Greenpeace, world renowned environmental pressure group, have released a report outlining the various Earth choking chemicals that are contained within our favourite games consoles. It makes for quite shocking reading, with the list of toxins found including phthalates, bromine and beryllium, none of which you'd want to inhale, trust me. Even more shocking though, is the fact that, even with these poisons inside them, all of the consoles tested complied to EU guidelines on the creation of technology.

I don't want to go scaremongering here, because the likelihood of you actually coming into contact with any of the bad stuff inside your console is minute to say the least, but, when you add in the amount of plastics used to create a console, it starts to become pretty clear that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are probably not doing their bit for the environment. Greenpeace also made the case that there is no viable way to recycle old consoles: a valid point, unless you just keep them like I do, I mean, you never know when you'll need a broken Master System 2, right?

Moves are afoot with most of the manufacturers to reduce the plastics and chemicals used in the creation of the consoles, but only Microsoft has put a timescale on the change over to greener materials.

I know you're probably sick of hearing about the planet and climate change and ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS, but when you think about it, our hobby/pastime/way of life is going to do an awful lot of damage to this planet if we're not careful. I'm not saying stop gaming, God forbid, nor am I suggesting boycotts and strike action, but the technology is available to these mega corporations to create more environmentally friendly ways of us enjoying ourselves, and I think it's up to us as consumers to encourage them to head in that direction. After all, we're the ones who buy the games and the consoles, and more and more as this next generation moves on, manufacturers and developers are listening to our voices.

The only problem is, if this new greener technology does come in, and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is taken out of future consoles, we're probably going to feel the effect in our pockets: new technology costs money, and I doubt such a price increase will be absorbed by the console makers. In the end, it comes down to a simple choice: save the planet, or have a couple of quid extra to spend on your gas mask when the Ozone layer disappears.

Well, maybe not quite THAT dramatic, but you get the idea. The choice, in the end though, is very much ours.

Sourcebbc.co.uk