What is the Oldest Environmental Policy?

The earth's resources are limited. Because of this, people have had to conserve, reuse and recycle different types of scarce and valuable resources for as long as they have been around. In early farming communities, for example, compost made out of animal manure and other unused organic material from the farm was used as a homemade type of fertilizer. Native American tribes were known for using every single part of the animals that they killed, which greatly reduced their waste, discouraged them from wastefully killing animals for sport, and reinforced the importance of conserving valuable resources. Even during the Great Depression, people salvaged almost everything they could and stored it for later, because of the looming idea that times would grow worse and those items could be useful, if they weren't already. It wasn't until everyday resources- food, water, and newer inventions such as plastics- became so widely and readily available that people became more wasteful. Thousands of years of resource conservation seemed to be reversed in a matter of decades. Today, people must be educated in the importance of this ancient environmental policy if we are to maintain the health of the earth and provide an optimistic future for our descendants.