Natural Resources

The standard of living has increased for many of the world’s population.
Accessibility of technology such as computers and mobiles phones is often taken
for granted. Nearly every household has at least one car (with many having
multiple vehicles). They can be for social and pleasure use or for work and
business. People have a greater number of belongings now, designed to make
their lives much more comfortable and enjoyable. The products require raw
materials to be extracted from the environment, causing physical damage to
habitats and land. They then require processing, which uses resources such as
water and fossil fuels for energy during the manufacturing.
At present, we are using resources such as oil (used to produce plastic products)
and coal (used in power stations to generate electricity) much faster than they
are being replenished in the environment. Ultimately, this means we will run
out of the resources. Sustainable alternatives need to be sourced and used.
 Water Pollution
The amount of water we use is huge. The average Peruvian resident uses around
300 litres of water each day. Flushing the toilet ranks as one of the top
uses of water in an average household. Can you calculate how much water each
person usesevery year?
More people means more water used. We use water for washing, cleaning,
drinking, cooking and other things. Water is used as a means of transporting
waste from our toilets. This sewage must be processed, requiring energy, before
it can be recycled for use again.
Industries create pollutants from their processes which can leach into the water
in rivers, lakes and oceans. These pollutants affect the organisms living in and
consuming the water.
The use of toxic chemicals on farmland (fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides)
increases the amount of yield from the crops, but these chemicals can
contaminate the environment and cause damaging effects on the food chains
within the ecosystem. Chemicals from these products are lethal to the aquatic
organisms and harmful to human health.
It’s not just the local water which is affected either. Oceans and seas are becoming
more acidic as they absorb and dissolve a greater amount of the excess carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. This can have damaging effects on the ecosystems,
as it makes the water inhabitable for certain species. It also causes problems
such as coral bleaching.
 Land Pollution
A demand for higher living standards means that we produce a greater amount
of waste. If the waste is not properly handled and managed, it leads to pollution.
Litter and waste material is taken from your home via a household waste collection
service. It is usually taken to a processing plant to process and separate the
recyclable materials.
• Cans, glass and plastic bottles are usually recovered and processed to
manufacture further bottles or plastic products.
• Green waste (from gardening etc.) is often taken to composting sites and the
resulting compost is used by councils in land reclamation schemes.
• Electrical appliances and goods are processed to recover recyclable materials.
• Paper and card is processed in a mill to be recycled into more paper products.
• Waste that cannot be recycled is usually burnt in a specialist plant, in place of
fossil fuels, and used to generate electricity to supply local buildings or to be
distributed via the National Grid.
• Kitchen waste can be collected and processed by anaerobic digestion to
produce electricity and fertilisers.
However, some waste is taken to a landfill site and buried and can include
hazardous materials such as asbestos. It is usually sealed to prevent
contaminants leaking into the surrounding environment.
There is also the problem of waste which doesn’t reach
a bin e.g. through fly-tipping and dumping or just
general littering.
 Air Pollution
A greater use of energy in our homes means that more electricity is being produced.
This is usually from combustion of biomass to release heat and generate steam.
When the material is burned, it often releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
as well as other pollutants and particles.
An increase in the use of cars which run using diesel and petrol engines also
means there is a greater amount of chemicals expelled into the air from the
exhaust fumes.
Common air pollutants include the following:
• Smoke is produced when a substance is burned and there is not enough
oxygen for complete combustion. The smoke contains soot (carbon) which
settles on the surrounding environment and causes damage. When plants
and leaves are covered in soot, they cannot absorb the sun’s radiation to
photosynthesise and they will die. Some particles cannot be seen with the
naked eye; these are called fine particles and are made up of chemicals and
particulates which come from industrial processes, construction work, roads
and vehicle emissions. These fine particles can work their way farther into the
airways and lung structure and cause damage to the tissues inside the
body, leading to lung disease or heart disease.
• Carbon monoxide is also produced during incomplete
combustion. It is a poisonous gas which is odourless
and colourless and binds irreversibly with the
haemoglobin in the red blood cells. This prevents
the blood transporting sufficient oxygen around
the body and can lead to death. It is harmful to
humans and animals.
• Carbon dioxide is released during combustion.
It is a greenhouse gas which means that it
traps the sun’s heat within the atmosphere
and contributes to global warming.
• Sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide are gases
released in vehicle emissions which combine
with water vapour in the atmosphere and
contribute to acid rain.