What are natural resources?
A natural resource is anything from nature that people use: air, water, sunlight, soil, plants, animals, rocks, minerals and fuels.
- Renewable: replaced naturally in a short time (sunlight, wind, flowing water, forests and soil if cared for).
- Non-renewable: formed over millions of years, so a fixed amount exists (coal, oil, natural gas, metal ores, uranium).
Some renewables can still be used up if we take them faster than they grow back, for example cutting forests or pumping groundwater too fast.
Why resources are unevenly spread
Resources form only where the right Earth processes happened long ago:
- Coal: swamp forests buried and squeezed for millions of years.
- Oil and gas: tiny sea creatures buried in mud in old sea basins, then heated.
- Metal ores: hot fluids from magma or mountain building that left metals in cracks.
- Fertile soil and fresh water: river plains, rainy areas and below-ground water layers.
So one region may have lots of oil but little water, while another has rich soil but no metals. This uneven spread shapes where people live, trade between regions and even conflicts.
How fast do resources run out?
For a non-renewable store: years left ≈ reserve ÷ use per year.
If a coal field holds 600 million tonnes and we mine 20 million tonnes a year, it lasts about 600 ÷ 20 = 30 years. If use rises, it runs out sooner.
Ways to make resources last: reduce, reuse and recycle (especially metals), use them more efficiently, and switch to renewable sources.
Costs and benefits of using resources
Taking resources out of the ground brings benefits: energy, building materials, jobs and money for a region.
It also has costs: air and water pollution, loss of forests and wildlife habitat, land damage, carbon dioxide from burning fuels, and risks to workers.
Good decisions compare both sides and look for ways to reduce harm, such as refilling and replanting old mines, treating waste water and choosing cleaner methods.
Where people live also depends on hazards (floods, earthquakes, droughts). Rich river plains attract farms but can flood, so societies balance resources against risks.
Key formulas and definitions
- Years left ≈ known reserve ÷ amount used per year
- Renewable resource: naturally replaced within a human lifetime
- Non-renewable resource: a fixed amount that took millions of years to form
- Sustainable use: using a resource no faster than it can be replaced
Worked examples
1. Sort: wind, iron ore, forest, natural gas, sunlight, coal.
Renewable: wind, forest, sunlight. Non-renewable: iron ore, natural gas, coal.
2. An oil field has 900 million barrels and produces 45 million barrels a year. How long will it last?
900 ÷ 45 = 20 years at the present rate.
3. If production in the same field rises to 60 million barrels a year, how long will it last now?
900 ÷ 60 = 15 years. Faster use means it runs out 5 years earlier.
4. Why are coal fields found in only some places?
Coal formed from ancient swamp forests that were buried and pressed for millions of years. Only places that had those swamps and the right burial have coal today.
Common mistakes
- Saying forests and groundwater can never run out; they can if used faster than they renew.
- Thinking every region has the same resources; they depend on the area's geological history.
- Forgetting that the years-left figure changes when the rate of use or new discoveries change.
- Looking only at benefits (jobs, money) and ignoring costs (pollution, habitat loss).