YOUR ROLE AS AN INDIVIDUAL IN CONSERVATION OF THE FINITE NATURAL RESOURCES

Until fairly recently mankind acted as if he could go on forever exploiting the ecosystems and natural resources such as soil, water, forests and grasslands on the earth’s surface and extracting minerals and fossil fuels from  underground. But, in the last few decades, it has become increasingly evident that the global ecosystem has the capacity to sustain only a limited level of utilization.

Biological systems cannot go on replenishing resources if they are overused or misused. At a critical point, increasing pressure destabilizes their natural balance. Even biological resources traditionally classified as ‘renewable’ - such as those from our oceans, forests, grasslands and wetlands, are being degraded by overuse and may be permanently destroyed. And no natural resource is limitless. ‘Non-renewable’ resources will be rapidly exhausted if we continue to use them as intensively as at present.

The two most damaging factors leading to the current rapid depletion of all forms of natural resources are increasing ‘consumerism’ on the part of the affluent sections of society, and ‘rapid population growth’. Both factors are the results of choices we make as individuals.

What is your perspective on our role as individuals in the conservation of our finite natural resources?