Resources / Natural Resources

Natural resources are materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain. 

Natural resources are useful raw materials that we get from the Earth. They occur naturally, which means that humans cannot make natural resources. Instead, we use and modify natural resources in ways that are beneficial to us. The materials used in human-made objects are natural resources. Some examples of natural resources and the ways we can use them are:

Natural Resource	Products or Services
Air	Wind energy, tires
Animals	Foods (milk, cheese, steak, bacon) and clothing (wool sweaters, silk shirts, leather belts)
Coal	Electricity
Minerals	Coins, wire, steel, aluminum cans, jewelry
Natural gas	Electricity, heating
Oil	Electricity, fuel for cars and airplanes, plastic
Plants	Wood, paper, cotton clothing, fruits, vegetables
Sunlight	Solar power, photosynthesis
Water	Hydroelectric energy, drinking, cleaning

A natural resource is anything that people can use which comes from nature. People do not make natural resources, but gather them from the earth. Examples of natural resources are air, water, wood, oil, wind energy, iron, and coal. Refined oil and hydro-electric energy are not natural resources because people make them.

Supply -  We often say there are two sorts of natural resources: renewable resources and non-renewable resources.

·         A renewable resource is one which can be used again and again. For example, soil, sunlight and water are renewable resources. However, in some circumstances, even water is not renewable easily. Wood is also a renewable resource, but it does take time to renew. Soil, if it blows away, is not easy to renew.

·         A non-renewable resource is a resource that does not grow and come back, or a resource that would take a very long time to come back. For example, coal is a non-renewable resource. When we use coal, there is less coal afterward. One day, there will be no more of it to make goods. The non-renewable resource can be used directly (for example, burning oil to cook), or we can find a renewable resource to use (for example, using wind energy to make electricity to cook).

Most natural resources are limited. This means they will eventually run out. A perpetual resource has a never-ending supply. Some examples of perpetual resources include solar energy,tidal energy, and wind energy.^[1]

Some of the things influencing supply of resources include whether it is able to be recycled, and the availability of suitable substitutes for the material. Non-renewable resources cannot be recycled. For example, oil, minerals, and other non-renewable resources cannot be recycled.

Demand - The demand for resources can change with new technology, new needs, and new economics (e.g. changes in cost of the resources). Some material can go completely out of use, if people do not want it any more. Demand of many natural resources is very high, but availability of some, such as precious metals, is very low.

Availability - All places have their own natural resources. When people do not have a certain resource they need, they can either replace it with another resource, or trade with another country to get the resource. People have sometimes fought to have them (for example, spices, water, arable land, gold, or petroleum).

When people do not have some natural resources, their quality of life can get lower. So, we need to protect our resources from pollution. For example, when they can not get clean water, people may become ill; if there is not enough wood, trees will be cut and the forest will disappear over time (deforestation); if there are not enough fish in a sea, people can die of starvation. Renewable resources include crops, wind, hydroelectric power, fish, and sunlight. Many people carefully save their natural resources so others can use them in future.