Do we need so much stuff?

I find that visiting different places stirs my imagination: I look at the scenery and wonder what it was like to live there hundreds or even thousands of years ago. It’s natural vistas that give me the most pleasure: mountains and streams, rivers and hills and I think about who might have dwelt there: in a hut or tumbledown cottage, nestling under the hill, under an ancient oak in a bygone age. Maybe no one did and the grass and bushes grew wild and untamed. When I look photos on the news and see a mass of high-rise buildings, no matter how architecturally amazing they are, it fills me with sadness for what was there before. Possibly the lives of those apartment dwellers are easier than those of our ancestors, although the occupants themselves might disagree, having to work so hard to pay the rent and feed their families, but we wanted so much less in years gone by. New clothes were a luxury and food was never wasted. Furniture was minimal: essentials only, and warmth was a priority. Can we really say that we need so much now?