editorial Let’s not perpetuate the myth that natural resources are inexhaustible; soon we will be forced to reuse them or do without
Time t o stop squandering respurces
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ne of thz most conspicuous features of civilization, American style, is its ravenous consumption of resources that are, for the most part, nonrenewable. In the early days of the American colony, tobacco planters found that they could get only a limited number of successive crops from a given plot of ground. When productivity from a plot declined, the planter simply moved on. There was plenty of land available so why not, he asked. At the same time, vast forests, abounding in game. covered the land. Timber was a resource that no one thought of as being anything but inexhaustible. Even when it became clear that timber resources were indeed exhaustible, the philosophy of “cut out and clear out” still remained the lumberman‘s cry. And there were so many game animals, surely the supply would never give out. Yet. buffalo were reduced in number from 60 million to the verge of extinction within two generations. Today, we are much better informed about the finite extent to which resources are to be found on this earth. Soil conservation and reforestation are practiced in all so-called civilized countries. Hunting of game animals is controlled so that no species is shot out of existence. Yet, there still are some anomalies in our supposedly realistic view of the exhaustibility of resources. We continue to drill for oil and, although we should realize that there must be a limit to the amount of oil beneath the earth’s crust, we are smug and corplacent when told that known reserves are far greater in extent than was ever thought possible a mere 50 years ago. Perhaps supplies are inexhaustible after all? Whereas. in the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. knowledgeable people advised the President that U.S. coal reserves were almost completely depleted, we know that 60 years later the U.S. Government is anxiously casting about for some way to use these coal reserves which have been comparatively neglected in the switch to petroleum based energy systems.
The successes of science and engineering in finding resources where none had been thought to exist may well have lulled us into a false sense of security. It is quite possible that we have begun to expect the impossible from technology : to find natural resources when none exists. It is becoming rather trite to say that we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the apparent omnipotence of technology, but that seems to be exactly what has happened. It is ironic to reflect that, although technologj is commonly regarded as a panacea to man’s problems. the development of a free enterprise system of economics actually is hindering the employment of techn o l o a where it could do some good. Take, for instance, the matter of water resources. Water is one resource that eleryone seems to recognize as being limited-in fact. the media have carried numerous stories about imrrhent crises in water supply. But when we say “There’s not enough water,” what we actually mean is “There’s not enough very cheap water.” Having been accustomed, almost as a birthright, to using large quantities of water at next to no cost, we seem to feel that if we don’t ha\e cheap water we don’t have any water. The fact is that existing technology would enable us to reuse, again and again. the water resources that do exist. Trouble is. it costs money to use the technoloa, and, apparently, we aren‘t !et willing to pay the price. But the time is fast approaching when we either mill pay the price or do without. The days of cut out and get out are gone forever. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we shall be able to come to terms with our decidedly exhaustible world.
Volume 3, Number 8, August 1969 695
