You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Present a written argument or case study to an educational reader with no specialised knowledge of the following topic:

The overuse of natural resources causes an ultimate exhaust of them. People have been using them to be in the swim of new styles such as making new furniture of recent design. This causes a huge harm to the environment. Therefore, the government should discourage people the overuse of these resources.

To what extent do you support or oppose the idea?

You should write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:
In our life, we use the natural resources in many different ways and in fact natural resources are vital for our existences. Our lives will simply become impossible if we stop using natural resources. But it is a matter of pity that the way we overuse those resources. The existing natural resources are limited and the demand and consumption are increasing day by day as the world population is increasing. As a result, natural resources are rather being reduced with the increased and imprudent uses. We must control the overuse of these priceless resources for our own survival

The population and their demand are increasing and with technological improvements the natural resources are being used more than any other time in the human history. We use those to meet our daily and vital needs. For instance, we use natural gas to cook food. But the natural resources like fuels and gas are also used to fulfil our luxury. In fact, the mass people will try to use natural resources to adopt new fashions and changing demands. People changes their furniture models, car models so frequently and it has become a symbol of their prominence. Thus they use natural resources like wood and fuel so unwisely and in my opinion, this is quite unnecessary.

The government of a country sworn to look after the betterment of the countrymen. People are unaware of the aftereffects of this overuse. So the government has to play a vital role by sending the message to the mass population and by taking necessary initiatives to prevent this overuse of the natural resources. However, we all should understand the issue and should take part to prevent the overuse of our natural resources. The government can not stop such a bad trend all alone. Making new furniture is a right to a citizen and Government can not stop this by enforcing laws only. The citizen must be conscious about the devastating aftereffects.

In conclusion, I personally believe that the Government should be strict and discourage the mass people overusing natural resources. In addition, a comprehensive effort by all is needed to make the steps taken by the Government successful.

(Approximately 357 words)

(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)

Idea Generation for this IELTS Essay:

Essay Type: Argumentative (Support or oppose an idea).

Main question of this IELTS Essay:

A. Should government discourage people from overusing the natural resources as this overuse causes harm to the environment?

Arguments in support of this viewpoint: Why the government should discourage people the overuse of natural resources?

The use of natural resources must be controlled for our own survival.
The existence of natural resources is limited and that is why we should prudently use those resources. Otherwise, we will endanger the environment and the natural ecosystem.
Scarce of raw materials for other generations. For instance, shortage of fossil fuels, which are the leading source of energy for heating and transportation.
This has widened the gap between rich and poor countries. Western countries have moved their industries to other developing countries and those industries are consuming more of their natural resources. So, the latter, developing countries, will face many environmental challenges and become poorer in the long run.
We will have more starved humans. Eroding of soil and contamination of freshwater will damage farming products, leading the world to have more malnourished humans.
War might happen. Now, in many countries shortage of fresh water has led a tremendous conflict between them, and this will become worse if uncontrollable usage continues.
The alternative sources of energy are yet to be fully accepted throughout the world. So we should preserve as much/many natural resources as we can.
Ultimate exhaust of natural resources would create a chaos and many wild lives would be endangered as well.
There is no easy and usable artificial technique to reproduce the natural resources again.
It is too selfish not to think about the next generation and by consuming natural resources we will give them a worse world than the one we live in.

Opposing the viewpoint: Why the government should NOT discourage people the use of natural resources?

Raw materials would be restored by novel technologies. As technology develops, factories will be able to find better ways to restore the wasted resources being used before.
This strategy will have huge drawbacks on the economy of countries. Accessing less to natural resources, their production will fall and a considerable economy recession will occur.
This will raise the rate of unemployment. Consideration of more restrictions on industries will cause them to become less profitable, so they will lay out more employees.
Using of modernised filtering systems, disposals will be restored and recycled far more quickly than now, so consideration of more constraints is not necessary.
Having more different variation in life, a variety of goods and manufactures, people’s living condition has improved fundamentally.

[The above points should be helpful to aid you generating your own ideas and then turning them into a nicely written IELTS Essay. Add any point you think we have missed in the comment section.]

Model Answer 2:
Nowadays many people express a contention that natural resources will have been used up by the end of the century. However, others do not share this concern and keep buying luxurious items which are far from being environmentally friendly. There is no doubt that some measures have to be taken to save the environment. Some people think that government is capable of solving this problem by discouraging the overconsumption of the natural resources. I strongly believe that to be effective this measure should be accompanied by developing new technologies.

Undoubtedly, the government should make efforts to save as many resources as possible, which can be realised by introducing various laws. Many countries have already witnessed traffic congestion schemes and improvement in public transportation. Quite often people are encouraged to cycle in order to reduce the consumption of petroleum. Nevertheless, much more can be done on the governmental level. For instance, it might be effective to the introduce a special tax on luxurious items such as powerful sports cars which consume a lot of fuel or elaborate furniture which is made of rare kinds of trees. This way, people will think twice before getting something which cannot be described as environmentally friendly. Therefore, the government has the authority to make natural resources last longer.

Furthermore, the government has to invest a substantial amount of money in the research and development of new sources of energy. Although many nations have been working on solar and wind power for a considerable period of time, the results are not impressive enough. The process of developing unconventional sources of energy must be sped up, which can only be done by extensive cooperation. Scientists in all developed countries should be willing to unite their efforts for the common good. Such cooperation can be achieved by creating the governmental incentives or any kind of financial support. If more countries will be interested in finding alternative sources of energy, natural resources will no longer be at risk.

As it can be seen, the issue of the natural resources overuse can be resolved. Implementation of particular laws coupled with the development of the environmentally friendly technologies is bound to give a positive result and let future generations live a better life having no concerns about the exhaust of vital substances.

(Answer Submitted by Yulia Fedoseeva)

Model Answer 3:

Men have always been dependent on natural resources. Since prehistoric ages, humans have used natural resources for their survival and well-being. Ancient humans used wood from trees to light fire and to build houses, water from lakes and rivers for drinking and bathing. Evolution of humans from a forest-dwelling hunter and gatherer to a modern day social animal has seen a huge surge in the usage of these natural resources. Coal is used in huge quantities to provide electricity and to power factories. Oil is used to run automobiles in daily life.

The indiscriminate extraction and use of natural resources have done a great harm to the environment. Forests are cut to clear land for cities, create paper and furniture. These forests are the natural habitats of several flora and fauna species. Mass forest cuts have led to the extinction of many plants and animal species. This disturbs the food chain, putting the survival of other animals and birds at risk. Cutting of forests and burning of coal and oil has led to an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The increase in carbon dioxide gives rise to global warming through the greenhouse effect. The rise in global temperature causes the polar ice caps to melt, raising sea levels and thus causing floods and droughts at many places.

It is only imperative that man understands the significance of the environment for his survival and limits the use of natural resources. Governments of the world should consider alternate sources of energy such as solar or wind energy to generate electricity. They should encourage the research of biofuel that can replace oil as a fuel for automobiles. Only then can the survival of our lonely planet be contemplated.

(Written by Pankaj Kohli)

Model Answer 4:

Natural resources are the god given gifts to the humankind for their survival on the earth. The author says that the overuse of natural resources will lead to the depletion of the resources, I agree with the author’s statement. Overusing the resources to make the furniture of latest design and use for unnecessary purposes. Below I will justify why I support the author.

Firstly, natural resources are the primary requirements to live on the earth. Natural resources like coal, crude oil, wood, etc. are being used around the world for various reasons but today they are being used more than what they should be. All these resources are produced by the earth as some are found on the surface and some in the subsurface. It takes some 1000 years to generate these things in the earth’s crust. So if we keep using the resources without any limit then it is sure that they get exhausted. For example, in the year 2000 India had coal reserves of 125000 million metric tonnes and due to the overuse and exporting of the coal it depreciated to 90000 million metric tonnes by 2006. This happened due to increase in the rate of electricity power generation using the coal reserves in the country. Apart from that the transportation facilities and links between the cities have also increased which lead to the increase in the railway transport, where almost all the rail engines are of steam working.

Secondly, I think due to improvisation in the technology and its advancement lead to the expansion of different trends, styles and designs around the world almost in all the fields. The people on our planet show a lot of interests in these things due to their attractive and unique features and for instance, in the olden days there used to be a simple model and design of the doors and windows. They used to be placed where ever they are actually required but today due to the tremendous progress in technology and research people have a number of choices to make and houses today have a lot of architecture works and interiors which will certainly increase the amount of wood required. Today we have different types of door, windows, furniture, interior designs, etc. All this will require a lot of wood and with increasing rate of population and standard of living the demand is huge.

I would like to conclude by saying that government should bring amendments and orders to decrease the usage of resources and a strict observation should be implemented in usage and extraction of these resources. So I think awareness should be brought around the world to safeguard the resources and save them for the future generations.

(Written by Ralla Avinash)

Model Answer 5:

Natural resources can be found all around us. Ranging from the air we breathe to the oil found deep underground or in the seas. No one can come up with an exhaustive list of the natural resources around us. Nevertheless, overuse of these resources can lead to an imbalance in the ecosystem which can be detrimental to the environment. In my opinion, the government should come up with ways and means to limit the overuse of natural resources.

In the first instance, the government should take responsibility for the environment around us. They should ensure good practices among individuals. For example, in societies that live in the rainforest such as the Amazon where lumberjacks are employed to cut down trees, the government should educate people on the importance of the rainforest to the environment. They should educate them on the effect of deforestation and how this leads to erosion and desert encroachment. Secondly, the government can put proper laws against certain unhealthy practices. An example is the killing of elephants in certain parts of east Africa which has led to certain elephant species going into extinction. The government can put a law against such practices which would be made punishable.

Furthermore, the government can increase taxes in other aspects. For instance, a government can increase taxes for the exploitation of certain minerals such as petroleum, diamond and gold. Therefore, any company that ventures into it knows they will have to abide by the rules so as not to exploit too much of it.

In conclusion, even though individuals need to take care of their environment, the government should take it as its sole responsibility to ensure the environment is preserved not just for us but for our descendants. This can be done through educating individuals, putting laws against certain practices and putting high taxes in certain areas. All this is to ensure the environment remains habitable to each and every one of us.

(Written by Abdurrahim Zakari)

Model Answer 6:
People have overused natural resources in the last few decades. In fact, humans have used them for unimportant things, such as for luxurious furniture or motor racing. Consequently, it has given negative impact the environment. For that reason, governments must persuade the public not to overuse the resources. I totally agree with the statement and the following essay will discuss in details about it.

It is a fact that the main threat to the environment is the human being. Mankind has overexploited natural resources in such an exaggerate manner, as it has caused serious damage to the earth. Firstly, people have logged forests areas in such an inappropriate manner, as it has caused the extinction of many unique animals. Pathetically, some of the timbers were not used for human’s basic urgent needs, but they were utilised for the purpose of fancy and luxurious things. Secondly, with the invention of fossil fuel in the 19th century, people have used oil as their main source of energies. People become more dependent on this energy, as the demand for the oil kept on increasing in the past few years, and it is forecasted to increase more in the future. Many people do not realise that the fumes of this energy have caused catastrophic effects to the earth, such as global warming. Besides that, it is reported that many oil mining plants have caused serious damaged to their surrounding areas.

Therefore, governments should take some steps in preventing this problem. One of the steps that the government could do is by switching the type of energy. They could do extensive research on safer energy resources such as the windmill or the solar power; therefore these energies could substitute the fossil fuel types. Besides that, governments should conduct some campaigns to their residents, regarding the usage of timber. And then luxurious furniture should be charged with high tax rates and people should be encouraged to use electronic paper and reduce the usage of paper. By doing these kinds of things, it is hoped that it could recover the environment.

In conclusion, it is true that people have harmed the environment by over-exploiting the natural resources. Forests have been destroyed and the ozone layer has been damaged due to the exaggerate the use of them. In my opinion, I strongly agree that governments should take some actions in preserving the environments, as the overuse of natural resources would be a serious threat for the future generation.

( by Darwin Lesmana)

Model Answer 7:
Protecting natural resources is a big responsibility of every citizen in the country, but some people do not care and would like to take financial benefits by exploiting resources in their vicinity irrespective of its detrimental effects on the society. For instance, deforestation, which is exercised immensely to avail maximum financial benefits and to fulfil people demands of modern furniture has dire consequences and could lead to other severe problems. There is a dire need of creating awareness among people about the use of natural resources and government must support that as much as possible.

It is clear that use of natural resources has dramatically increased over the last few years. The primary reason for this approach is to earn money by using all the means, for example, developers are removing large numbers of trees to acquire vacant lands so that they can build new apartments and shopping malls that would provide them lofty profits. Excessive use of resources led to various issues such as lack of fresh and clean air, increased pollution and global warming.

A government should adopt pragmatic approaches to mitigate the use of natural resources. There should be attempts by the government to educate people about effective and efficient uses of resources. There is also dire need of legislation so that people refrain from activities that could harm the environment.

To sum up, I would like to say that disseminating awareness and strict rules of law will substantially help in saving resources. It is also individual’s duty to take preemptive measure to protect the environment. Mutual efforts by the government and individuals of a country would leave positive impacts on environment safety.

( by Fahad Sultan)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Present a written argument or case study to an educational reader with no specialised knowledge of the following topic: