Natural resource
A natural resource is anything 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, crude oil, solar energy, wind energy, hydro-electric energy, coal, and minerals. Refined oil is not a natural resource, for example, because people make it.
We often say there are two sorts of natural resource: renewable resources and non-renewable resources.
- A renewable resource grows again or comes back again after we use it. For example, sunlight, water, and trees.
- A non-renewable resource is a resource that does not grow or 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). It is important to conserve (save) non-renewable resources, because if we use them too quickly there will not be enough.
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. Some resources are difficult to find, so people sometimes fight to have them (for example, oil resources).
When people do not have some natural resources, their quality of life can get lower. 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. Some examples of renewable resources are wood, solar energy, trees, wind, hydroelectric power, fish and sunlight. Non renewable resources cannot be recycled. For example, oil, minerals, and other non renewable resources cannot be recycled. Natural resources are very important to a human lifestyle. Natural resources are certain materials Earth produces.