Resources

• Natural resources are useful materials found on Earth, produced by natural processes, and can be renewable or non-renewable
• Renewable resources take a short time, within a human lifespan, to form or reproduce naturally through natural processes and are available in unlimited quantity (e.g., coal)
• Non-renewable resources take a long time, longer than a human lifespan, to reproduce naturally and are available in limited quantity (e.g., fish, wind)
• Non-renewable resources like fish can become non-renewable if the rate of extraction exceeds the rate of natural reproduction (overfishing)
• Resources are materials identified by people as useful, directly or indirectly enabling tasks to be carried out and enhancing people's well-being
• Culture and technology can shape how people decide if a material is useful to them, with culture representing a way of life shared by a group of people and technology influencing resource utilization
• How do people identify resources?

  Culture and technology can shape how people decide if a material is useful to them.

  Culture= A way of life a group of people share

  Low Technology:

  Examples:

  Using water buffalo to plough fields

  Use sickles to harvest crops

  High technology:

  Examples:

  Using tractors to plough fields

  Using combined harvesters to harvest crops
• Natural resources are:

  -Useful materials found on Earth

  -Are produced by natural processes

  Examples:

  Gold, water, wood

  Renewable resources:

  -Takes a short time to reproduce naturally(within a human lifespan)

  -Is available in unlimited quantity

  Non-renewable resources:

  -Takes a long time(longer than a human lifespan) to reproduce through natural processes

  Renewable resources can become non-renewable if the extraction of the resource becomes more than its rate of natural reproduction