How can you prevent the depletion of forest resources?
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1. Avoid Single-Use Plastics
In 2016, global plastics production was approximately 335 million metric tons, and about half of that was used to make single-use products, according to the Earth Day Network.
Reducing our plastic use helps us avoid the use of the resources needed to make plastic and prevents plastic waste from harming the natural environment. Substituting single-use plastics like plastic grocery bags, utensils and straws with durable items can help.
2. Drive Less
Gasoline is a product made from crude oil, a finite natural resource and fossil fuel. Car manufacturing also requires many different kinds of natural resources, includes rubber and various metals.
You can conserve natural resources by not owning a car, owning a more fuel-efficient car or driving less. Walking, bicycling taking public transportation and carpooling are all excellent alternatives to driving.
3. Recycle More and Improve Recycling Systems
In addition to switching away from single-use plastics, we can also recycle more to help with the plastic problem. Check with your local government or recycling company to see what you can recycle curbside where you live. For other items, you may be able to find a business in your community that can help recycle items.
Improving our recycling systems can also help. Researchers can find new, more efficient ways to recycle, local governments can make recycling easier and businesses can implement recycling programs for their employees.
4. Use Sustainable Agriculture Practices
Agriculture is necessary but extremely resource-intensive. There are, however, ways to farm more sustainably.
Rotating crops and planting cover crops helps to keep soil healthy. Using fewer chemicals and integrating biological pest control and natural fertilizers can help, as well. Precision agriculture, which uses technology to optimize resource use, can help farmers use less fertilizer, pesticides, water and other inputs.
5. Reduce Food Waste
Approximately a third of the food produced for human consumption every year gets wasted or lost. Because of all the resources required to grow, transport and prepare the food, this is a huge waste. Keeping track of the food you have, planning meals and shopping trips ahead of time and properly storing food can help reduce food waste at home.
6. Promote Sustainable Forest Management
Forests are full of natural resources. The ecosystem services they provide are valued at approximately $33 trillion annually, and about a quarter of the world’s population depends on them to make a living. Yet, we’re destroying forests faster than the earth can replenish them — at a rate of about 60 acres each minute.
Sustainable forest management practices can help prevent this. These practices mimic the natural destruction and regeneration patterns of nature and involve aspects such as establishing protected areas, create a harvesting plan and using logging techniques that are easier on the natural environment.
The Forest Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance Certified certify businesses and products, so consumers can tell which ones are created using sustainable forestry management.
7. Treat Wastewater Before Discharging It
Water is, of course, crucial to survival, but more than 2 billion people don’t have clean drinking water at home.
Part of the reason for this is that some industrial plants and wastewater treatment plants, especially in developing countries, discharge water into streams and rivers without adequately treating it. It’s crucial that wastewater discharge regulations are enforced if they exist, and that they get introduced that if they don’t yet exist.
Preventing natural resource depletion is vital for the environment, economy and the health and well-being of the human population. We use a vast range of natural resources, but there are even more ways to conserve them.
In 2016, global plastics production was approximately 335 million metric tons, and about half of that was used to make single-use products, according to the Earth Day Network.
Reducing our plastic use helps us avoid the use of the resources needed to make plastic and prevents plastic waste from harming the natural environment. Substituting single-use plastics like plastic grocery bags, utensils and straws with durable items can help.
2. Drive Less
Gasoline is a product made from crude oil, a finite natural resource and fossil fuel. Car manufacturing also requires many different kinds of natural resources, includes rubber and various metals.
You can conserve natural resources by not owning a car, owning a more fuel-efficient car or driving less. Walking, bicycling taking public transportation and carpooling are all excellent alternatives to driving.
3. Recycle More and Improve Recycling Systems
In addition to switching away from single-use plastics, we can also recycle more to help with the plastic problem. Check with your local government or recycling company to see what you can recycle curbside where you live. For other items, you may be able to find a business in your community that can help recycle items.
Improving our recycling systems can also help. Researchers can find new, more efficient ways to recycle, local governments can make recycling easier and businesses can implement recycling programs for their employees.
4. Use Sustainable Agriculture Practices
Agriculture is necessary but extremely resource-intensive. There are, however, ways to farm more sustainably.
Rotating crops and planting cover crops helps to keep soil healthy. Using fewer chemicals and integrating biological pest control and natural fertilizers can help, as well. Precision agriculture, which uses technology to optimize resource use, can help farmers use less fertilizer, pesticides, water and other inputs.
5. Reduce Food Waste
Approximately a third of the food produced for human consumption every year gets wasted or lost. Because of all the resources required to grow, transport and prepare the food, this is a huge waste. Keeping track of the food you have, planning meals and shopping trips ahead of time and properly storing food can help reduce food waste at home.
6. Promote Sustainable Forest Management
Forests are full of natural resources. The ecosystem services they provide are valued at approximately $33 trillion annually, and about a quarter of the world’s population depends on them to make a living. Yet, we’re destroying forests faster than the earth can replenish them — at a rate of about 60 acres each minute.
Sustainable forest management practices can help prevent this. These practices mimic the natural destruction and regeneration patterns of nature and involve aspects such as establishing protected areas, create a harvesting plan and using logging techniques that are easier on the natural environment.
The Forest Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance Certified certify businesses and products, so consumers can tell which ones are created using sustainable forestry management.
7. Treat Wastewater Before Discharging It
Water is, of course, crucial to survival, but more than 2 billion people don’t have clean drinking water at home.
Part of the reason for this is that some industrial plants and wastewater treatment plants, especially in developing countries, discharge water into streams and rivers without adequately treating it. It’s crucial that wastewater discharge regulations are enforced if they exist, and that they get introduced that if they don’t yet exist.
Preventing natural resource depletion is vital for the environment, economy and the health and well-being of the human population. We use a vast range of natural resources, but there are even more ways to conserve them.
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