How do humans waste natural resources?

Answer 1

Humans waste Natural Resources in lots of ways. Sometimes we waste it because we can, it is a good way to get rich quick but we waste it because we cannot do things with 100% efficiency. When a machine like a car is used, most of the energy in the fuel is wasted as heat or wind resistance ie, it is not used to get you where you were going. You could argue too that the fuel resource was wasted because the driver went faster than they needed to or didn't need to make the trip at all.

We are lucky to get 30% efficiency out of a car engine which means most of it is wasted. Most homes and workplaces are also not very efficient. Lots of energy is used to heat or cool them because energy escapes through poor insulation or air moving in and out of them.

More importantly the thing that drives the world currently is economics. It is often cheaper to make something in a resource hungry way. Sometimes raw materials are shipped half way around the world to be processed and then shipped half way around the world to be made into something and then shipped round the world to sell it to a customer. So long as it is cheaper to do this than be efficient with natural resources, humans will do it.

It is often cheaper to make materials from scratch than recycling and often products that are more efficient cost a whole lot more. An example of this might be an electric car. It sounds like a good idea because it does not make pollution compared to an old petrol car, however making it takes a lot of energy and the batteries often need replacing at a cost of thousands after a few years. If you bought the electric car it would cost a lot, when the batteries need replacing it would cost a lot. The old petrol car might use a lot of petrol but it still might be cheaper to buy and run than the electric car. That is one of the reasons that we are not all driving electric cars. If we had to, electric cars would be cheaper and more efficient but until we have to, we will do the cheapest thing.

Even though common sense would make you think that people should put their environment first, most people making the decisions are old and will not be alive to see the negative outcomes of their decisions. They want their country to make money and think if they don't use up the natural resources, someone else will.

Answer 2

we use them as if we can get more when ever we feel like it.