Resources such as soils, timber, fresh water, food crops, and biodiversity are renewable i...

Resources such as soils, timber, fresh water, food crops, and biodiversity are renewable if we use them in moderation but can become nonrenewable if we overexploit them (see Figure). For each of these five resources, describe one way in which we sometimes overexploit them, and one thing we could do to conserve them. In supplying your answers, feel free to look ahead and peruse coverage of these issues throughout this book.

Figure: Natural resources lie along a continuum from perpetually renewable (left) to nonrenewable (right). Perpetually renewable, or inexhaustible, resources, such as sunlight and wind energy, will always be there for us. Renewable resources such as timber, soils, and fresh water may be replenished on intermediate time scales, if we are careful not to deplete them. Nonrenewable resources, such as oil and coal, exist in limited amounts that could one day be gone.