Lia Waugh Powell

Whenever we think of scarce yet important resources, oil immediately pops into our minds.  However, the only reason we think of our lack of oil is because it affects us directly — through gas prices.  But oil isn’t the only thing in the world we are running low on, and it’s going to be the least of our issues if these things continue to become more and more limited.

5) Helium

The increasing lack of this gas is not only going to affect children across the globe because their parents can no longer afford balloons for their birthdays — it can potentially shut down this entire “Technology Era” we are in.  The majority of our technology has been created with the help of helium.  This is because helium has the lowest boiling point out of all of the elements on Earth.  Here are some examples of how helium is so critical to our society:

· Helium is used to cool MRI magnets, the tools hospitals use multiple times every day to observe and diagnose many issues from soft tissue damage to tumors.

· Helium is used to create rocket fuel.

You know when you are at the grocery store when the cashier is scanning items?  That scanner’s laser is made from helium.  As you can tell, helium is quite important.

4) Chocolate

Every year over 13 BILLION dollars is spent on chocolate — in the United States alone.  The problem?  The world’s top supplier of chocolate comes from West Africa, tended by slave children.  Even taking out the slavery aspect of it, the average cocoa bean farmer makes 80 cents a day.  Thus, people are getting smarter and realizing that the 5 years it takes to plant and raise a cocoa tree just isn’t worth only 80 cents a day — not to mention the heat in which the workers have to labor.  The area cocoa beans are grown in isn’t so hot either — it’s one of the world’s most politically unstable regions in the world.  It is predicted that in 25 years chocolate can become just as expensive and as rare as caviar is now.

3) Medical Isotopes

Medical isotopes are used about 50,000 times a day in the United States alone.  They provide short bursts of radiation used for diagnosing bone cancer, kidney malfunctions, and issues within the brain.  Around 80% of medical isotope procedures use Technetium-99m, which only lasts about 12 hours.  This makes it impossible to store it, thus it must be produced freshly over and over again.  Though this is such a crucial part to the examination, the industry only has one supplier, Chalk River Laboratories.  Unfortunately, that company shut down two years ago.  The United States and Canada are both in the process of creating new nuclear reactors to safely produce Technetium-99m, but they will not be finished in quite some time.

2) Phosphorus

Though phosphorus isn’t exactly thought of as “Oh my goodness, this is such an important thing to have,” it actually is.  Every living thing relies on phosphorus.  Phosphorus is used to clean water, treat metal, toothpaste, and pesticides.  Most of all, fertilizer is made out of phosphorus.  Without it, there will be no way to sustain the amount of crops needed to maintain the world’s population — and it’s estimated to run out in 30 years.  Sweden is so concerned about the lack of phosphorus we are heading toward, they made a toilet that will extract it from our urine.  That, ladies and gentleman, is indeed desperation.

1) Water

You probably laughed when you read water was running out.  It’s all around us: the ocean and lakes in and around Virginia alone contain enough water for us to enjoy anytime we please.  But, it’s true; the amount of drinkable water in the world is becoming more and more limited, for many reasons.

One reason is pesticides; there are so many that are accidentally exposed into water many fresh water resources have become considered dead.  Even though oceans, lakes, and rivers surround us, only 0.3% of water on Earth is drinkable, and the majority of this water is groundwater.  The U.S. is not doing its share in protecting water, either.  The average American uses 15-30 gallons of water in the shower, 1-2 gallons of water brushing one’s teeth, 10-15 gallons of water while shaving (if water is kept running), 20 gallons in washing dishes, and 5-7 gallons while flushing the toilet.