Natural Resources and Advanced Technology

A natural resource is defined as a natural material found on earth that is useful
for humans in some way. It is often processed of manufactured in order for it to
meet the needs of a society. Resources then differ spatially, as different people
have different needs and therefore require different resources, and temporally
as a society grows and advances their needs will change and so to their
resources. Natural resources range from minerals and metals to people (their
labor and skills). (Kleeman 1997, Pashley 1996, Plant 1998)
In this response 2 major sample studies will be used, these are, water and
energy (in the form of uranium) on a variety of scales.
Natural resources are derived from the environment. Many of them are essential for our survival while others are used for satisfying our wants. Natural resources may be further classified in different ways.
• Renewable resources are ones that can be replenished or reproduced easily. Some of them, like sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available and their quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewable resources can be depleted by human use, but may also be replenished, thus maintaining a flow. Some of these, like agricultural crops, take a short time for renewal; others, like water, take a comparatively longer time, while still others, like forests, take even longer.
• Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods. Minerals and fossil fuels are included in this category. Since their rate of formation is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished once they get depleted. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them. But coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.
[edit] Examples

Some examples of natural resources include the following:
• Agriculture—agronomy is the science and technology of using plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber.
• Air, wind and atmosphere
• Plants
• Animals
• Coal, fossil fuels, rock and mineral...