Contents What are Resources Resources Around the World Mining FOCUS ON Aluminum Wood FOCUS ON Rainforest Deforestation Water Food and Farms FOCUS ON GM Crops FOCUS ON North Sea Fishing Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Garbage and Recycling FOCUS ON Eco-cities Glossary Test Yourself Index 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 21 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
What are Resources There are many natural resources on Earth that we can use to make objects support ourselves or produce energy Wood metal and stone are used for construction Fossil fuels running water and sunlight can be used to produce electricity Renewable resources Wind sunlight and water are described as renewable resources Our supply of these resources will naturally renew no matter how much we use of them Wood and other resources that can be regrown quickly and easily are also renewable However humans have to make sure they replant and replace these resources so that they have a supply in the future Radioactive material page 27 Rubber page 12 Coal page 8 Metal page 8 Stone page 8 North Americans use 198 pounds 90 kg Precious stones page 8 4 of natural resources from Earth every day
Non-renewable resources Many resources on Earth such as coal oil and minerals are non-renewable Once we use up our supply of these resources it will take millions of years for the resources to naturally form again At the moment we have enough us last to oil around for 50 more years Oil wells pump oil from reserves deep underground Animals page 18 Wood page 12 Gas page 22 Oil page 22 Plants page 18 Water page 16 Using resources It’s important that humans use resources in a responsible and sustainable way We need to share resources fairly so that everyone on Earth has access to the resources that they need Restricting our use of some resources now will allow us to leave enough for future generations We also need to be careful that we do not gather or process resources in a way that harms the natural environment 5
