Significance and Impacts
Natural resource depletion is one of the crucial current environmental problems faced worldwide. Fossil fuel consumption emits greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and climate change. As of now, the global population is 7.2 billion and growing. However, at the current demand, Earth’s resources are only enough for 2 billion people. If we do the math, we are using more than what Earth has for us, and this situation is deteriorating day as our global population is bound to increase as time passes.
The Top 3 natural resources that are being depleted right now are water, oil, and our forests. Let’s start off with water. Out of all the water we have on Earth right now, only 2.5% of it is fresh, and to simplify it even further, 70% of that 2.5% fresh water is frozen. This, really shows how precious water is to us. What will we drink without water? The answer to this question remains unsolved to this date. And among that 30% of the non-frozen water, a mere 10% is used for our consumption. Of the remaining 90%, a whopping 70% is used in agriculture and 20% is used in industries. As our population continues to increase, it is believed that feeding a planet of 9 billion people will require an estimated 50 percent increase in agricultural production and a 15 percent increase in water withdrawals by 2050.
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Secondly, oil is also important to us. Without it, nothing can be moved, manufactured, transported, built, planted, mined, or harvested. Oil reverses are a non-renewable resource, amounting to 40% of the energy we use. According to EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), it shows that we have enough oil that only lasts for 25 more years.
Finally, our forests are also depleting due to increased deforestation. An estimated 18 million acres of forests are destroyed each year and as we speak, half of the world’s forest has been cleared. Deforestation contributes 12 to 17% of carbon dioxide daily and by removing the trees, there will be fewer trees that take in carbon dioxide. It produces the oxygen we breathe and is also a habitat for millions of species.
Solutions
Natural resource depletion is anthropogenic in nature. For the solution to the problem let’s dive deeper into the word “anthropogenic” in particular. On Google, it is defined as (chiefly environmental pollution and pollutants) originating in human activity. In the recent century, the human population has been using natural resources at a historic high rate. If we do not limit our usage right now and waste our existing resources irresponsibly, I cannot imagine how future generations would have to suffer because of how selfish we are. For water and oil, businesses handling them should try to minimize wastage as much as possible. At the personal level, we can save water by changing our bad habits that using up a lot of water. An example of a bad habit would be bathing more than thrice a day. It’s also not always about wasting. Adopting habits that allow us to conserve water like recycling used water from washing machines to wash the toilet can really help a lot, even if it doesn’t mean anything to you.
For oil, nuclear energy can serve as a good substitute. Nuclear power provides clean energy to power the grid by using fission, which splits atoms of molecules apart. From a small amount of fuel, nuclear power produces a large amount of energy for electricity and its onsite fuel source lasts up to 18 months. A byproduct of nuclear power is waste, which must be carefully managed because it is temporarily radioactive. By reprocessing nuclear waste, a plant can recover up to 95% of otherwise wasted uranium and plutonium. Reprocessing also reduces the long-term radioactivity and the volume of waste by up to 90%. To summarize, nuclear energy is renewable, and it can help reduce the rapid depletion of oil.
For the forests, because agriculture needs to increase in response to our growing population, we can’t really stop cutting down trees completely. A solution to this would be planting trees in cities to mitigate the effects of deforestation.
Thoughts+Reflection
I am shocked that our natural resources are depleting. I have learned a lot about the problems Earth has after researching this assignment. I know that there are lots of other new and challenging environmental problems that we face right now, and I believe if each of us took a step to conserve the environment, the Earth would not be facing so many problems today.
I have learned to be grateful for what I have in daily life. Whatever I consume comes from farms, which are built by clearing space in the forests. I can finally appreciate how precious water is.
Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and it is implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Every country has its own target to hit. I really feel that with the Kyoto Protocol in place, every country should play a part in conserving Earth, our shared homeland. It shouldn’t just be one country participating, but all of us. USA for example is a country that didn’t sign the protocol for its own development. I truly see this as being very selfish and self-centered.
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