The Earth

Natural Resources

There are many things in nature that human beings have learned to use. We cannot create natural resources, so we have to use them with great care.

Protect the rain forests

Forests are among the most important natural resources on Earth, but they are in real danger by humans. The densest forests include the rainforests. These once covered 14 per cent of our land. They have been cut to less then half that and now cover just 6 per cent of the Earth's land surface. If we don't stop cutting them down, they could be gone in less than 50 years.

FACT: Coal, one of natures most valuable resources, is created from dead animal fossils! 

Deep underground 

Many natural resources are found under the surface of the land or even water. They are dug up by machines and by people. Resources like coal must be mined from deep under the ground. Petroleum- natural oil from the Earth- has to be extracted by drills. Fishing gives us food and oil. Modern fishing trawlers go far into the oceans and trawl the bottom of the seas.

FACT: Everything in nature is important. A dead tree provides a habitat to many forms of life from moss and fungus to squirrels, snakes, insects and birds.

Earth's resources

Some resources are renewable. Others, like trees and water are sustainable if they are used within limits. There are other resources that are limited in supply because they are being used faster then they are made. These resources, like oil and natural gas, are called non-renewable. Flow renewable resources, such as sunshine, tide and wind can renew themselves. Natural resources like coal and oil, which are fossil fuels made from dead plants and animals, takes millions of years to be created.

DID YOU KNOW? 

Apart from timber, forests give us medicines. Hundreds of medicines are made from plants.