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resources, while other countries have very few. Having many natural resources
does not necessarily make a country wealthy. In the case of the United States,
natural resources led to wealth. However, in the case of many African countries, it
did not.
Some countries lack the capital and human resources to extract natural
resources. In other countries, multinational corporations control the extraction
of natural resources, and the country itself may not benefit from the
extraction. Conflict can also prevent extraction of resources in a location.
Finally, a history of colonization has influenced the control of natural
resources in some places.
Take a moment to study the chart below. Do you see a pattern with the poorest
nations? Wealthy nations? How might the history of a place be reflected in its
resources and wealth?
Average
Country Natural Resources
earnings
Source: “Everything is Made of Something: A Study of the Earth.” Mineral Information Institute. 3 December 2013
<http://www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/pdfs/study/studyoftheearth.pdf>.
Somalia 600 uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum,
bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves
Humans use natural resources through the process of extraction and consumption.
Extraction is when natural resources are removed from their place of origin. For
instance, coal is mined for electricity generation and steel production. Consumption
is the actual use of natural resources. We consume cotton in the production of
clothes, lumber in the construction of homes, iron ore in the manufacturing of cars,
and the mineral neodymium in the creation of cell phones.
The constant use of natural resources is what allows our economy and society to
function. After all, it is only through natural resources that you have food to eat,
clothes to wear, a home to live in, a furnace to keep you warm in the winter, a bus or
car to take you to school each day, and access to a wide variety of goods like
televisions and computers.
However, the extraction and consumption of natural resources can affect the
environment in negative ways as well. The use of natural resources has led to a
lack of green space, pollution or contamination, a shortage of resources for
everyone, and an uncertain future for many plants and animals.
Worldwide demand for natural resources has increased for three reasons. First, the
world population continues to
grow. Obviously the seven billion
people on our planet today are
consuming more natural resources
than the three billion people who
lived here in 1960. The second
factor that has placed the natural
resource base of Earth in severe
danger is the high level of
resource consumption in the
<http://pthbb.org/natural/footprint/>
developed world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
residents of the industrial world make up only 20% of the world’s population yet
consume 86% of its iron and steel and 76% of its timber. The cartogram shown
reflects the uneven consumption of resources in the world and how developed
countries, like the United States and Japan, use more than their share.
Not only does extracting and using natural resources have a negative impact on the
environment, but using one natural resource often occurs at the expense of another.
These concepts can be seen in the diagram.
It all begins with the extraction and use of
natural resources at both a mine and a coal
plant. Mercury is emitted when ores are
mined, as well as from power plants where
coal is being converted into energy. This
mercury ends up in the water where it initially
gets into small water creatures. Small fish eat
the small water creatures and the mercury is
transferred to them. Big fish then eat the
small fish, and the mercury is transferred to
them. Ultimately, the mercury is transferred to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_fish
people when they catch the big fish and eat it. The negative environmental impact of
the extraction of natural resources is clear here; the atmosphere, water, and living
creatures are being contaminated. Notice also in this process that although we are
gaining industrial uses for natural resources, it is at the expense of our food and
water supply. One public policy issue we must confront is whether this expense is
reasonable or whether it is too much to pay.