Resource Depletion is the general term used for the overall reduction and damage occurring to the resources of the earth. In the context of world resource depletion, the word resource is a widely used expression that can be associated with all our available natural supplies and support systems. Our most valuable resources are those which keep us alive, namely: air, water and the land. The resources which are our very support systems in life are the most critical, for without them we will cease to exist to even enjoy the benefits that the other resources of the earth bring to our life.


The resources of our natural world are depleting because our demands on them are beyond what they can supply. The devastation and destruction that we impose on the world around us has been endless and now we are starting to wake up to the fact that the resources are running out. Many scientists have picked up on such a trend and written many warnings in regards to the depletion of resources and the ever increasing demand on a world environment which is diminishing daily. Sustainable development is at the forefront of international agenda because the problems of population, increasing consumption and resource depletion are becoming glaringly obvious and can no longer be ignored!


... someone who lives a very materialistic life is doing a lot of environmental damage compared with someone who makes the most of what they already have. Every time you buy new you are using up more of the world's limited resources and damaging more of the environment. Alternatively, whenever you re-use things that have already been used your not putting greater demands on a straining world.

Consume		Conserve
Capitalism		Conservatism
Advertising - Buy - Spend		Don't Buy it if you don't need it
Create a Demand - Promote More		Reduce Materialism - Promote Less
Throw it away - Buy another one		Don't throw it away - Repair or Fix it
Results in more Garbage & Stress		Less Rubbish & Minimizes Stress
Submit - Conform		Refuse - Resist
Waste		Save

Jesus calls his followers to a joyful life of carefree unconcern for possessions: I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food to keep you alive and clothes to cover your body. What is the secret of such carefree living? First, many people cling to their possesions instead of sharing them because they are worried about the future. Jesus taught us that God is our loving Father. His word Abba (Mk.14:36) is a tender, intimate word like Papa. If we really believe that the almighty creator and sustainer of the cosmos is our loving Papa, then we can begin to cast aside anxiety about earthly possessions.

If there are poor people who need assistance, Jesus' carefree disciple will help - even if that means selling possessions. People are vastly more important than property. "Laying up treasure in heaven" means exactly the same thing. The rich fool is the epitome of the covetous person. He has a greedy compulsion to acquire more and more possessions even though he does not need them. And his phenomenal success at piling up more and more property and wealth leads to the blasphemous conclusion that material possessions can satisfy all his needs. From the divine perspective, however, this attitude is sheer madness.

One cannot read the parable of the rich fool without thinking of our own society. We madly multiply more sophisticated gadgets, larger and taller buildings and faster means of transportation not because such things truly enrich our lives but because we are driven by an obsession for more and more. Covetousness - striving for more and more material possessions - has become a cardinal vice of Western civilization.

Before God and a billion hungry neighbours, we must rethink our values regarding our present standard of living and promote more just acquistion and distribution of the world's resources. Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple lifestyle in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.