The environment we inhabit is undergoing constant changes, some of which are possibly life-threatening. Our expanding industrialized world has required a numerous amount of natural resources over the years and with these available numbers depleting, we may be forced into finding practical alternatives or even fending for ourselves with whatever sources are left. There has been an increased awareness of peak water during the past decade including the consequences that can come from this situation. Certain factors that could result from peak water are rapid food shortages, a stark economic slowdown, and a numerous amount of global societal issues. Without taking decisive precautions for preserving freshwater and realizing the appalling effects …show more content…
Water is a universal resource used and consumed by all human beings, and any drastic decline in its supply could inhibit populations from expanding and thriving socially, politically, and economically. Already apparent in certain countries in today's society are the issues of famine and starvation. In developing countries especially, water scarcity could contribute greatly to sickness and malnutrition. Surely, the number of people affected by these issues may in fact rise in the onset of a global decline in water sources. A calamity that could also result in peak oil is the outbreak of an armed conflict between countries competing for an abundance of declining natural resources. History shows that this is very well possible, such as when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor after we cut off their oil supply. If an important resource caused global conflict in the past, what is stopping it from happening again in today’s society? In Matthew Schneider-Mayerson’s paper on the peak oil movement, he mentions that advocates concerns are more accurately captured by the phrase ‘peak everything’ (Heinberg 2007). This suggests that a depletion in water sources could not only affect direct functions that water contributes to such as crop growth and water transportation/availability between countries, it could also have a much greater effect on more natural resources as a whole, such as