. This could be done in the ten-foot minimum reserve between houses. Birds will once again return,a nd the nation would once again be securely on the environmental rails.

Consumer advocates and environmentalists are always concerned with the provision of clean and safe water for all communities for drinking, cooking and sanitation. The provision of such water incurs a heavy cost; if such is to be made available and sustained, consumers must learn to conserve it. Water should be used when necessary and should not be wasted, leaking pipes should be immediately repaired and taps should not be allowed to run aimlessly. Rainwater could be harvested, especially in the countryside and Interior for use in washing and other household chores.

The key to sustaining a healthy and pleasant environment is to realise that all life is one and interdependent and that if any segment of life is harmed, human life will ultimately suffer.