Abstract
ONE of the important questions discussed at the recent World Power Conference was the conservation of natural resources. Science Service, of Washington, D.C., has issued reports of papers, dealing with this subject, which formed the basis of a discussion at the Conference. It is stated that whether the business systems are capitalist or socialist or a combination of the two, we must organize our activities to meet the demands of natural law, and all civilized nations are struggling towards this end each in its own way. The principles laid down for ‘resource planning’ by the writer of the reports are to keep soil, water, forest and grass as at present, but to economize by every possible means in the use of irreplaceable minerals. Nature lays down the terms, and we must either obey or suffer. We can come to terms with Nature in regard to the self-renewing resources by using them only as fast as they are replaced. With regard to the non-replaceable minerals, we can come to terms only by finding new and abundant substitutes faster than we use up the older materials. It is a race between technology and waste. Face to face with the inexorable demands of Nature, we suffer from human weakness. The consent of the people has to be obtained in spite of the propaganda issued by those whose interests are opposed to the public welfare. The laws of a federal union of sovereign States are a tangle of inconsistent rights and powers that hampers the action of the nation. The United States are now struggling to acquire legal and political powers commensurate with their necessities. If it fails, we are threatened by a crisis when essential materials are exhausted and it becomes necessary to reduce the population.
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Natural Resources Conservation. Nature 138, 680 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138680b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138680b0