  The possibility of exploiting multiple resources is usually regarded as
positive from both the economic and the environmental point of view. However,
resource switching may also lead to unsustainable growth and, ultimately, to an
equilibrium condition which is worse than the one that could have been achieved
with a single resource. We applied a system dynamics model where users exploit
multiple resources and have different levels of preference among them. In this
setting, exploiting multiple resources leads to worse outcomes than the
single-resource case under a wide range of parameter configurations. Our
arguments are illustrated using two empirical situations, namely oil drilling
in the North Sea and whale hunting in the Antarctic.
