Impoverishment of Natural Resources

 

What are Natural Resources?

 The resources that are obtained by humans but are produced naturally in nature and are used for daily essentials with few modifications are called Natural Resources. Anything that we get from our nature without human moderation can be labeled as natural resources. Few examples of natural resources are wood, water, sand, sunlight, fruits, ores, etc. 

There are two types of natural resources:

1. Renewable Natural Resources:

These are the type of resources that can never be extinguished like water, air, light, etc. or can be recovered like vegetation plants, animals, etc. 

2. Non Renewable Resources:

 These are the resources that can be extinguished as we use them. These resources can be recovered but takes decades to thousands of years to recover. Resources like coal, coal gas, minerals, etc. comes under this category.

Depletion of Natural Resources:

Since industrialization started in the middle decades of the 18th century people have been using these natural resources in large amounts. we not only utilized these resources in large amounts but also polluted them in a large scale. We started exhausting our non renewable resources. We also polluted the environment because of which it is also hard to find or recover renewable resources. 

                                     Resources are depleted when they are being used faster than they can replenish itself. As our culture advanced and our species invented many things, our demand for raw materials increased by leaps and bounds. We’re using too much and without care. Our planet wasn't able to keep up with our ever increasing demands.

These are the few main causes of natural resources depletion:

• Overpopulation.
•  Increase of demand of products.
• Overconsumption and waste. This is the excessive and unnecessary use of resources. 
• Deforestation and the Destruction of Ecosystems leading to loss of biodiversity. 
• Mining of Minerals and Oil.
• Erosion.
• Technological and Industrial Development. 
• Pollution and Contamination of resource.

    

          

Ways to save Natural Resources & its Conservation:

• Afforestation.
• Using alternate fuels like CNG, hydrogen, etc.
• Using renewable energy sources like dams, wind mills, solar panels, etc.
• Recycling.
• Replacement of plastic with bioplastic.
• Go Digital. We can switch to digital bills, digital books, etc. instead of using paper.
• Use of public transportation.
• Usage of Ecofriendly resources and products.  
• 
  

                     

                                                                  

                                                                                                                             -By Vidya Raj Kodigudla