Natural Resources? I Prefer Natural Ice.

I can't stand the phrase "natural resources". You can just smell the bullshit wafting off of it, you know what I'm saying?

Oil is a natural resource. Wildlife is not. This Avocet is an avocet. It does not think of itself as something that exists solely for human beings to exploit. "Natural resource" implies that something has little or no value beyond serving human needs. When a "natural resource" is "harvested", there is no terminology in there that gets to the heart of the thing (killing, suffering, habitat destruction, fouling air and water, etc.), which is why its so popular in the jargon of both governmental agencies and private businesses.

If this phrase has, for some reason, crept into your vocabulary, I highly suggest dropping it. Keep it real!