Global resources: Predictions and strategies

Proteeti
Maharaja Man Singh Vidyalaya
India

Robert Frost once said, 'Nothing gold can stay'. Today, those famous words can be applied to the situation of our environment. Scientists and researchers are uncovering the negative effects of modern technology on our environment and our lives. Cars, computers, refrigerators and virtually all other electrical inventions consume natural resources. These resources are often non-renewable and this is causing a supply and demand crisis. Fuel prices will continue to rise, which means that people will have to find new modes of transport. Coal will run out and this will bring an end to our main source of electricity. Rainforests will vanish, causing a shortage of paper on which to write. Society, however, does not consider environmental issues to be important, as we are mainly concerned about the short-term, as opposed to long-term, consequences. Many people just think that there is no big deal about cutting down a few trees. The long-term results of such massive negligence, though, are scary enough to make one think twice before tossing litter out the window.

In a 1972 book called The Limits to Growth, the researchers cautioned that humanity was fast approaching the limits, especially the environmental limits, to the rapid growth of civilisation and its consumption of global resources. They maintained that if increases in population, industrialisation, and resource depletion continued unabated, limits to growth would be reached early in the 21st century. This would cause drastic declines in energy use as well as food and industrial production. In another book, they said 'the world has already overshot some of its limits, and if present trends remain unchanged, we face the virtually certain prospect of a global economic collapse.'

However, other observers disagree with these predictions. They argue that, although human consumption of global resources has increased, the supply of resources is not in jeopardy and remains abundant. These experts note that because of technological advances, more supplies of global resources are being discovered or conserved. Some maintain, for example, that raw materials such as lead, tin, wood, and zinc, which are used in manufacturing, are being conserved due to the increased use of other materials, including aluminum, glass, plastic, and rubber. Also, new mining methods use bacteria, electricity, and foaming agents to recover copper, gold, and other minerals from low-grade ores that would otherwise be discarded. Some assert that the prices of most resources are decreasing, suggesting that they are in ample supply.

But the question that arises is: 'how long will the resources be available to us?' The human population is escalating at a very rapid rate. Soon, future generations will be short of natural resources. Being their forebears, it is our responsibility to conserve these resources. Nowadays, protection of the environment is very important, as the world is moving into a new era. The best way to protect the environment is conservation. Conservation is the philosophy and policy of managing the environment to assure adequate supplies of natural resources for future, as well as present, generations. Hence, the bottom line is that people need to conserve our natural resources before they are all gone.

But how shall one do this? Use less electricity? Save every drop of water? Carpool? No doubt these basic actions are required. But what is more important is the sense of responsibility. There must be a real urge to protect the planet from perishing. It is only then that everybody, like sincere global citizens, can contribute towards being well prepared for tomorrow.

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