Inexhaustible natural resources are those resources whose quantity does not noticeably decrease during the process of even prolonged consumption or use.

These resources are divided into the following groups:

  • Conditionally inexhaustible resources.
  • The planet's inexhaustible resources.

Conditionally inexhaustible resources

  1. 1. Climatic. The term “climate” refers to the combination of light and thermal radiation and energy that provides living organisms on the planet with optimal conditions for existence and have a certain territorial location. The resource is important for humanity because weather directly affects the maturation of plants and determines the number of their species. The destruction or exhaustion of climatic conditions cannot occur, but a deterioration in their quality indicators may occur. This occurs as a result of atomic explosions, environmental disasters, improper conduct of recreational activities, and pollution of territories.
  1. 2. Water. include fresh waters and ocean waters. The situation with this resource is the same as with the climate: it cannot be destroyed, but its quality can be significantly reduced through thoughtless use. The result could be a significant reduction in the non-saline volume of process water and clean drinking water, taking into account the fact that the volume of fresh water on Earth accounts for only 4% of the total volume of moisture (including ice).

The planet's inexhaustible resources

  1. 1. Sun (solar energy). This resource is a huge accumulation of energy, daily emitted into outer space in the form of radiation exceeding the needs of people by several tens of thousands of times. Human use of this resource occurs through the creation of solar and photovoltaic installations.
  3. 2. Wind (wind force). Wind is a derivative of the solar resource, as it is formed as a result of uneven heating of the earth's surface. The creation of wind pumps and power plants is a promising industry.
  5. 3. Tides (energy of ebb and flow). This type of resource includes the power of the waves of the oceans and seas. Used by humans in the operation of tidal power plants and dams.
  7. 4. Soil and intraterrestrial heat. The inexhaustibility of this resource is relative. Today people are sufficiently provided with it, but due to the deterioration of the ecological state of the planet, the renewability of the soil cover may cease. The results of human activity negatively change the qualitative and structural properties of soils: erosion occurs, acidity and salt content increase.

Some of the riches of the earth's interior, which people use every day, exist in limited quantities. In order to understand the prospects for industry and the ecology of the planet, it is worth understanding what natural resources are and which of them can be used without restrictions.

Classifications of natural resources

According to the natural classification, resources are water, climatic, land, biological mineral, and so on. The most important characteristic seems to be the principle of their exhaustibility. There are two groups here: inexhaustible and exhaustible natural resources (renewable, partially renewable and non-renewable).

All this necessitates strict adherence to the environmental-economic approach to the exploitation of natural resources. In the countries of the socialist system, the rational use of natural resources, concern for their conservation and increase are organic principles of management.

Exhaustible and inexhaustible resources of Russian regions

Inexhaustible natural resources are those resources whose quantity does not noticeably decrease during the process of even prolonged consumption or use. 4. Soil and intraterrestrial heat. The inexhaustibility of this resource is relative. The most fundamental classifications of natural resources are based on their genesis and method of use.

Natural objects and phenomena that people use in the labor process are called natural resources. These include atmospheric air, water, soil, minerals, solar radiation, climate, vegetation, and fauna. According to the degree of their depletion, they are divided into exhaustible and inexhaustible. Renewable natural resources - soil, vegetation, wildlife, as well as mineral salts such as Glauber's salt and table salt, deposited in lakes and sea lagoons. Inexhaustible resources include water, climate and space. The total reserves of water on the planet are inexhaustible.

1. Climatic. 2. Water. Water resources include fresh water and ocean waters.

Natural resources are, definition

NATURAL RESOURCES - natural resources, the most important components of the natural environment surrounding humanity, used to create the material and cultural needs of society. Among the bodies and natural phenomena of resource significance, there are those that are practically inexhaustible. These include climatic and water resources. Although most renewable natural resources have a low recovery rate, these resources are difficult to deplete. Natural resources are a set of natural objects and phenomena that are used by humans to maintain their existence. Historically, the idea of ​​the relationship between natural conditions and natural resources has changed. The exhaustibility of natural resources is determined by their reserves in nature and the intensity of use by human society.

Natural resources are the natural forces of nature that a person can use to the best of his ability in economic and industrial activities. Natural resources are the components and forces of nature that are used by humans in life and production. Natural resources are the means of subsistence without which man cannot live and which he finds in nature.

Natural resources are distinguished between exhaustible and inexhaustible depending on their ability to be naturally renewed. Regardless of the volume of use, non-renewable natural resources will only decrease during exploitation. 1. Non-renewable which includes: a) all types of mineral resources or minerals. Land resources in their natural form are the material basis on which the life of human society takes place.

Biological, including food, resources of the planet determine the possibilities of human life on Earth, and mineral and energy resources serve as the basis for the material production of human society. Among the natural resources of the planet there are exhaustible And inexhaustible resources.

Inexhaustible resources.

Inexhaustible resources are divided into space, climate and water. This is the energy of solar radiation, sea waves, and wind. Taking into account the huge mass of air and water on the planet, atmospheric air and water are considered inexhaustible. Selection is relative. For example, fresh water can already be considered a finite resource. since many regions of the globe are experiencing acute water shortages. We can talk about the unevenness of its distribution and the impossibility of using it due to pollution. Atmospheric oxygen is also conventionally considered an inexhaustible resource.

Modern environmental scientists believe that with the current level of technology for using atmospheric air and water, these resources can be considered inexhaustible only when developing and implementing large-scale programs aimed at restoring their quality.

Exhaustible resources.

Exhaustible resources are divided into renewable and non-renewable.

Renewable resources include flora and fauna and soil fertility. Among the renewable natural resources, forests play a major role in human life. The forest is of no small importance as a geographical and environmental factor. Forests prevent soil erosion and retain surface water, i.e. serve as moisture accumulators and help maintain groundwater levels. Forests are home to animals of material and aesthetic value to humans: ungulates, fur-bearing animals and game. The biosphere includes everything that lives, breathes, grows and eats (except for humans, who separated from the animal world). Therefore, let us consider problems directly related to the world of wildlife.

Wildlife resources provide all kinds of economic benefits to humans, they serve as sources of food, fuel, paper, fabric, leather, medicines and everything else that people use in their activities. In addition, many wild species also have aesthetic value and create conditions for recreation. However, their greatest contribution is maintaining the “health” and integrity of the world’s ecosystems.

Many people believe that nature should be protected only because of its actual or potential benefits to people, an approach called an anthropocentric (human-centered) view of the world. Some people adhere to a biocentric worldview and are convinced that it is unworthy of man to hasten the extinction of any species, since man is no more important than other species on earth. “Man has no superiority over other species, for everything is vanity of vanities,” they believe. Others take an ecocentric (center-ecosystem) view and believe that only those actions that are aimed at maintaining the earth's life support systems are justified.

At least 94% of the approximately half a billion different species that lived on earth have disappeared or evolved into new species. Mass extinctions in the distant past occurred as a result of unknown natural causes. However, since the beginning of agriculture 10,000 years ago, as a result of human activity, the rate of extinction of species has increased millions of times and this trend is expected to continue in the coming decades. In our country, forests occupy about 30% of its total landmass and are one of the natural wealth

Non-renewable resources include minerals. Their use by humans began in the Neolithic era. The first metals to find use were native gold and copper. They were able to extract ores containing copper, tin, silver, and lead already 4000 BC. At present, man has brought into the sphere of his industrial activity the predominant part of known mineral resources. If at the dawn of civilization a person used only about 20 chemical elements for his needs, at the beginning of the 20th century - about 60, but now more than 100 - almost the entire periodic table. About 100 billion tons of ore, fuel, and mineral fertilizers are mined (extracted from the geosphere) annually, which leads to the depletion of these resources. More and more various ores, coal, oil and gas are being extracted from the bowels of the earth. In modern conditions, a significant part of the Earth's surface is plowed or represents fully or partially cultivated pastures for domestic animals. The development of industry and agriculture required large areas for the construction of cities, industrial enterprises, the development of mineral resources, and the construction of communications. Thus, to date, about 20% of the land has been transformed by humans.

Significant areas of the land surface are excluded from human economic activity due to the accumulation of industrial waste on it and the impossibility of using areas where mining and mineral resources are being mined.

Man has always used the environment mainly as a source of resources, however, for a very long time, his activities did not have a noticeable impact on the biosphere. Only at the end of the last century, changes in the biosphere under the influence of economic activity attracted the attention of scientists. These changes have been increasing and are currently affecting human civilization. In an effort to improve their living conditions, humanity is constantly increasing the pace of material production, without thinking about the consequences. With this approach, most of the resources taken from nature are returned to it in the form of waste, often toxic or not suitable for disposal. This poses a threat to both the existence of the biosphere and man himself.

At different historical stages of the development of society, the problems of both the use of natural resources and nature conservation changed. Man is a relatively young inhabitant of the Earth; he joined its ecological systems about 3.5 million years ago. The impact of people on the environment was negligible due to their small numbers. People roamed in small groups, collecting edible plants, hunting animals, catching fish; traces of their vital activity were quickly smoothed out by nature as soon as they left their campsites. About 10-12 thousand years ago, man switched to a sedentary lifestyle and began farming. The starting phase of transformation of the natural environment is associated with the development of livestock breeding and agriculture.

The growth of the transformative activity of society, due to the development of industry, continues at the present time. In the first half of the 20th century. Concern was caused by the rapid depletion of natural resources and the possible death of humanity due to the complete depletion of ore deposits and oil. Nowadays, the problem of environmental pollution, disturbance of natural biocenoses, deforestation, soil erosion, and the disappearance of rare species of animals and plants are in first place.

Natural objects and phenomena that people use in the labor process are called natural resources. These include: atmospheric air and water, soil and minerals, solar radiation, climate, vegetation, and fauna. According to the degree of their depletion, they are divided into exhaustible and inexhaustible.

Exhaustible resources in turn, are divided into renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable resources are not regenerated or are renewed hundreds of times slower than they are consumed. These include oil, coal, metal ores and most other minerals. The reserves of these resources are limited, their protection comes down to careful use.

Renewable natural resources - soil, vegetation, wildlife, as well as mineral salts such as Glauber's salt and table salt, deposited in lakes and sea lagoons. They are constantly restored if the conditions necessary for this are maintained, and the rate of use does not exceed the rate of natural regeneration. Resources are restored at different speeds: animals - in a few years, forests in 60 - 80 years, and soils that have lost fertility - over several millennia. Exceeding the rate of consumption over the rate of reproduction leads to depletion and complete disappearance of the resource.

Inexhaustible resources consist of water, climate and space resources. The total reserves of water on the planet are inexhaustible. They are based on the salty waters of the World Ocean, but they are still little used. However, fresh water is a finite natural resource. The problem of fresh water is becoming more acute every year due to the shallowing of rivers and lakes, increasing water consumption for irrigation and industrial needs, and water pollution from industrial and household waste. Careful use and strict protection of water resources is necessary.

Climatic resources: atmospheric air and wind energy are inexhaustible, but with the development of industry and transport, the air has become heavily polluted with smoke, dust, and exhaust gases. In large cities and industrial centers, air pollution becomes dangerous to human health. The fight for a clean atmosphere has become an important environmental task.

Space resources include solar radiation and the energy of sea tides. They are inexhaustible. However, in cities and industrial centers, solar radiation is greatly reduced due to smoke and dust in the air. This has a negative impact on people's health.

Natural resources represent part of the totality of the natural conditions of human existence and the most important elements of nature (types of matter and energy).

Natural resources can be classified from different perspectives. To protect the environment, the most important thing is their depletion rate.

From this point of view, natural resources are usually divided into exhaustible And inexhaustible.

Exhaustible resources. Exhaustible resources include non-renewable and renewable resources. . Exhaustible non-renewable – All minerals in the subsoil of the earth's crust are produced and depleted during exploitation. Their reserves are limited and can only be protected by using them sparingly.

Exhaustible renewable resources– flora, fauna, soil – are constantly renewed in the process of their use. The renewal time is different, for example, for the renewal of soils disturbed by economic activities (land reclamation, restoration of tundra soils disturbed by drilling rigs, oil production, road construction, etc.) it takes hundreds of years. However, overuse can lead to the fact that renewable resources become non-renewable: the forests cut down in Spain have not recovered, and the country has become semi-desert from forested. Steller's cow or any other animal species destroyed will no longer appear on Earth.

Some resources are difficult to assign to one group or another.

Inexhaustible resources. These are resources that cannot be developed for hundreds of millions of years.

These resources are divided into cosmic (solar radiation, the attraction of the Moon and the Sun, causing the tidal movement of ocean waters), climatic (air, wind) and water. This division is relative.

Like natural resources, the Earth's energy resources are divided into non-renewable and renewable.

TOnon-renewable energy resources include fossil fuels - coal, oil, oil shale, natural gas, peat and nuclear fuel.

TOrenewable include the energy of solar radiation, the energy of sea tidal waves and ocean currents, geothermal energy and wind energy.

Lecture No. 1. “Humanity and the Environment”

In 1968, Garrett Hardin of the University of California, Santa Barbara, published an article in Science Magazine that became increasingly popular every year. Hardin entitled his article "The Tragedy of the Commons" "The Tragedy of the Commons"); its main thesis was that a society that allows absolute freedom of action in areas that negatively affect public property is inevitably doomed to failure. As an example, Hardin cited a public pasture that local ranchers use at their own discretion. Each herder, trying to improve his well-being, without coordinating with others, increases his herd. By doing this, he receives additional income from the increased herd, but the depletion of pasture has little effect on him, at least in the short term. However, at some point, depending on the size and lushness of the public pasture and the growing number of animals, overuse destroys the pasture and disaster strikes everyone.

A modern version of the "grassland tragedy" was discussed by Harvey Brooks of Harvard University. Brooks notes that the convenience, independence and safety of traveling in a personal car encourages many people to travel to work, university, and shopping. With a small traffic flow this is absolutely logical. However, at a certain critical flow, the public road network is unable to cope with it and the slightest problem (be it a stopped car or a minor accident) condemns drivers to minutes and even hours of inactivity, which is exactly the opposite of their expectations. Examples of common problems in highway network systems are now legendary: Los Angeles, Tokyo, Naples, Bangkok, Mexico City.

A public pasture and a public road network are examples of public systems that are essentially local and may amount to the actions of local communities. In some cases this also applies to parts of the public domain relating to the environment: for example, improper waste disposal or soot emissions from combustion processes are essentially local problems. However, emissions into water and air are problems of a different order. The hydrosphere and atmosphere are examples not of “local” but of “global commons,” systems that can be modified by people around the world for their own benefit, but if misused can cause harm to everyone. Much of society's activities are embodied in industry, and it is the relationship between industry and the environment, particularly in the global public domain, that is the subject of this discipline.

There is no doubt that modern technology has brought enormous benefits to the peoples of the world: increased life expectancy, increased mobility, reduced use of manual labor, and almost universal literacy. However, the interaction of human industrial activities with the Earth's environment is causing growing concerns, best expressed in the shattering report Our Common Future, published by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The issues raised in this report take on new significance in light of some environmental impacts. Since 1700, international trade has grown 800-fold. Over the past 100 years, world production has increased more than 100 times: At the beginning of the twentieth century. production of synthetic organic substances was minimal; Today, their production volume is more than 90 million tons per year in the USA alone. Since 1900, the rate of global consumption of fossil fuels has increased 50 times. What is important is not just the numbers themselves, but their significance and the rather short historical period of time they represent.

Along with these obvious impacts on the system, some hidden trends also deserve attention. Among them is a decrease in regional and global capabilities to combat anthropogenic emissions. For example, the production of carbon dioxide associated with human economic activity has increased significantly, mainly with the extremely rapid increase in energy consumption. This pattern is determined by the evolution of the economy towards a more complex state, the accelerating growth in the use and consumption of materials, as well as the growth in the use of capital. The evolution of society has been accompanied by changes in the form of energy consumed, with the proportion of electrical (secondary) energy increasing as opposed to biomass or direct use of fossil fuels (primary), resulting in a well-known exponential increase in CO 2 in the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Thus, it turns out that humanity is increasingly using the ability of the atmosphere to process the products of its own economic activity.

Population growth is naturally a major factor driving explosive industrial growth and increased use and consumption of materials. Since 1700, the world's population has increased 10-fold: it now numbers more than six billion and is expected to reach 10-12 billion at the end of the 21st century. It is generally accepted that the population has experienced rapid growth since the Industrial Revolution; But what is often not realized is this extremely important fact: how closely population growth is linked to technological and cultural evolution. Three major population explosions occurred during the period when tools began to be used, the Agricultural Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution actually consisted of a technological revolution and a "neo-agricultural" revolution (the advent of modern agricultural technology), which created what seemed to be unlimited resources for population growth. Today, population, urbanization, economic systems, cultures are inextricably linked to how we use, process, throw away or dispose of natural and synthetic materials and energy, and the countless products that are made from them.

This suggests that the planet and its population are far from stable and may find themselves in an unsustainable position. Three possible paths to long-term stability can be proposed: (1) a controlled decline in growth until a long-term steady state of population/technology/culture is achieved (which we will call “carrying capacity”); (2) a controlled decline in population size to a level sustainable with less technological activity; or (3) an uncontrollable crisis of one or more parameters (population, culture, technology) until stability is achieved at some undesirably low level.

This perspective has important implications. When we look at the recent past objectively (and 200 years can be considered the recent past even by the standards of human cultural evolution and certainly by the standards of our biological evolution), one fact becomes clear: the Industrial Revolution as we know it is not sustainable. We cannot continue to use materials and resources as we do now, especially in the most developed countries. But what is the alternative?