1.2. NATURAL RESOURCES

The word resource means a source of supply. The natural resources include water, air, soil, minerals, coal, forests, crops and wildlife are examples. All the resources are classified based on quantity, quality, re-usability, men's activity and availability. Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified (natural) form. A natural resource’s value rests in the amount of the material available and the demand for it.

Natural resources are fundamental materials that occur in nature and are used by humans for various purposes. These include essential elements like water, air, and soil, as well as energy sources such as coal, and biological resources like forests and wildlife. The classification of resources can depend on several factors including how much of them exist (quantity), their condition (quality), and their ability to be reused or replaced. Essentially, the value of a natural resource is determined by its availability and how much people need it.

Think of natural resources like the ingredients in a kitchen. If you have plenty of flour, sugar, and eggs, you can bake multiple cakes (using renewable resources), but if you run out of a key ingredient like vanilla extract, you can't make that cake again unless you buy more (non-renewable resource). This is similar to how we utilize natural resources—we need to manage them wisely.

Renewable resource or inexhaustible resources: The renewable resources can maintain themselves or can be replaced if managed wisely. These resources are constantly renewed in nature. The renewable resources are therefore not likely to be lost due to excessive and unwise use.

Renewable resources are those that can naturally replenish themselves over time. This means that as long as we use them wisely and responsibly, they won't run out. For example, forests, water, and sunlight are renewable because they can regenerate. For instance, trees can grow back if not all are cut down at once. Thus, careful management is crucial to ensure that these resources remain available for future generations.

Consider a garden. If you take the right care—like watering and adding nutrients to the soil—flowers will bloom year after year. However, if you neglect it or pick every flower without allowing time for new ones to grow, the garden will be empty. This is similar to how we should treat renewable resources in nature.

Non-renewable resources or exhaustible resources: These resources once used are lost forever, as they are not restored. They include metallic minerals and fossil fuels. At current rates of usage, all the industrial metals may lose for less than a century and those of petroleum and natural gas may exhaust in 15-20 years.

Non-renewable resources are finite; once they are extracted and consumed, they cannot be replaced. This category includes fossil fuels like coal and oil, as well as minerals and metals. They take millions of years to form, meaning using them at the current rate of consumption will lead to their depletion in the foreseeable future. Thus, there is an urgent need to shift towards sustainable practices to conserve these critical resources.

Imagine using a single piece of cake for a birthday party. If you eat it all at once, there's no cake left for later. Similarly, treating non-renewable resources requires moderation and planning to ensure that we have enough for future needs.

Human population is growing day-by-day. Continuous increase in population caused an increasing demand for natural resources. Due to urban expansion, electricity need and industrialization, man started utilizing natural resources at a much larger scale. Non-renewable resources are limited. They cannot be replaced easily. After some time, these resources may come to an end. It is a matter of much concern and ensures a balance between population growth and utilization of resources. This overutilization creates many problems.

With the constant growth of the human population, the demand for natural resources increases correspondingly. Urbanization, industrialization, and the need for more electricity put immense pressure on these resources. Since non-renewable resources are limited and cannot be replenished, this leads to significant concerns regarding their sustainability. Overutilization of resources can result in severe environmental issues, including deforestation, water shortages, and depletion of minerals.

Picture a water tank in a house. If a family continuously uses the water without giving it time to refill, eventually the tank will run dry. This represents how we are depleting our natural resources by using them faster than they can be replenished.

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