Natural resources refer to the components that make up nature, which humans exploit and utilize in various ways for life, serving as essential materials for society. Common natural resources include: land, water, air, forests, grasslands, swamps, oceans, wildlife, microorganisms, minerals, etc.
Among natural resources, a few species are primary, while the vast majority are secondary resources. Primary resources include sunlight, air, wind, waterfalls, climate, etc. They are virtually limitless. Secondary resources include: land, minerals, forests, etc. All of these are finite resources.
Minerals, forests… are all finite resources.
Secondary natural resources are formed during specific stages of the Earth’s natural transformation process, thus their quality and quantity are limited. Once a species is extinct, it is challenging to regenerate. Their distribution is also uneven, which is why they are considered finite.
For example, non-renewable resources include land, peat, coal, petroleum, natural gas, etc. Currently, these resources are not easily renewable. However, humanity, due to low production levels in the past, did not recognize this issue, leading to the belief that these resources could be exploited indefinitely.
For nearly 300 years, alongside the rapid development of production capabilities, natural resources have increasingly been exploited and misused, leading to wastefulness without restrictions, resulting in the risk of resource depletion.
According to survey data, the primary types of resources have limited reserves, and within a few hundred years, they will be exhausted. For example, the lifespan of iron mines is less than 200 years, coal reserves are only about 200 years, and petroleum reserves are less than 30 years. Renewable natural resources such as land, animals, plants, microorganisms, forests, grasslands, aquatic organisms, etc., are being destroyed and hunted excessively by humans, leading many species to extinction and hindering their ability to regenerate.
Even more tragically, resources once considered infinite, such as air and water, are now threatened due to human pollution. Therefore, from a macro perspective, most natural resources are in a pessimistic state of being “exploited to depletion, used up.”
