Geography ch 1

• Resource


  Anything that can be used to satisfy a need
• Resources


  • clothes
  • utensils
  • food grains
• Utility


  What makes an object or substance a resource
• Resources


  • Water
  • electricity
  • rickshaw
  • vegetable
  • textbook
• Things become resources only when they have a value. Their use or utility gives them a value. All resources have some value.
• Resources with economic value

  • Metals
• Resources without economic value

  • Beautiful landscape
• Resources can become economically valuable with time
• Patent


  Exclusive right over any idea or invention
• Factors that change substance into a resource

  • Time
  • Technology
• Technology


  Application of latest knowledge and skill in doing or making things
• People themselves are the most important resource. It is their ideas, knowledge, inventions and discoveries that lead to the creation of more resources.
• Discoveries/inventions leading to creation of more resources

  • Discovery of fire leading to cooking and other processes
  • Invention of the wheel leading to development of newer modes of transport
  • Technology to create hydroelectricity turning energy in fast flowing water into an important resource
• Classification of resources


  • Natural
  • Human made
  • Human
• Natural resources


  Resources drawn from Nature and used without much modification
• Types of natural resources

  • Renewable
  • Non-renewable
• Renewable resources


  Resources that get renewed or replenished quickly, some are unlimited and not affected by human activities
• Renewable resources


  • Water
  • Soil
  • Forest
• Non-renewable resources


  Resources with limited stock, take thousands of years to be renewed or replenished
• Non-renewable resources


  • Coal
  • Petroleum
  • Natural gas
• Factors affecting distribution of natural resources

  • Terrain
  • Climate
  • Altitude
• The distribution of natural resources is unequal because physical factors like terrain, climate and altitude differ so much over the earth.
• Human made resources


  Natural substances changed in form to create buildings, bridges, roads, machinery and vehicles
• Human resource


  Number and abilities (mental and physical) of people
• People can make the best use of nature to create more resources when they have the knowledge, skill and the technology to do so. That is why human beings are a special resource.
• Human resource development


  Improving the quality of people's skills so that they are able to create more resources
• Resource conservation


  Using resources carefully and giving them time to get renewed
• Sustainable development


  Balancing the need to use resources and also conserve them for the future
• Ways of conserving resources

  • Reducing consumption
  • Recycling
  • Reusing
• Principles of sustainable development

  • Respect and care for all forms of life
  • Improve the quality of human life
  • Conserve the earth's vitality and diversity
  • Minimise the depletion of natural resources
  • Change personal attitude and practices towards the environment
  • Enable communities to care for their own environment
• The future of our planet and its people is linked with our ability to maintain and preserve the life support system that nature provides. Therefore it is our duty to ensure that all uses of renewable resources are sustainable, the diversity of life on the earth is conserved, and the damage to natural environmental system is minimised.