Natural Resources, Technology and Man: The Evolution of Society Values

We go to work everyday to afford the resources we use, yes? The food, the shelter, and the heat are necessities. Yet is it possible that when we go to work, we waste resources we really don't need because work or society creates the belief that we need them? Are we wanting to begin with in lieu of resources, or does a lifetime of conditioning via society and work suggest this for us? What do you think? Obviously I need water, shelter, and food to live, but do I really need that cell phone?

I think the planet's resources wouldn't be sourced out so fast if we didn't have to travel away from our families everyday for work or other errands. For instance, traveling the 50 miles to work everyday uses up gas we otherwise wouldn't use. In short, our lifestyle creates a need for things we don't really need. In addition, when one arrives to work for the day, he or she is now using up more resources via another location, instead of taking advantage of the resources already at home. Perhaps we should all start working out of our homes to preserve the resources left.

Yet contradictory to the last statement, work creates the extra need for technological babysitting via cell phones and PDA's. Yet we also use cell phones and Blackberries to keep in touch with friends and family. Yet a camera phone isn't necessary when you want to tell someone you love them, right? A hug usually sends a better message anyways than a text message. Further, with the amount of new media intruding into our personal lives everyday and consequently our communication with one another, it would seem we are also sourcing out human beings via the attainment of that new high-tech gadget.

Necessary are the planet's resources because they help us to keep contact with one another through keeping us healthy enough to do so in the first place. Besides, cell phones and other high-tech gadgets like computers can detract from one's health if obsessed to the point of getting a computer tan. In fact, there was a recent news clip on Bbc News suggesting that sitting too long in front of the computer leads to heart and other health problems. Secondly, resources are one of the main reasons we come into contact with one another via the community, which can promote personal contacts and friendships, too. Last but not least, it is the community that functions on a daily basis similar to Mother Nature, and not the Internet.

The human race would survive just as well without cell phones, if not better, for we would exercise and move more. Yet man will have a harder time surviving without natural resources like food and water. Given changes in lifestyle via the Internet and like media, perhaps we should think about which resource is more vital. If technology is allowed to intrude to the point that the middle man is reduced to a click via a computer mouse, man might become thee resource in contrast to sourcing out Mother Nature haphazardly.