Handout 5&6 - Earth's Resources -Test 2 Flashcards
What is a natural resource?
Anything created through natural processes that people use and value.
Examples include plants, animals, coal, water, air, land, metals, sunlight, and wilderness
What are 3 characteristics of natural resources?
CULTURAL VALUE - influence people’s decision that a commodity is desirable and acceptable to us (EX: North Americans want to drive private automobiles rather than use public transportation)
LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY- must be high enough to use the resource.
(EX: Petroleum is the preferred fuel in private automobiles because autos are easily powered by gasoline engines.)
APPROPRIATE ECONOMIC SYSTEM - affects whether a resource is affordable and accessible. (EX: North Americans are willing to pay high enough prices for gasoline to justify removing petroleum from beneath the seafloor and importing it from distant places)
Examples - oil in Saudi Arabia
Lithium in Bolivia
Ski resorts in the mountains
provide an example of shifting cultural values.
A swamp is an example of how shifting cultural values can turn an unused feature into a resource. A century ago, swamps were seen in the United States as noxious, humid, buggy places where diseases thrived instead of places that provided usable commodities. Swamps were valued only as places to dump waste or to convert into agricultural land. Eliminating swamps was good because it removed the breeding ground for mosquitoes while simultaneously creating productive and valuable land.
what is a renewable resource?
Something produced by nature at rates similar to those at which it is consumed by humans
EX: biomass, sun, water, and wind
what is a non-renewable resource?
A resource that is either not being produced by nature or is produced much more slowly than it is used by humans
fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal)
uneven distribution
Depletion
Nuclear energy
What are the issues in natural resource management?
Waste management
Pollution
Geopolitical Tensions (water and energy in turkey, Iraq and Syria
What is resource management?
managing the supply and consumption of resources -
Resource management is exceedingly complex because each resource varies geographically and physically. Resources also vary in value, depending on human factors: culture, technology, beliefs, politics, economics, and government style. Many resources are publicly controlled, so resource management is a political process.
What are fossil fuels?
A source of chemical energy stored in formerly living plant and animal tissue; coal, oil, and natural gas are fossil fuels
What is OPEC?
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
It is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize profit.
What are geopolitics?
The influence of physical or human geography on international affairs
What is nuclear energy?
the energy released during nuclear fission or fusion, especially when used to generate electricity.
Nuclear power is an important source of electricity in several states. Many sites have more than one reactor.
What is fusion?
the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity. (joining two atoms together)
Most peaceful generation of nuclear power today relies on fission (splitting atoms) of uranium, although plutonium also can be used.
what is sustainability?
Used to describe resource use that, meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Why smart phones are an interesting example of the relationship between natural resources and human societies and the consequences of their production and use for both?
Indium responds when contacted by another electrical conductor
Smartphones require a diverse array of materials, including rare earth metals (such as neodymium, dysprosium, and tantalum), lithium, cobalt, and aluminum. These materials are mined from the Earth’s crust, often in environmentally sensitive areas.
The production process consumes significant energy, from mining to manufacturing. For instance, the energy used in smartphone production since their commercial release is substantial
What are the main energy resources used in less-economically developed countries?
At low levels of income and economic development, economies rely predominantly on traditional biomass, such as fuelwood, charcoal, dung, and agricultural or household waste, for cooking and space heating, and on human power for productive agricultural and industrial activities.
