I think that resources of one sort or another have always been short, in relative ways. Relative to the use being made of them at the time, relative to the technology available for extraction, relative to the distint areas where humans were living, I expect there are others. I think I saw this part of a similar discussion somewhere here not too long ago.
The difference that I see now is that more people are aware and concerned about shortages in material for society. Material that is in shortage relative to the present human population, relative to consumption versus stocks available, and relative to the cost of production.
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