Have We Exhausted Our Resources?

Emerald Isle: Residents in Ireland have made abundant use of wood as a resource for centuries. To the point that woodlands, which covered 80 percent of the island in the distant past, were reduced to just 2.5 percent of its area 350 years ago.

All of this applies to the present as well. People have been projecting the scarcity of oil for a long time, and the world has responded with alternative sources of energy, battery-electric propulsion and fuel cells, not to mention new conveyor technologies and the more economical use of fossil fuels. Sometimes we find that parameters can be changed. For example, forecasts of the world’s population extend beyond the aforementioned year 2050 and suggest that growing prosperity could lead to significant declines in birth rates and thus to a shrinking population long-term. That alone won’t solve all the problems. But it will open up new possibilities.

Incidentally, human labor can be a resource as well, and it is already in short supply in some areas. Similarly, scarcities of nonmaterial resources like time or attention may exist. The year 2020 did an excellent job of surprising us with what we might lack: from medical equipment to toilet paper – or even close human contact. We are sure about one thing, however: It is often possible to manage and offset resource shortages, although not always immediately. And rarely without effort or sacrifice. But scarcity often leads to innovation and economic progress in the first place. Scarcity is a challenge that unleashes creative potential. Have we really exhausted all the options? All the possibilities? Some raw materials may be finite, but the sources of ideas and innovations that solve problems are clearly infinite, as is the range of ongoing social, technical and economic developments. We at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies want to make contributions in these areas. To this end, the latest edition of ESSENTIAL should serve as both an inspiration and an incentive.