Categories of Natural Resources

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Lesson 32: Role of information and technology

Categories of Natural Resources

Natural resources can be grouped into eight categories:
  1. Wildlife
  2. Air and Wind
  3. Soil
  4. Water
  5. Minerals
  6. Fossil Fuels
  7. Sunlight
  8. People

Wildlife refers to plants, animals, and other living things in the wild. The category of Air and Wind refers to the mixture of gases in the atmosphere and the movement of these gases. Soil is the top layer of the earth that supports plant life, as well as our lives. It is considered the basis of all life. Water is the only natural resource found on the surface of our planet in three forms: solid, liquid, and vapor. Minerals refer to inorganic substances that do not have the biological structure of living things. Fossil fuels are materials used to generate energy. Sunlight is the light and warmth of the Sun, an element that makes our existence possible.

It is interesting that experts include People as natural resources. We are not only the beneficiaries of these natural resources; we are the ones who figured out how to make them work to our benefit in the first place. Our creativity and labor are how we make these resources work for us. However, we are part of the ecological system of Earth.

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Last modified: Friday, 6 January 2012, 10:34 AM