Why should you be careful using natural resources?

Answer 1

1. MANY NATURAL RESOURCES CAN BE USED UP FOREVER

Because many of our Natural Resources are not renewable - as in, once they run out, they'll be gone. Another reason is that if something should happen to them - for example, dangerous chemicals in our water - the damage will be at the best, expensive, and at the worst, permanent. Finally, our natural resources are important to more things than just us - they are also vital for animal and plant species. Here is Wikipedia's description of non-renewable natural resources:

"A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-made or re-grown. Often fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are considered non-renewable resources, as they do not naturally re-form at a rate that makes the way we use them sustainable. This is as opposed to natural resources such as timber, which re-grows naturally and can, in theory, be harvested sustainably at a constant rate without depleting the existing resource pool. In this sense, all mined resources, stone, metals, uranium, and various other materials and minerals should be considered non renewable."

2. WE ARE USING UP THESE RESOURCES TOO MUCH

What's bad is that we are over-using our non-renewable natural resources! "Natural resources such as coal, oil, or natural gas, take millions of years to form naturally and cannot be replaced as fast as they are consumed. Eventually they will be used up. At present, the main energy sources used by humans are non-renewable; renewable resources, such as solar, tidal, wind, and geothermal power, have so far been less exploited. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas generate a considerable amount of energy when they are burnt (the process of combustion)."

3. WE DON'T NEED THESE RESOURCES AS MUCH AS WE THINK WE DO

What are we using these non-renewable resources for? For the most part, energy - keeping our cars running, our air conditioners working, and our ceiling lights on. The problem is that we in North America are using way more energy than we need. We're wasting it, basically. There are alternatives, and I've pasted a link with more information in the sources section.

4. USING THESE RESOURCES DOESN'T JUST HURT THE RESOURCES, IT HURTS THE ENVIRONMENT

Another problem is that non-renewable resources are high in carbon, and this means that when we use them as fuels, their carbon goes into our atmosphere. There, it sits like a blanket and keeps heat from the sun close to the earth, rather than letting it "bounce back" to outer space. So our summers and winters get steadily hotter, our weather gets more turbulent (more hurricanes, for example) and places that help keep us cooler - like the North Pole - start melting dangerously.

Basically, we generally think that "everything will be okay" - but it isn't that simple. We're using things up, now more than ever, and that's why we should be careful!