Day without coal or mineral oil ??

 

Conservation of minerals:

Minerals are very precious and very supportive for human lives. Iron, copper, coal, petroleum and other minerals have a thousand and one uses. The loss of even one of these non-renewable resources would affect our life considerably. Careful mining helps us to conserve coal, iron and oil-deposits.

It seems hard to believe that one day we would have to live without coal or oil. A day without mineral resources, a day without using vehicles... Impossible will be the answer. Yet, there are chances that oil and coal will get exhausted if we continue using them at the rate we do today.

We should take the following steps to conserve non-renewable resources.

1. Prohibiting wastage of resources:

Wastage of resources should be discouraged. For example, using public transport in place of individual vehicles helps to conserve valuable petrol. Use of ‘car-pool’ system where several people with a common destination go together in one vehicle, saves petrol. Switching off fans, lights and coolers when not in use, using cooking gas economically, use of pressure cookers, using tubelights in place of electric bulb are some ways of conserving non-renewable resources which could help in a big way.

2. Use of substitutes:

Alternative sources of energy like solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, energy from biomas (biogas), etc., can be used on a large scale to substitute the fossil fuels. Use of solar cookers and biogas for cooking must be encouraged.

Eg: # Thailand is using boigas for taxi service instead of using petrol or diesel

       #Recently Sri Lankanperson invented a vehicle which can be operated with coconut oil...etc.

New materials are being developed to substitute non-renewable resources. For example, plastics are now used to make products that once could be made only out of steel. The use of atomic energy can lessen our dependence on coal and oil.

3. Recycling resources:

All types of metal wastes, glass and paper and plastic can be recycled and used again. The local kabadiwala collects all the junk and carap which is recycled and used again to make paper, plastic containers and metal articles. Although plastic is not a natural resource n itself (it is man-made) but uses up lot of fuel in its manufacturing process. Hence, recycling plastic helps to conserve fuels. Recycling paper helps to conserve forests.

4. Repair and use:

In India, we do not discard any object or appliance that doesn’t work. We get it repaired and reuse it. The repair and use economy helps to conserve resources as it discourages production and wastage.