A geographical area or the natural world that includes mineral soil, air and water, animals, etc. which is affected by human activity is termed as environment. With the movement of the Homo sapiens towards urbanisation and industrialization which led to the development in medical, industrial and societal field, the natural landscape got replaced by concrete buildings and roads. However, our dependency on these natural landscapes for food, water for drinking and agriculture, fuel wood, etc. still persists. This dependency of ours on nature is to such a large extent that we cannot survive without protecting its resources.
These natural resources can broadly be categorized into renewable and non-renewable ones. Renewable resources are the ones that can be regenerated naturally. These include water, forest, crops etc. On the contrary, the non-renewable resources such as oils and minerals cannot be replenished and in the present scenario are being consumed at a very fast pace.
The main factors leading to this rapid depletion of all forms of natural resources are population growth and ‘consumerism’ on the part of the privileged sections of the society. This has led to loss of not only wildlife and trees, but has also disrupted the eco-system. Thus, it is high time that we should stop misusing these natural resources and instead use them judiciously.