Preservation

Preservation as it pertains to recycling, conservation, and every day living is essentially a "hands-off" approach to allowing nature and natural resources to thrive without much intervention. We have already discussed recycling water, pollution, and littering as it relates to recycling efforts.
Preserving natural resources, or anything for that matter, involves using very little of anything unnecessarily. Sustainability has become a very popular topic of discussion and will be addressed in a future article. In order to provide a sustainable earth for future generations, preserving natural resources will be imperative.

Our natural resources exist in a delicate balance and are vulnerable to environmental changes. It is extremely important that we all do our part to conserve, preserve, and take care of the Earth’s resources to protect the environment that sustains us with food, fuel, shelter and medicine.

Renewable resources are natural resources that renew themselves at a rate that is faster, or equal to the rate of consumption. They fall into a couple categories. Examples of these are:

Sustainable Resources

Sustainable resources are defined as resources that are perpetually renewable. These resources can be used indefinitely with no care or action taken to renew them.

• Solar energy
• Wind power
• Tides
• Hydroelectricity
• Geothermal power

Renewable Resources

Renewable resources are those that naturally replenish themselves at a sustainable rate.

• Alcohols derived from corn, sugarcane and grass
• Oils from plants and seeds
• Naturally occurring methane gases
• Bioenergy from biomasses, such as landfills or animal waste used to produce energy
• Thermal energy conversion
• Water
• Oxygen

These differ, obviously, from non renewable resources which are delicate and should be conserved and preserved.  Non-renewable resources are those for which there is a limited supply. The supply comes from the Earth itself and, as it typically takes millions of years to develop, is finite. Some examples are as follows:

CrudeOil/Petroleum
Natural Gas
Fossil Fuels
Coal
Uranuim/Nuclear Energy

Ideas of different ways to preserve natural resources:

• Get tankless water heaters because they use much less gas. 
• Use another source of power such as solar, wind, or hydro power. 
• Purchase a hybrid car. 
• Reduce the amount of time we water the lawn.
• Wash cars with a bucket of water instead of a garden hose.
• Use energy efficient shower heads and faucets.

To find out more about recycling efforts visit www.wasteawaygroup.com




noaa.gov
lovetoknow.com
yourdictionary.com 
nonrenewableresources.org