The copper mine in Bisbee Arizona closed when all of the easily obtainable ore was mined. Nobody much cared. The miners moved on and a future Ghost Town was created.
The Oyster fleet in the Chesapeake used draggers to catch most of the easily obtainable oysters and the area and the nation went into a paroxysm of worries and “solutions” to the problem.
Why is one a problem and the other an event. My friend, Mark V, introduced trees as another resource that we attempt to manage. Clear cutting of trees is economical senses and they will grow back. But we recoil from the short term ugly result and the degredation of the ecosystem.
We grow corn and wheat to harvest. Most of the Salmon sold at Costco is grown in pens. People have a built in set of rules about what we feel is acceptable to do to the earth.
Deer once plentiful in Upstate New York were almost gone by the early 1990’s now they are abundant again. The black bears have returned to Southern California to the delight of some and the consternation of others. It is easy to predict what the response will be when the brown bears (grizzlies) return.
Zebra Mussels have cleaned up the Great Lakes but they are invasive and therefore bad. The Asian Carp are in the Mississippi water shed and we oppose that and we’re fighting a losing battle to keep them from getting into the Great Lakes.
Men are in charge but we can’t control multiple variable problems very well and we are in conflict about what result we want, as the above examples show.
