1. Natural Resources

2. Where do we get energy?
All organisms get energy from resources provided by the environment.
Living things use, change, and reuse natural resources
Renewable resources: can be replaced and/or reused
Nonrenewable resources: cannot be replaced or reused

3. What are renewable resources?
Replaced through natural processes at a rate equal to or faster than the rate at which they are being used.
Air (wind)
Water Renewable Resources
Soil
Sunlight
Living things (?!)
Processes: water cycle, photosynthesis, birth/death, erosion, growth

4. What are nonrenewable resources?
Are being used at a much faster rate than the rate at which they are formed.
Fossil fuels
Oil, gas, coal
Exist in a fixed amount and can only be replaced by process that take millions of years
Metals, diamonds, and other minerals.
Nonrenewable Resources

5. Why must we conserve resources?
Nonrenewable resources can be depleted or used to the point that they are no longer available.
If renewable resources are used at a faster rate, they too could become depleted
Freshwater- increased demands due to populations shifts
Soil- if left bare of vegetation, it can erode, depleting the land of fertile topsoil needed for plant growth
Trees- can lead to negative consequences for land, air, and water Dependence on Fossil Fuels

6. Why is the need for natural resources increasing?
Human populations are growing. As the population grows, we need more resources.
Reduce
Don’t use a resource when there is an alternative
Walk/bike vs. driving
Reuse
Use a resource again, without changing or reprocessing it
Wash drinking glass vs. throw away plastic cup
Recycle
Reprocess resource and use materials again for something else

7. What is Conservation?
Preventing the loss of a resources by way of thoughtful management of it
Human activities have cause major impacts on air, soil, and water
Pollution Conserving Energy
Acid rain
Global warming
Ozone depletion