A resource is a naturally occurring, material that a society to be useful to its economic and material well-being. In this chapter, we devote our attention to physically occurring resources as they are more commonly called natural resources. Natural resources are a function of two things: the physical characteristics of the resources themselves, and human economic and technological conditions. The physical processes that govern the formation, distribution and occurrence of natural resources are determined by physical laws over which people have no direct control.

Renewable resources are materials that can be regenerated in nature as fast or faster than they are exploited by society. Forests are a renewable resource only if people are

Nonrenewable Resources are generated in nature so slowly that for all practical purposes the supply is great. This includes the fossil fuels (coal, crude oil, natural gas, oil, and tar sands). Fortunately, many minerals can be reused even though they cannot be replaced. If they are not chemically destroyed, that is, if they retain their original chemical composition, they are potentially reusable.

planting at least as many trees as are being cut.

Energy can be extracted in a number of ways. Humans themselves are energy converters, acquiring their fuel from the energy contained in food. Our food comes from the solar energy. In fact, nearly all energy sources are really storehouses for energy originally from the sun. Among them are wood, water, the wind, and the fossil fuels. Preagricultural societies depend on the energy stored in wild plants and animals for food, although people developed certain tools, such as spears. For example, they added to their own energy resources by using fire for heating, cooking, or clearing forestland. Countries that can afford to consume great amounts of energy continue to expand their economies and to increase their levels of living.

The actual or potential key nonrenewable resources make it desirable to predict their availability in the future. However, proved reserves, quantities of a resource that can be profitably from known deposits, only the portion of the rectangle indicated by the amounts that have been identified and that can be recovered under existing economic and operating conditions.

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