Resource Exploitation

Natural resources are all materials in nature that humans needed for survival. They need to obtain food by growing crops, catching fishes, rearing livestock and poultry. They also need energy sources such as fossil fuels and other materials for their daily uses such as timber and minerals. However, some resources are renewable while some are non-renewable.

Renewable resources are resources that can be regenerated rapidly through natural processes. Timber which is obtained from forests is a kind of renewable resources. Timber provides wood for human to use for construction, making furniture, paper or as fuel by burning it. But if the trees are being cut down by at the rate much faster than the rate of regeneration of the trees, which lead to a number of environmental problems. One of the problems is destruction of habitats, as forests are cleared many plants and animals will loss their habitats and will affect the survival of the organisms there, in serious cases extinction may occur. Trees provide nutrients to the soil and the environment, if they cannot be regenerated fast enough, there will be loss of nutrients. Also, soil erosion may occur, as there are no roots to hold the soil in place and help to retain water. Water will run off and the topsoil will easily be carried away by rain and wind and the soil will become infertile and abandoned. When the nutrients of the soil are brought to the aquatic bodies there will be pollution and will affect the aquatic lives. Another problem is the causing of global warming. Without leaves from trees to retain moisture in the air and cool down the surrounding air and without transpiration of trees to enhance the cycling of water, the climate will become hotter and drier and will affect the global environment. Furthermore, there will be fewer plants for obtaining carbon dioxide from the environment and carbon dioxide will increase in amount.

Another renewable resource is fresh water. Since water is a good solvent and has a heat capacity, it is very useful to human. It is used for agriculture, manufacturing of many goods and for domestic uses. However, as the development of human is getting faster, many problems occur and affect the abundance of fresh water. Pollution may occur and decrease the amount of fresh water. Also, in many areas, ground water is being drawn faster than it can be replaced naturally. Which will lower the water table and the ground water will eventually be depleted. In serious cases subsidence may occur and the ground surface will collapse. Seawater will also intrude into the ground water, if the ground water is overused. All these resources can be regenerated naturally.

Non-renewable resources are natural resources that are limited in availability. They are in fixed quantity and cannot be replenished by natural processes in a short time. Fossil fuels which are fuels which can burn to give energy formed by the fossilized remains of prehistoric organisms, such as petroleum, coal and natural gases. It provides energy for human to use in their daily lives, such as generating electricity for heating, cooking and lighting. However, n the recent years we have greatly increased the amount of usage of fossil fuels and it brings about many environmental problems. The burning of fossil fuels pollutes the air by releasing various different pollutants. These pollutants have undesirable effects such as polluting lakes and rivers, diminishing crop yield, deteriorating buildings and causing global warming. Oil spills pollutes the marine life.

Another non-renewable resource is minerals. Minerals are inorganic substance that has a definite chemical composition. They are extracted from ores and converted to different forms for use. Minerals provide raw materials for construction, making machines, transport, manufacturing tools and instruments and many electric appliances. But the over-exploitation of minerals will damage many habitats. As large part of the soil is removed, habitats of many organisms are destroyed. It also leads to soil erosion and contaminate the aquatic habitats. Large amount of energy will be consumed extracting ores, rocks and soil and to transport the ores during mining. Mining also pollutes the air my releasing different harmful substances. Methane will be released in coal mining that causes global warming. Insufficient safeguard smelting operations will also pollute the air by releasing sulphur dioxide. Waste water produced in mining will pollute many aquatic bodies. Sulphur released will form sulphuric acid with water, chemicals from explosives which are toxic will increase the salinity of water sources.

If we overuse renewable resources at the rate much faster than the rate that they could be replaced, these natural resources will be affected and many natural problems will arise. Also, over exploitation of non-renewable resources will use up theses rare resources and will also cause a serious of environmental problems. In order to keep the well being of our environment, we must not over use our resources and must consume the use of fossil fuels and minerals. At the same time we should explore new renewable resources which can replace the non-renewable ones, such as finding new energy sources.