Natural resources
Natural resources are those resources created by nature. Some examples of natural resources include coal, aluminum, and gold. Coal is a nonrenewable natural resource; there is no way to create more coal once it has been used for fuel. Aluminum and gold are also nonrenewable, but these may be recycled. Renewable natural resources, such as trees, are alive and can reproduce themselves. Other examples of natural resources include air, water, and soil, and various types of energy, such as tidal, geothermal, wind, and solar. All of these natural resources have potential economic value. Natural resources provide the raw materials for production of consumer goods and also capital goods, which are those items used in the production process, such as machinery.
Natural resources fall under the ‘land' category of the classical economics definition of the factors of production (the other three factors are labor, capital, and entrepreneurship). ‘Land' includes "any natural resource used to produce goods and services. This includes not just land, but anything that comes from the land. … Land resources are the raw materials in the production process. These resources can be renewable, such as forests, or nonrenewable such as oil or natural gas. The income that resource owners earn in return for land resources is called rent" (Wolla, n.d., par. 2). Someone who is not an economist might also refer to ‘rent' as profits.
The number of natural resources that exists is practically countless. The lists below are a good starting point.
This list for kids divides natural resources into biotic (those found in the earth's biosphere—since petroleum and natural gas have organic origins, they are included in this category) and abiotic (non-living).
https://helpsavenature.com/list-of-natural-resources
What natural resources do Earth's 7 billion people use the most? Will we run out? Click the link below to find out.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/oct/31/six-natural-resources-population
Click the following link for a series of teacher-reviewed short videos on how various types of natural resources are obtained and used.
http://www.neok12.com/Natural-Resources.htm
The University of Colorado Boulder School of Engineering has designed a K-12 STEM curriculum. In this lesson, suitable for grades 3-5, students learn about renewable energy sources and how solar, water, and wind energy transform into electricity. The lesson includes a brief discussion of: the concept of energy, nonrenewable energy sources, and the role of engineers in developing renewable energy systems.
https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_environ_lesson09
