Argumentative Essay Sample about Natural Resources

Did you know that 20% of Earth’s natural resource use goes to waste? On average that is almost 10 tonnes of resources squandered away for each living person. Present generations should feel morally obligated to conserve sustainable natural resources for our future generations. According to a study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), “The total volume of natural resources extracted has gone up over 65% in the past 25 years.” In this argumentative essay I will first explain the definitions of sustainability, natural resources, and even the standartions to feel morally obligated. I will then discuss how greed could play a big role in why our present generations feel like they are not obligated to care for resources. Generations today need to start taking better care of our world and it’s resources so that our children and their future generations can prosper into a new age of civilization.

To form a strong option on this subject I feel it would be most appropriate to first be informed on what sustainable natural resources are. Sustainability means “meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” My goal for this essay is not to say we need to limit everything we do, but just take what we need to stay viable. It states right there in the definition of sustainability, “meeting our own needs“, my whole point to get across to you is that we need to keep in mind our future generations and what they could need to survive. According to a website by the OECD, the definition of natural resources is “natural assets (raw materials) occurring in nature that can be used for economic production or consumption.” Therefore some examples of sustainable natural resources are, forests, fruits, animals, water, and even mushrooms (used to make certain medications). Why would it be fair for this generation to take surplus after surplus of these resources? These major decreases of natural resources could potentially destroy decades that never ever got a chance. 

For something to feel like a moral obligation, you must first believe it is morally the right thing to do. I feel like caring for future generations, and giving them the same chances we got decades ago should morally be the right thing to do. So, why do some people feel it is not their responsibility to limit themselves? I think Greed and carelessness have become a new character trait for a majority of the people in this century. I am not saying every human is a greedy selfish person, but over the years people have come to not care about earth and its resources like they should. This new era has become used to using whatever it wants, whenever it wants, without facing the realization of the consequences. Des Jardins says, “ A moral principle is deemed worthy of consideration by judging its consequences if acted upon.” Do you think it sounds more important to take a 30 minute shower every single day, or make it possible for people to shower at all in the future? It’s obviously a much bigger issue than that, but judging by the consequences we would be facing, I think it would be easier to limit our usage to what we need everyday versus what we want. 

Undeniably, there are lots of contradictions for this issue. In this essay I am going to tell you a few. One statement from (Holtzman, 2020 pg 70) says, “ potential people cannot possess rights, the present generation has no moral obligation to nonexistent people.” Another quote from the same page says, “ present generations cannot predict the resources needed for future generations.” The last quote I will mention is, “ it is impossible to determine what fair distributions of natural resources adequate to meet the needs of future generations are.” I will respond to these statements in my next paragraph, but to me these sayings sound presumptuous and materialistic. They make it as if we should not even shed an ounce of care for future generations. 

I would like to respond to the first quote saying potential people can not possess rights, and referring to future generations as “ nonexistent people.” It sounds to me like they don’t want a future era by calling them “nonexistent”. Just because the future generations are not on this earth does not make them not real. It would be like saying tomorrow is nonexistent because it is not here yet. We still have to prepare for tomorrow, just like we still have to prepare and conserve what we can for future generations. Referring to the second quote, I don’t think we could predict exactly what future people will need to survive, but with how much resources are used up each year they won’t have any. Another quote from that same page and book I found the others says, “ future people have rights to the natural resources needed to pursue life,liberty, and happiness.” We just have to give them the same opportunities we have been given decades ago. If past generations thought about us like those counter-contractual quotes, I am sure we would be living a lot different than we are today. My response to the last quote I mentioned in the above paragraph is that very few things are considered “ impossible”. For that quote to state it is impossible to determine fair distributions in quite absurd. It is saying to me that it would be easier to not try at all, than to attempt to save for the future generations. Writing it off as impossible is just an easy way of being lazy. Like I said previously, we can not determine exact numbers of natural resources needed for future generations. That doesn’t mean we can’t have sympathy for them, and find out everything we can to ensure they have adequate amounts of resources. 

After everything I have discovered while writing this essay, and hopefully everything you read, I hope it is an eye opener for you like it was me. Clearly this doesn’t mean change will happen overnight, or one person helping will resolve this issue, but If we all work together there will be a huge change. Every little thing you do will have an effect in some way, and I hope you want it to be for the better. We need to think of our future like people 100 years ago did for us. Future generations need to have the same chances we got, and be able to thrive like we have. Therefore, present generations should feel a moral obligation to conserve sustainable natural resources for our future generations.