Helium is a precious natural resource which is a critical component of everything from MRI scanners, rockets, telescopes, to deep-sea diving, in addition to its obvious use in airships, but we are currently squandering it at a prodigious rate, and are on track to completely run out of it within 25 to 30 years. Once helium is released into the atmosphere it will eventually escape into space, and there is a finite amount of it available on Earth. A major reason for the waste of helium is the price is far too low due to a 1996 law passed in which Congress authorized the sell-off of the national strategic reserve of helium out of a misguided attempt to recoup costs. Helium must be conserved!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-o...