Are we more wasteful and careless with our natural resources than we were 30 years ago?

Question

Are we more wasteful and careless with our natural resources than we were 30 years ago?

Answer 1

I don't think we are more careless, just that we haven't gotten less careless so the consequences are compacting.  The longer we go as we have been, the worse the damage will be.  In some ways, like buying huge cars and driving more, we are doing worse, but in others we are doing better, like the energy efficiency of our appliances.  Together they even out, but they even out to extravagant waste.

Answer 2

yes

Answer 3

No.  

In 1977, our cars were bigger and less fuel efficient, we didn't recycle, we polluted more per person such that we had to launch "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" and tearful Indian commercial campaigns, and our technology in alternative fuels were not as efficient as they are now.  From 1977 to 1981 alone, for example, on-road fuel economy of cars increased by 41 percent.

The difference is that our population has exponentially increased.  The global population in 2006 is 6.5 billion.  In 1977, the population was 4.23 billion.  So, that's another 2.3 billion people having to squeeze in on the same amount of land, and another 2.3 billion consuming resources and emitting pollutants.  

The main concern for the future will be population growth and whether that population will outpace the technology advances in reducing waste and natural resource consumption.

Answer 4

I believe that we was more wasteful 30 years ago then  we are now because 30 years ago we was not worried about global warming

Answer 5

Yes, 30yrs ago there were not as many people and people did keep things alot longer and repair them if need be. Things also were made better so they did last longer . Today adults as well as children are very wasteful, and think nothing of being careless with there things no matter if its toys for children or adults . Sad very sad!!!

Answer 6

definitely.....v dont care for the future genrations......tho' ther is awarenes among sum youngsters...hope this situatuion changes.....

Answer 7

Yes we are.

Microorganisms are one of the Earths greatest and most abundant natural resources. Or.. are one of the most abundant sources of them, if you prefer.

Since advances in chemistry were touted as the savior of man roughly 30-50 years ago, the benefits of utilizing microorganisms in recycling and industrial production was reduced.

most of the problems environmentally we see today, are from leaving life(microorganisms) out of the equation.

Society is starting to get wise and realize their mistake and now things are getting back to the way tehy should be, as man realizes promoting life of other organisms also promotes his own.

This is only one example of the wasteful practices of man, that has gotten worse of the past several decades.

Answer 8

No, I don't think so.

Answer 9

Definitely. We are too spoiled to convenience.

Answer 10

Even though I wasn't alive at the time I think that people are just as wasteful and careless as they were 30 years ago but to varying degrees. It seems like the majority of people just don't care about how they are abusing the environment and the natural resources.

People may be more environmentally aware than 30 years ago and are trying to make attempts to change but there are still a lot of people out there who don't care. I work at a state park and you wouldn't believe the amount of trash that people will leave in our park. People come to the park and enjoy our facilities yet get irritated because we don't have trash cans. We ask the public to take with them whatever they brought into the park. Yet, I still have to pick up dirty diapers, cigarette butts, beer and soda cans/bottles, plastic bottles, clothing, etc. We are protecting the wildlife (black bears, raccoons, coyote, etc.) from becoming dependent on us for food. It surprises me how many people think it's a great idea but still want us to take their trash.

I don't know if this was a problem 30 years ago but hopefully it won't be like this 30 years from now.

Answer 11

Yes. 30 years ago I could stand sholder dep in water at the Ilinois River and see multi-colored stones clearly on the bottom.  Today because of all the run off waste from poultry farms, nurseries and over fertilized lawns the water is a murky green and the rocks are covered in slime.

Answer 12

Absolutely.

How many telephones did people own in 5 years 30 years ago? Two?

Today, we have five or more telephone sets in each home, each person has a cell phone that is replaced every 18 months or so, and sattelite phone is just getting off the ground.

And that's just telephones going into the landfills!

Look at all the bottles and cans! Recycling was a good idea, when people weren't consuming only 10% of their liquids out of throwaway packaging. Now, with 80% of drinkables coming out of cans and bottles, recycling is no longer the top priority, reducing the mountain of drink packages can only take place if we install fountains in our homes.

Answer 13

Yes - 30 years ago we still had a lot of people living that had been thru the Depression of the 1930's - when there was nothing "extra".  Nothing was ever thrown away, and everything had more than one use.  

Packaging of goods sold were simpler (manufacturers had to come up with the bubble pack because of theft).

Everybody wore hand-me-downs when they were kids.

Furniture and appliances were built to last, unlike the built-in obsolesence like today's products.  

More people grew their own food (more gardens and green space)

Ah, the good old days.

Answer 14

As far as America goes, ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Let's think back 30 years ago. This was about the same time that Chernobyl basically melted down due to carelessness in maintaining a nuclear facility. That basically made an entire TOWN unusable. Then there was love canal in 1979, in which an entire town was found to be a highly toxic, extremely dangerous waste dump. It was so extreme that the cancer rate became astronomically high. Bhopal happened in 1983, only 4 years after that. Bhopal was very reckless as well.

If you also think about it, most people didn't even really give two rats' butts about whether we had hybrid cars or alternate energy. These new concerns and worries are actually started by seeing all that happened with the toxic problems of the 60's, 70's, and early 80's.

The movement for co-op growing and organic food is another sign that people don't want the environment - or their own bodies - to be messed with by pollutants.

Every other day, you can go onto MSN.com or onto our own Yahoo.com and you'll find a new study on which all-natural foods help fight cancer, what causes cancer, etc. We are A LOT more aware as a human race now than we were before.

Answer 15

Definitely.  However, I don't think it is due to wanting to be wasteful.  30 years ago people worked much harder for a dollar and they were raised differently too.  I think we take things for granted now-a-days.  Back then even scraps were given to the live stock and now we will go and spend $40 on a meal and throw half of it away.  I think it is a lifestyle change more than simply being wasteful.

Answer 16

I think it seems like we are m,ore wasteful, but I wonder if that is just the end result of so many more human beings on this planet.

Answer 17

totally

people are consumers and this is the disposable age ,

just check the trash what is thrown away these days

that will tell a whole story

make it a project

go to the trash heaps and do some research ,

it will be an education for you

apart from that we waste water ,electricity ,food,people even leave the ends in the bottles of beer ,dont smoke their sigarettes to the filter ,throw away a mountain of paper of new papers and junk mail

to go for a take out dinner is a whole collection of plastcs and paper and cardboard.

people dont even use their wives full time ,going of for greener grasses

drive everywhere ,

etc etc.

Answer 18

I think that people are more aware of the need to recycle now. It is true that we throw things away rather than repair them, as the person above me said. Some things today are cheaper to replace than repair and that was not true 30 years ago. But children are being taught about the endowment in school and they were not 30 years ago. Overall people are more aware of the problem and more are taking small steps to recycle. Heck, even I do it. And I didn't do it 30 years ago when some of my more hippy friends were. So over all I would say, no we are not more wasteful and careless than 30 years ago.

Answer 19

Yes, I believe that the children born at that time who are now grown up are more wastfull than ever and teaching their children their bad habits.*

Answer 20

Yes 30 years ago people bought things to last a while. When a pair of shoes get a hole in them now we just throw them away. 30 years ago they would fix them so they would last longer.

Answer 21

We have more disposable things now then 30 years ago, but recycling is common place today... in general I think we are trying to do better - there are just a lot more people.

Answer 22

YES!

Not just our resources, but the whole world's.

While the US only makes up for 6% of the global population, it uses 60% of the world's resources.

Today we buy grains from countries where people are starving to death. So that we can feed factory farmed animals that are so loaded in chemicals and steroids that they are making us desperately sick.

Our North American "Fair Trade" Agreement killed the economy in Mexico. Now we complain about illegal immigrants coming here to make $3 an hour cleaning toilets.

We don't have enough water to bottle up here, so we ship in water from India causing draughts and leaving people to die.

All of this in the name of "convenience."

30 years ago we weren't so selfish. We cared about our neighbors.

Answer 23

yes we are

Answer 24

I can't say.  I wasn't alive 30 years ago.  I've heard we're more apt to throw things away now rather than repair them.

Answer 25

The waste has grown more dangerous