When was the first time you took the concept of “going green” seriously? Some of us have been conserving resources all our lives. Others started, perhaps, when recycling became mandatory. Others still have yet to embrace the concept because they don’t feel or see the necessity.

Well, if you have any lingering doubts of why going green not only is smart, but vital, here’s a look at four natural resources that, steadily but surely, are diminishing…some in alarming fashion.

Oil

The modern world is built on oil. It powers transport, construction, manufacturing, food production – our entire economy. The sky-high living standards and widespread disconnection from manual labor that we enjoy today is all thanks to the Industrial Revolution of the early 1900s, and it's based on cheap, accessible oil.

"The Peak Oil Theory" suggests that oil production for a given reserve will follow a bell curve. Production for the reserve will rise to a peak, and then begin declining due to the fact that as levels get lower, it becomes more expensive to retrieve, ending up at a point where you have to put more energy into sucking up and refining the oil than you get out of using it.

It's a theory backed by the vast majority of scientists and energy economists, such as the International Energy Agency. Certainly, the more positive estimations say we might be a maximum of 10 years from the peak at current projections. And this at a time when the Earth's population is ballooning, and massive countries like China and India are industrializing and increasing their oil demand at an enormous rate.

Food

Consider this: since 2005, the price of wheat has more than tripled. So has the price of corn. Rice has gone up more than 500%. These price increases reflect a dwindling of global food stocks – demand for food is rising faster than our ability to produce it. The phenomenon has been dubbed the "global food crisis of 2008" – but some are beginning to refer to it as the "perpetual food crisis."

It's not just rising populations we're facing, it's a rising standard of living in developing mega-countries such as China and India. As these giant economies start to move, the national diet steps up from a grain base to start including more and more meat.

Meat is produced by feeding grain to livestock – and the calorie yield of meat is about one fifth of the grain used to produce it. Eating meat, in other words, is effectively throwing out 80% of the calories you could be eating if you ate the grains instead of passing them through a cow. In tough times, meat is a wasteful food – not only of calories, but of agricultural land.

We’re already farming about 80% of the arable land on the planet. In simple terms, by 2030 we're going to have to find a way to meet an estimated 50% greater demand.

Water

Along with increased food and energy requirements, we're going to need vastly more water. We'll need it agriculturally, industrially, domestically and as part of energy production needs. All those demands are growing fast. And while we're not actually running out of fresh water, we can't create more to go around – at least not without considerable expense.

According to the World Economic Forum, within 20 years water will become a bigger theme for investors than oil – and water scarcity is likely to worsen the global food crisis by preventing food production equal to the size of the grain crops of India and America combined.

Climate change is already playing havoc with established weather patterns, causing drought, flood and other extremes of weather that set new records each year. In many extreme weather events, fresh water falls so fast and in such huge amounts that it becomes impossible to capture and use, and it becomes a destructive force instead of a replenishing one.

The vast majority of our fresh water supplies - somewhere around 70% - are used in agriculture, and this gives us a good place to start looking for conservation solutions.

Fish

While food as a whole is forecast to come under intense pressure, the future for fish seems far bleaker. It's estimated that unless drastic (and extremely politically difficult) action is taken immediately, humans will eat fish pretty much out of existence within the next 50 years.

A combination of commercial greed, weak policy, consumer disinterest, massive waste and blatant disregard for what flimsy rules are in place has seen about 30% of fish species lose more than 90% of their populations since 1950. As each species dies out, the reduction of biodiversity accelerates the rate of decline of the other species around it.

The only plan that seems to have any chance to stall or reverse this accelerating decline is to set up marine wildlife reserves all over the globe, covering between 30 and 40% of the world's oceans. But it would be virtually impossible to reach international consensus on such a plan, let alone enforce it across the massive expanses of the world's oceans.

“What Can I Do to Help?”

The short answer is “plenty,” are here are just a few brief suggestions from your friends at Frasier’s.

Plumbing

• Take care of leaky faucets and pipes as soon as you notice them.  A leaky faucet alone can waste up to 100 gallons of water every week.
• Older toilets use up to 5 gallons of water per flush.  New toilets are required to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush, and some go as low as 1.3 gallons per flush.  And since toilets account for 26% of your annual water usage, converting to low-water consumption toilets will save literally tons of water every year.
• Older shower heads and faucets also consume more water than newer models.
• By giving your lawn a good soaking with each watering, you won’t need to water it as often.
• High water pressure can force water where it is not intended to be.  If your water pressure is above 80 psi, we recommend installing a pressure regulating valve.  This will also help to reduce wear and tear on your entire plumbing system, including fixtures.

Heating & Cooling 

• Make sure all ductwork, vents and registers are not blocked by furniture.
• Leave all interior doors open at least 2 inches if the room does not have its own return air intake vent.
• Insulate your attic and have your ductwork checked for proper sealing and cracks.
• Install solar screens, awnings, or plants to shade windows and walls during the summer months.
• Keep filters clean and inspect them monthly.
• Insulate your doors and windows…it’s estimated that unsealed windows and doors add up to a hole about the size of 12 to 20 bricks…can you imagine the loss of warm or cool air in a hole that size?

Recycling

We know recycling is beneficial, but here are some facts (some may be startling) that serve to emphasize the point..

• About 40% of the waste in the U.S. is paper, but nationwide we only recycle about 25-30% of our paper waste.
• Americans throw away close to the equivalent of 30 million trees a year, just from newsprint alone.
• In America we discard enough motor oil per year to fill 120 supertankers.
• Landfills are filling up and closing at the rate of approximately 2 a day.
• A glass bottle thrown away today will still be there in the year 3000.
• In the United States, one in every six trucks is a garbage truck.
• You would be able to circle the earth 436 times per year with the Styrofoam cups that are used in the United States.

These statistics are accurate and help to illustrate the importance of recycling in the United States. So please start taking an active role in helping your community recycle to better your environment and prevent global warming.

All brought to you as a public and community service by your friends at Frasier’s.

Toll free: 866-YELL-DUCK (866-935-5382)