system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 - If helium is one of the most common elements in the universe, how are we "running out of helium" on earth?
gpt
Helium is not evenly distributed in the universe. What we have on earth is mostly produced by radioactive decay in earth's crust, which we can get out in gas wells. It's produced at a fixed and low rate that way exceeds how fast we use it.

Helium is so light that, when it's released it tends to drift away and escape pretty easily so we don't currently do a good job reclaiming what we have.