What's more important - conserving water or paper?

Question

And why? Serious answers, please.

I appreciate all of your detailed answers, but I would like to point out that I am not looking for a lecture on why we should conserve in general - only on which is more important to conserve out of water and paper. Thanks!

Answer 1

Depends on where you live. In a desert, conserving water is more important. So, it might be better to buy paper cups and plates instead of doing dishes. Although the amount of water needed to do dishes is not that large.

If you live in a location that has enough water then conserving it may be less important than conserving trees. However, most people don't live in an area where trees are endangered (except people living in the Pacific Northwest mountain forests).

IIRC, making paper uses a lot of fresh water. It also pollutes fresh water to some degree, even with controls in place I think even treated waste water often has extra heat and nutrients in it that can change the local ecosystem. Trees can grow back. In fact, trees help retain water, so if we conserve trees (and use tree farming) then we might conserve water too.

Making ceramic and glass cups and plates may use a lot of water, so I've been told, but I don't know how much. There's a silica mine in my town, but it doesn't seem to use too much water. Leaching metals for flatware use lots of water and pollute lots of water, but there are not paper alternatives, so it doesn't really count. Plastic utensils and dishware are a whole other matter and and don't really figure into your question.

The question might need to be more specific. The areas that seem to produce the most paper are the places that seem to have the most water. The Pacific Northwest is a temperate rain forest and has an abundance of both water and trees. However, shipping all those paper product across the nation and the globe use fossile fuels that pollute the atmosphere and water. Therefore, it's more important to conserve water but it's more important over-all to wash dishes than use paper cups and plates.

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

paper first ..and followed by water ( specifically Ground water)
EVen though both are renewable resources they both get renewed only if you allow it too. what has been defined in the textbook will remain only if when help in the renewal process.
MOre trees as being cut than replenished hence the nature cycles are changing. havent you noticed that temperatures this year is far higher than last year and the season has shifted by 2 weeks time. trees are one cause.

Water can be confusing . Coz the only usable water for humans is Ground water than happens when rain water goes down the soil and gets collected below. Its the water that the water bottling companies take as their source. There are less rains and more need for drinking water hence its not being replenished at a faster or even required rate.

hence do conserve and recycle.

Answer 3

THE MORE NOT EVEN MORE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO CONSERVE WATER THAN PAPER COZ IF THERE IS NO WATER THERE IS NO MANKIND,NO PLANTS,NO ANIMALS AND FINALLY THERE IS NO EARTH.EVERY ONE ON EARTH CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT PAPER BUT CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT WATER COZ U KNOW

"WATER IS A UNIVERSAL SOLVENT."

Answer 4

Both. If we run out of water, how are the trees going to grow? The planet needs both.

Answer 5

Why does it have to be either or? Work on conserving both!

Answer 6

Neither, both are renewable resources. We will NEVER run out of either. Don't be scared by those who are trying to tell you otherwise.

Answer 7

Linda L makes an interesting observation: both water and paper are renewable resources, so WHY both to conserve either?

Well, Linda L, let's apply that hypothesis to YOUR money. Why don't you send me ALL of your money today and I'll assume it's a renewable resource, so I'll just squander every penny you have as quickly and as needlessly as I possibly can!

The point is, Ladybug, that we should conserve water and paper - and all of Earth's other precious resources. Nature (or an evolutionary process, or an intelligent designer, or God) made us stewards of the Earth. We were given dominion over the planet, and all other plants and animals. That doesn't mean we have the right to waste all of these resources for our own gluttony.

Before European immigrants came to America, native American Indians considered the land to be sacred. If they killed a buffalo, the used it for food, clothing, and shelter. The "frontiersmen" on the other hand saw buffalo as so plentiful that they would never disappear. So, they slaughtered them just for the sport of it, allowing carcasses to rot on the great plains.

Today our disposable society refuses to REturn, REuse, or REcycle because it's just more convenient to pay someone to haul our trash away and bury it in a landfill.

I assume you're young, Ladybug, and might be planning some day to raise a family. Your children's children will have children, and their children's children will have children. And someday (even though Linda L won't believe it), there will be a shortage of natural resources like oil, water, coal, natural gas, mineral ore, trees, farm land, and certain species of animals and insects. All because our generation neglected to maintain the delicate ecological balance between man, plants, and animals so we could all co-exist on this planet as Nature intended.

If we drill for oil in the Alaskan tundra and destroy the caribou's migratory path, it might not directly affect us like it will remote Eskimo tribes who rely on caribou for food, clothing, and shelter. But why should our demands for filling our $60,000 SUVs with cheap gasoline take precedence over the basic needs of other human beings who have existed in their frozen wilderness for centuries without modern conveniences?

If we drill for oil in the oceans, and disturb the mating habits of whales, tuna, shrimp, and other sea creatures (including coral reef, which is a marine animal), the day might come when your great-great grandchildren won't be able to enjoy a simple tuna casserole or a shrimp cocktail.

If our vehicle emissions continue to pollute the air and water, the process of global warming will escalate and your great-great-grandchildren might have to wear gas masks in order to breathe fresh air, and might not be able to find enough clean drinking water. Residents of cities on both coasts of both major oceans will be victims of horrendous hurricanes, devastating floods, and other natural disasters all because WE chose not to conserve Earth's natural resources.

If we continue to clear millions of acres of rain forest, creating more grazing land for cattle so that McDonald's can sell us billions and billions of cheap hamburgers, species of frogs, snakes, spiders, and small animals native to the rain forests will become extinct. And perhaps Nature put those species there for a purpose: perhaps one of them might have been the one species whose venom was the cure for breast cancer.

So, I respectfully submit to you that conserving water and paper (and all of the other natural resources on this Earth) are all-important for you and all those beautiful little grandchildren and great-grandchildren you might be privileged to hold on your lap someday.

Why WASTE just because we CAN? It just is good common sense to REturn, REuse, and REcycle everything: water, oil, cardboard, newsprint, steel, cooking grease, asphalt, plastics,
tin cans, phone books, aluminum, magazines, baggies, clothes, wood, computers, cellphones, scrap paper, television sets, or anything else that isn't quickly biodegradable.

If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it as a legacy to future members of your family. Come on, Ladybug, you can make a real difference in the world...who knows? You might even persuade someone like Linda L to start conserving! -RKO-

Answer 8

Water. It is essential to all life.

Answer 9

both resources are recycled

water is more important when

it is question of survival