Spending our way out?

I have to say I am unconvinced about the current theory of spending our way out of the 'economic downturn' (is it a recession yet?)
The Chancellor is apparently planning to cut VAT to 15% so we all have oodles more money to spend! The Government is to increase borrowing to increase public spending!
I am not convinced!
In my (humble) opinion consumerism and materialism are the pathways we have followed that have got us into this mess. We have been encouraged to spend what we don't have through easy credit and now we are to spend to solve this?
As a passionate environmentalist this does not sit easy with me - encouraging us to consume more surely is folly in face of the environmental crisis we face. Do we really need to hit the high street in order to save ourselves from the economic crisis? I always worry when the environment loses out to the economy.
We desperately need to consume less in order that we have any hope of averting environmental disaster - Gandhi said that the world has enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. With the clock ticking as we head towards unavoidable and possible runaway Climate Change we should be looking at ways of tightening our belts, making do and mending not increasing our consumption of this planet's limited resources.