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Resource Depletion

by Sudarshan Sreeram | 24-07-2017 13:16




Resource Depletion

High rate of depletion in natural resources in recent years has been threatening our own existence. If we do not do anything about this, it would shrink the life span of human existence on Earth and our future would be unthinkable. Several companies have already taken ?green? initiatives, for example, the "Tunza" initiative by Samsung Engineering or ?Eco imagination? drives from General Electric.  With the go-green technologies and the resource depletion in mind, I have created a fishbone diagram to express this in detail. There are also several causes that drives this effect ?why resources deplete?, (a) Technological changes, (b) Economical changes, (c) Natural resources, (d) Ecological changes, (e) Changes in the environment due to mother nature, (f) Other reasons. The main causes that mostly drives this effect are ?Natural resources? and ?Ecological changes?.



Based on the population of the Earth, the world population is to touch nine billion by the end of the year 2050 and by then technologies would have grown tremendously at a high rate. We have some more years before we start seeing the depletion of some natural resources that we have on Earth. For example Platinum, which is used by the automotive industry is expected to be consumed fully in another fifty years. Many more examples are Antimony, Silver, Hafnium, Indium, Uranium, Zinc and Tantalum. This would mean that products like LED?s, Mobile phones, automotive components, where these metals are used might meet their end or would need alternate source of resource and would take alternate paths of survival in the market.  The same trend in depletion is observed in trees as well where the rain forests are disappearing at an alarming rate.  By 2050, most of our forest regions which is home to several endangered species, will reduce to half of what is seen today.  



What can we do to prevent the depletion of resources?  Earth is our home with limited availability of natural resources.  Our consumption rate is increasing by the day and we need to recycle where possible and for saving natural resources.  The best example is energy consumption.  Switching to nature friendly options will benefit all sections of society including the remote areas and will have least impact on our environment.    Recycling of metals or paper will save the resources tremendously and this should result in arresting the rate of depletion.  We may also witness an improvement in the natural resources if each one of us commit to plant at least one tree in our life time.  Our governments should adopt a firm policy on the use of recycled resources in all products and this should also evaluate the carbon footprint in product or technology.   While the government can help set these regulations that will help control the wastes, it ultimately depends on our individual commitment towards such initiatives that will bring long term sustainability.