1. Natural Resources

2. What are natural resources?
Natural resources are supplies from nature…almost everything on Earth that is considered useful or necessary for our lives.

3. Divided into 3 categories:
Renewable
Nonrenewable
Inexhaustible

4. things that can be replaced in a short amount of time
Renewable Resources
things that can be replaced in a short amount of time

5. air
plants
soil
water
animals

6. Renewable Resources can be renewed but need to be used wisely or they will not be available for our long term use.

7. Protecting our Wildlife
If an animal species is overhunted or if its habitat is destroyed, its population may decline or it may become extinct. It is our responsibility to make wise decisions on how to protect animals and their habitats.

8. Water Supply
Supplies of fresh water also depend on our wise use. While the amount of water on Earth never changes, we might change the amount that we can use in a certain area. We might pollute it to the point that we can’t use it. Or we might pump too much water out of a large underground aquifer that took thousands of years to fill. Nature would not be able to refill it fast enough.

9. Nonrenewable Resources
things that cannot be replaced in a short amount of time

10. Things like fossil fuels and minerals are nonrenewable resources
Things like fossil fuels and minerals are nonrenewable resources. Oil, natural gas, and coal are nonrenewable because they took millions of years to form and we are using them faster than they can be replaced by nature.

11. Inexhaustible Resources
things that can be replaced as fast as they are used

12. Sunlight, wind, and ocean tides are inexhaustible resources because no matter how much of them we use, there is always more.

13. What are these resources…

14. a field of corn

15. oil in the Arctic

16. coal in the Appalachian Mountains

17. sunshine everywhere

18. trees in a forest

19. fish in the ocean

20. raindrops

21. Gold Mines in the United States

22. aluminum

23. soil

24. diamonds

25. paper

26. wind

27. ocean tides

28. herd of cattle

29. oxygen