The last time I wrote in this column, I vented my frustration over the malaise that is affecting a vast majority of people when it comes to acting responsibly when facing the challenge of climate change.
I focussed specifically on the fact that, despite knowing that burning fossil fuels will have dire consequences for the planet and future generations, more than 50% of new car buyers in Australia purchased a gas-guzzling SUV in 2022.
It’s not only the additional fuel, but the mass of materials needed to construct them. The average SUV weighs double that of a modest hatchback. That’s double the steel, copper, plastic - you name it. All finite resources that will eventually run out.
That brings me to another big irritation - Australia’s dismal failure when it comes to recycling which, when it all boils down (excuse any suggestion of a pun), has stemmed from the fact that most recycling is not cost-effective.
It’s much more profitable to cut down a forest to manufacture toilet paper than it is to go through the process of cleaning up and reusing waste paper, and the same applies to plastics, minerals and everything else.
Cost-of-living pressures are forcing many consumers to go for the cheaper option, but the afore-mentioned malaise doesn’t stop there. Take a close look at clearly marked communal waste bins and you’ll see even the most obvious recyclables unceremoniously dumped with food scraps and the like into the nearest receptacle.
Everyone knows that cash refunds are available for most cans and bottles, but walk into any fast-food premises, which rarely provide specific bins for recyclables, and you’ll see bins overflowing with refundable items, or often left on tables for staff to clean up.
Would you take coins from your car’s console and casually toss them out the window? No, you wouldn’t, yet our roadsides are littered with discarded cans and bottles.
It simply comes down to this: most of us are just too lazy and apathetic to do the right thing, and we all need to smarten up; this is serious!
- John Edwards
Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , January 10, 2024.
