IS IT NECESSARY TO FIND ALTERNATIVES FOR NATURAL RESOURCES A pencil uses zinc and copper. Petroleum is used for eraser.

Fabrics are either cotton based or petroleum based. Eye glasses are made of quartz. Dental fillings are made of mercury or silver. Food comes from plants, milk from cattle which graze on grass. Furniture, building material, vehicles and energy to run machines, electricity, everything that makes the living possible comes from natural resources. Fossil fuels, coal, oil, natural gas, gems, mineral and metals come from natural resources. Land, water, forests, ecosystems and atmosphere are also natural resources which provide us endless variety of products that we have used millions of years to satisfy our need and wants. Natural resources can be classified into renewable and non renewable. Renewable resources like food grains, forests, animals, water can be restocked if they are used sustainably. Non renewable resources like coal, gas, minerals and metals exist in a fixed amount. Once we use them they are gone for good and take millions of years for regeneration. Rapidly increasing population, increasing standards of living, technological advancements require a large quantity of raw materials that are extracted from natural resources. According to surveys, in U.S.A. every person uses about 20,000 kg of minerals every year for various purposes. We are mining, extracting, exploiting natural resources at a rate unmatched to their regeneration. So the fact is this, we have a limited pie on one hand and on the other we have about 6 billion people all over the world demanding these resources. Each drop of oil, every molecule of iron, latest agricultural practices, industrial effluents, vehicular pollution, soil erosion, deforestation imposes its cost on future generation. Since we are using the natural resources to a point of depletion, every natural resource on the planet is on a rapid road to exhaustion. As a result of this future generations will tend to pay a greater value on shrinking supplies of natural resources. Severe deforestation erodes soil and will deplete fertile top soil. So, plants and trees cannot grow back. This has direct effect on land, air and water. Depletion of water can effect power generation. Short supply of electricity influences industrial and agricultural sectors that ultimately affects countrys economy .

As the supply becomes less, the value goes higher. The constant price hikes, inflation is the effect of dwindling of resources. Theodre Roosevelt, a well known conservationist and former president of United States said that the nation behaves well if it treats its natural resources as assets and the conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Current reserves of coal will last about 250 years and gas about 60 more years. This is why it is imperative that we should not only conserve the natural resources but also have to find alternatives for them. World will not be able to depend on oil, gas and coal forever. We must find another way to power the kind of life style that we are accustomed to.

We must start working on alternative and perpetual energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, biomass and geothermal energies. Another potential fuel source currently undergoing research is methane hydrate. Nuclear energy is also one more alternative provided it is used safely. The situation that appears hope less should not prevent us from doing our best. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle should be our catch phrase. We must realize the importance of conservation of natural resources besides finding the alternatives to maintain the sustainability of life and to insure the earths survival.