S0CIAL STUDIES

Chapter 3: Earth’s Resources

6th A
Ms. Kathy Castillo
 Introduction
 Imagine that you are planning to take a long trip
through outer space. What will you need to take with
you? Remember, you must take everything that you
will need to live. You will need food, water, air,
clothing, tools, and fuel. Oil and coal are examples
of fuels that are used to run engines. All of these
things are resources. Resources are the things
people use to meet their needs.

 You use resources every day. Every time you eat

food or drink water, you are using resources. Earth
is like a giant spaceship that contains the resources
humans need to survive.
 Renewable Resources
 Renewable resources are resources
that can be used over and over again.

 The supply will never be depleted.

 Any material or energy source that

cycles or can be replaced within the
period of a human life span.
 Examples of Renewable
Resources
 Crops
 Soil
 Wind
 Water
 The Sun
 Nonrenewable Resources
 Nonrenewable resources are those resources that
Earth made long time ago. They cannot be made
again, except over a very long period of time.

 These resources were once the remains of plant

and animal life.

 Over a period of millions of years, heat and pressure

deep inside the Earth turned these remains into
such things as oil, coal, and naturals gas.

 Many of these nonrenewable resources are

important because they can be used as fuel.
 Examples of Nonrenewable
Resources

 Fossil Fuels
 Rocks
 Ores

*The burning of fossil fuels

is dangerous to the Earth.
 World´s main sources of
energy: Fossil Fuels
 Coal – Beginning in the 1800s, coal was burned to
make steam. The steam was used to run engines in
trains, ships, and other machines. Coal is still used
today. It supplies about 30 % of the world´s energy.

 Petroleum - also called oil; found at the bottom of

reservoirs in the ground; used to make gasoline,
airplane fuel and to heat homes.

 Natural Gas - found at the top of reservoirs in the

ground; used to heat homes and factories.
 Farm Products and Lumber
 Plants and trees are another
resource that people use.
Farm products such as
wheat, vegetables, and
fruits are important because
all people depend on them
for food.

 Trees also provide us with

an important resource—
lumber. With lumber from
forests, we build houses
and make paper.
 Conservation
Many of the resources could run out very soon. This is one reason
why people today are thinking about conservation.

Conservation means saving. We must save resources and use them

carefully.

It is important to save both renewable and nonrenewable resources.

 Saving a Rain Forest
 Saving natural regions on Earth
is also a part of conservation.

 The largest rain forest in the

world is the Amazon rain
forest in South America. It
makes up to 60% of the world´s
oxygen.

 In recent years, it has been

damaged by people cutting and
burning the trees. If this
continues, the rain forest may
be destroyed. Life on Earth
would be hurt by the loss of the
Amazon rain forest. For this
reason, people all over the
world are working to save the it.
Pollution
 Pollution, or the
dirtying of Earth’s
air and water, is one
problem created by
factories,
automobiles, and
machines.
 Air Pollution
 The air around us sometimes contain many
kinds of pollution because of the gases
released by coal, oil, and gasoline.

 Polluted air can make it hard to breathe and

can harm crops and animals.
 Water Pollution
 Water pollution happens
when garbage and other
wastes are put into rivers
and oceans.
 Oil spills and a dangerous
kind of pollution. These
happen when large ships
that carry oil spill the oil into
oceans.
 Accidents sometimes make
holes in the sides of the
ships. Then oil spills into
the water.
 People today are working
hard to find answers to the
pollution problem.