When Nature becomes a resource

The chapter starts with its Big Questions: How do we sort natural resources into groups? How is where they are found connected to the way people live? And what happens when we use them in a way that cannot last?

But first it asks a question that sounds simple and is not: when does Nature become a resource?

Start with Nature. One meaning is: all the living and non-living things in our environment that humans did not make. Sunlight, trees, soil, rivers.

Now the key step. The book says: "When humans use these for their sustenance, or create new things from them for consumption, these elements of Nature become 'resources'."

The book's example: trees are part of the environment and exist without any help from us. When we cut them and turn their wood into furniture (or a cricket bat), we see the trees as a resource.

So being a 'resource' is not something inside the thing. It is a relationship between the thing and us: what we can do with it.

Three tests must all be passed:

• Technologically accessible: we must be able to reach it. Petroleum deep under the ocean that we cannot reach is not yet a resource.
• Economically feasible: getting it out must not cost more than it is worth. If it costs too much, it stays in the ground.
• Culturally acceptable: people must accept its use. Cutting trees in sacred groves is not acceptable, so those trees are not a resource.

One word needs care. Usually 'exploitation' sounds bad. In this chapter it simply means taking out, using and consuming natural resources.