The UN has released a dark picture with regard to the state and availability of our future global natural resources. This is a serious issue, and I believe that humanity is still struggling to understand the ramifications of our effect on the air, fresh water, oceans and non-human life of the Earth. Some completely reject the idea that we have collectively had a negative influence over our environment. I think this is simple wishful thinking, and I think this is seductive because consciously or sub-, the implications are that our lifestyles are in for some big changes, and that is not what we want to contemplate. A simple example would be the drought being suffered by Georgia and its bordering states. Of course, naysayers would say it’s simply an act of nature, there have been droughts before and there will be again. Try to bottle up those words and drink them, why don’t cha? Many parts of the world have suffered from drought, and the terrible consequences wrought by it, including environmental destruction and human fatality. It happens. Supply and demand is a very simple concept, and fresh water supplies are not unlimited.

I think most of us Westerners know we use more than our fair share of natural resources, but, it’s so hard to quit. We have no incentive. In fact, we, as responsible citizens of the US, for example, are urged to go out and spend, spend, and spend some more, especially if our nation is suffering from some calamity.  You know what I’m taking about.  Well, if we all have to keep making more money to buy more stuff to support our economy and get it to grow, and so does everyone on the planet, this is an infinite cycle, one that fails to include the limited amount of natural resources on the planet.  Water is one place we have already started to brush against the limits of what Earth has to offer.  A very important limit that many in the world already know about and some in the American south and southwest are slowly coming to understand, personally.  Needless to say, we need water to drink just to live, but most of the fresh water on the Earth is used to raise food, and, if our population continues to grow, we will need to grow much more food to feed them.  We need solutions to come from the conscience of the people and for governments and businesses to pay heed to what we already know we need to do to survive.

• UN Environmental Report

• Issues with Desalination