why is it generally said that we should be careful using our natural resources?

Answer 1

1. MANY NATURAL RESOURCES CAN BE USED UP FOREVER

Because many of our natural resources are not renewable - as in, once they run out, they'll be gone. Another reason is that if something should happen to them - for example, dangerous chemicals in our water - the damage will be at the best, expensive, and at the worst, permanent. Finally, our natural resources are important to more things than just us - they are also vital for animal and plant species. Here is Wikipedia's description of non-renewable natural resources:

"A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-made or re-grown. Often fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are considered non-renewable resources, as they do not naturally re-form at a rate that makes the way we use them sustainable. This is as opposed to natural resources such as timber, which re-grows naturally and can, in theory, be harvested sustainably at a constant rate without depleting the existing resource pool. In this sense, all mined resources, stone, metals, uranium, and various other materials and minerals should be considered non renewable."

2. WE ARE USING UP THESE RESOURCES TOO MUCH

What's bad is that we are over-using our non-renewable natural resources! "Natural resources such as coal, oil, or natural gas, take millions of years to form naturally and cannot be replaced as fast as they are consumed. Eventually they will be used up. At present, the main energy sources used by humans are non-renewable; renewable resources, such as solar, tidal, wind, and geothermal power, have so far been less exploited. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas generate a considerable amount of energy when they are burnt (the process of combustion)."

3. WE DON'T NEED THESE RESOURCES AS MUCH AS WE THINK WE DO

What are we using these non-renewable resources for? For the most part, energy - keeping our cars running, our air conditioners working, and our ceiling lights on. The problem is that we in North America are using way more energy than we need. We're wasting it, basically. There are alternatives, and I've pasted a link with more information in the sources section.

4. USING THESE RESOURCES DOESN'T JUST HURT THE RESOURCES, IT HURTS THE ENVIRONMENT

Another problem is that non-renewable resources are high in carbon, and this means that when we use them as fuels, their carbon goes into our atmosphere. There, it sits like a blanket and keeps heat from the sun close to the earth, rather than letting it "bounce back" to outer space. So our summers and winters get steadily hotter, our weather gets more turbulent (more hurricanes, for example) and places that help keep us cooler - like the North Pole - start melting dangerously.

Basically, we generally think that "everything will be okay" - but it isn't that simple. We're using things up, now more than ever, and that's why we should be careful!

Answer 2

Natural resources are exhaustible so they can be used up completely. Some natural resources do not grow back up. If you use all the resources like petrol then how will you run the cars. The same goes for water and other resources which give rise to electricity and irrigable water. If we are not careful today then we will not have anything to be careful about in the future.

Answer 3

Careful Use Of Energy Resources

Answer 4

Because once they're gone, they're gone for a long time.

Oil will form again, as will coal. Forests will regrow. Oceans will restock themselves and the toxins will dilute until harmless. The ozone will repair itself. The greenhouse gases will be rained out of the atmosphere. But all this takes time and isolation.

The caution comes in when you consider that the use of one resource affects another and it takes the intervention of a thrid, fourth, or fifth to undo it.
The air pollution, for example. In some places, one needs a gas mask just to breath. Gas masks have a lot of rubber in them. Rubber comes from oil and requires power to manufacture into something useful, like a gas mask. The power to get the oil and shape the rubber is derived from fossil fuels, which, when burned, create atmospheric pollutants.

This is where alternative resources come in; we cannot do no harm, but we can move it around while the old areas recover.

Answer 5

Because they are limited. There is only so much water on the planet. If we pollute it all, we won't be able to drink it. There is only so much oil on the planet. If we burn it all, we will have lost our chief method of fueling cars and producing heat and power.

Some resources are not limited, like wind power and hydro-electric power. Some resources are renewable, like ethanol. Ethanol comes from corn and we can always grow more corn. It would be better for the planet and for the human race in the long run if we only used renewable and unlimited resources.

Answer 6

We will run out. It would be devistating to our way of life right now. However, it would be great for the environment if we stopped using them. If we deplete a source from the Earth, it could throw things out of balance, kind of like the ecosystems, delete a link in the chain and it all might fall apart.

Answer 7

It is not finite; it can be depleted faster if it is wasted.

And as i'm sure you know it can cause wars and strife if one country has most of it and another greedy bully and wasteful country wants to waste their resource too.

Answer 8

because natural resources are not infinite, they will eventually run out

Answer 9

Some of them don't grow back.

Imagine if we ran out of petrol (the whole world - and if we had no biodiesel yet). How would you get to school? How would the supermarkets restock food? How would YOU get food?

(How would I get food? AAAARRGGHHH!!!)