Site began, February, 2010. The purpose of resourcedepletion.org is to present a clear illustration of environmental issues that are so critical to our survival that should any reach a tipping point, functional society may suffer catastrophic consequences. Resourcedepletion.org is illustrative - any organization(s) interested in promoting this method including use of the domain name can contact us through OhNoOhYes.

With this site, we acknowledge the work of Jared Diamond and his book, "Collapse." Accordingly, we dedicate this effort to the last native Greenland tree, felled by Vikings during their 300 year settlement.

It was/is difficult to grow anything in Greenland, let alone trees, but it has been asked, and reasonably so, why didn't those early Greenlanders sustainably manage such a valuable resource (used for building as well as burning)? We can speculate: some time before they cut the last tree, they may well have realized the effect of their actions, but they may also have realized it would take an impractically long period of time to grow new trees - and just in case someone else got the wood, why not me? They may also have rationalized that perhaps they could make due with the smaller trees and bushes.

Bottom line - the critical act of planning for the future came too late, and this and other mismanaged resources possibly led to their extinction. Hopefully, it is not yet too late for planet Earth.

The six criteria listed below were selected as critical indicators for two  reasons:

1. Continual increase in activity will have catastrophic consequences for all humans.

2. Once some level of deterioration occurs, long range planning and corrective action will likely not succeed within an acceptable period of time.

A continual increase of any one criterion may cause a catastrophic collapse of civilization.