While Alberta continues to develop its natural resources, some thought needs to be
given to their safeguarding as well. If we don't develop our natural resources
in a manner that will help sustain them into the future, then we will not only
lose the capacity to develop these resources years down the road, we will also
lose the beauty of our landscape.
Our
natural resources are broken up into renewable and non-renewable. Renewable
resources are those that can be naturally regenerated in a reasonable amount of
time. Both agriculture and forestry fall under the renewable category. Non-renewable resources are those that, once depleted, can no longer be
developed within a reasonable amount of time. Alberta's hydrocarbons are
non-renewable because it would take billions of years for similar formations to
again exist.
Renewable and
non-renewable resources require different and special ways of development to
make the most of the resources while leaving some for future generations. In
this section we explore certain steps that have been taken to develop our
resources in a sustainable way. This is not to say that these actions are the
best or only things that can be done, but they are part of a solution that will
see our development practices in sync with the natural practices of Mother
Nature.
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