Using natural resources

Nature’s gift basket is filled with many precious natural resources on the planet. How human society should utilize them as well as whether some of the vital resources will run out soon has long troubled many intellectuals. This chapter explains the three categories of resources: depletable resources, renewable resources, fixed but highly recyclable resources. For each category, this chapter explains the best use for humanity of the pertinent resources. At the core of the fear of limited resources lies the explosion of human population on the planet whose resources such as arable lands are fixed. The recent trend shows that a decline in population growth is occurring in many parts of the globe owing to, for example, an improvement in women’s rights. The Buddha’s admonition of not to kill or promote killing sentient beings, which is practiced through various types of vegetarianism, is an enlightened word of morality which saw the cyclic existence rather than an advice on resource exhaustion.