[Fudd]

Long read. I'm surprised the authors didn't mention one critial resource: water. Not only do we need water to drink and bathe and fill our swimming pools, but industry needs water to make all the goods the developed countries enjoy. I won't say we have plenty or we're running out because I don't know that off the top of my head. However, I know it is a bone of contention between the Israelis and surrounding nations, as well as around the SW United States.

[Blackyce]

First of all, North America doesnt really have a water problem. All our freshwater problems stem from the environmental impact of displacing it, not supply. Secondly, there is plenty of water on Earth in the form of salt water. Desalinization is actually pretty simple once its cost efficient to do anything other than drain a lake.

[Monti Cello]

There is not much of a natural water problem in the western United States. There is tons of room for improved pricing of water, and for more efficient usage. Israel is using drip irrigation where water is exteremely scarce, while in California farmers are still flooding fields of water-hungry alfalfa.

Conservation will arise when population causes water to become scarce and/or bad policies cause temporary crises.

I will agree with Blackyce that the major concerns involve ecological impacts on rivers and political disputes involving dams and water distribution among various competing interests.