Scarcity of Natural Resources
Jacob Stickler
Summary
with the growing scarcity of natural resources, we find that a lot of it is actual due to over harvesting. Large amounts of harvested minerals are not used, and were simply harvested to harvest them. Apart from over harvesting, we lost a lot of resources due to spills, and other things, that not only cause more resources to have to be harvested but pollute areas in which they are spilt
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February 22, 2016
Summary
In agreement with the article below, I do not believe the problem can or will be fixed, while we overshadow a problem such as a scarce supply of resources with "the fight with climate change." If we can't learn to realize that the problem is there, then by the time we realize it is, will be a time when its too late. We see our usage rate increasing substantially, increasing over time as more people and more resource demand both go up. Already we see that we use more than we need, but more than the Earth is capable of. I think we need to find a shift in technology now, or face the effects later.
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February 29, 2016
Man-made Causes of Resource Depletion
- Sewerage and stock effluent
- Fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides
- Fossil fuels extracted and burned
- Oil leaked and spilled
- Land deforested and developed
- Soil eroded and degraded
- Minerals mined
- Waste and toxic byproducts of manufacturing
Source
Summary
Fossil fuels are by far the main source of energy for modern civilization. Unfortunately, we are not reducing our dependence on coal. From a climate point of view, there are enough reserves of coal to last for hundreds of years. Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted in order to make way for mine projects, effecting not only our earth, but people directly
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April 1, 2016
Summary
The leading cause for plastic waste in water is China, coming in at around 28% making it over a 4th of the world's plastics water polluter. Not only this but China also has an over-fishing problem, and on the topic of animal the article states: "In addition, the illegal trade in endangered species and products is driven in large part by Chinese demand. Demand for ivory from China, for example, is a major contributor to the devastating poaching of elephants in Africa." (Elizabeth) Showing that China is not only a big instigator for inanimate resources, but for animate ones as well. This is not the end of China's ~#1 depletor of resources as they also have a big logging problem. While in recent years China has been trying to be an activist for reducing these problems it hasn't done much since most of it is harvested or poached illegally.
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April 8, 2016
Summary
Potential Solutions: In terms of food, we need to focus on food that will grow wild, or with very little support, and possibly move populous dietary habits to more reproductive animals, and plants as to reduce usage of resources used to produce and grow foods. Although this is only prevalent in the US, more Eco-friendly means of transportation should be looked in to. If these means are impossible however, I believe we should look into limiting family size as to slow the increase of our population in turn lowering our usage of natural resources.
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4/15/16
- Increase investments into R&D into re-usage of resources and substitutes for common resources used today.
- Raising the moral standards of companies and the individual is also a key aspect to the success of slowing the depletion of these resources.
- Cut back on resource harvesting rate, raise the price of them to further slow the usage. It would be a big hit to businesses, but in the long run it would be beneficial.
- Protecting more land, that of which can't be harvested.
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4/22/16
Summary
A big part of solving the crisis of natural resource depletion is that companies must realize and put the world over money. Many companies over-harvest to make money. If you increase the cost of the resources they can cut back on harvesting and still meet the same revenue quotas. However, a few regulations on how much can harvest should also be in place as to make sure they don't use the cost increase as a mere money grab. Now to be real here. There is no way to slow the depletion of natural resources world wide, completely. I believe we instead should work towards Sustainable consumption. Sustainable consumption is the point at which the Earth can keep up with our harvest rates. Companies must either choose to take the path of slowing down, and possibly taking minor salary cuts, or face the world where no resources are present to harvest, leaving many people jobless, and the world at more of a crisis than we face now.