Categories of natural resources

Before sorting resources into groups, the book explains why we sort anything at all.

We pick some shared features (called criteria) to put things into a group, and then we name the group. Once everyone knows the name, we can talk about the whole group in one word instead of describing it every time.

You already know an example from earlier classes: living and non-living things. Say those words and everyone knows what you mean.

The first way to sort natural resources is by what we use them for. There are three groups.

Resources essential for life: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. The book puts it sharply: "We cannot make the air we breathe, the water we drink, or the soil which gives us food."

Resources for materials: we make physical objects out of Nature's gifts, for use and for beauty. A piece of wood can become a chair, and it can also be carved into a small statue.

India's wide variety of land and climate gives us many such materials, from wood to marble, and coal to gold.

Resources for energy: electricity for our buildings, for transport and for making things. It comes from coal, water, petroleum, natural gas, sunlight, wind and more.

Notice that one thing can be in more than one group. Water is essential for life, and flowing water also turns turbines to make electricity. A group is a way of looking at a thing, not a box it lives in forever.