SUSTAINABLE
RESOURCES AND
ENERGY NOTES
GRADE 11 IEB
GEOGRAPHY
, Resources and sustainability
What are resources: anything in the environment that can be used to meet the needs of humans
Resources
Natural resources Human resources
Land, soil, forest, water, air Labor, People need to make food, provide services
Eg. Teaching, doctors
Non- renewable
Will not be replaced after Renewable
having been used up Resources that are being continuously being
replaced by natural cycle
Fossil fuels Minerals Sustainable
Coal, oil, natural gas Copper/gold
Continuous
water
forests
• Resources - unevenly spread and consumed • Resource depletion: resources are over-
across the world. utilized and become scarce
• Access and use of resources is an indicator
to a country’s development • Graphs showing resource depletion and
resource exploitations
• Demand for resources has increased
- Direct: two values increase or decrease at the
because of:
same time EG. Wood decreases, paper
- Uncontrolled economic growth: industries
decreases
consume a lot of expensive resources
- Inverse: one value increases and the other
- Population growth: people use resources
decreases EG. Food decreases, famine
increases
• Increase in demand leads to:
- Delayed relationship: direct and inverse
- Resource shortage- poverty
relationships are delayed
- Food shortage- famine
EG. Industrial and population
- Pollution, waste, environmental destruction
- No relationship: no connection between
values
• Optimum population: a country that has
enough resources to provide a decent
• Strategies to implement to mitigate resource
standard of living to its entire population
depletion:
- Recycling, reuse, waste management
• Overpopulation: too many people for the
- Alternate forms of energy solar
number of resources that are available
- Population control
- Moving away from mass consumption, End to
• Carrying capacity: maximum number of
globalization
people a place can support before its
- Sustainable lifestyle
resources start to run out
- Targets, quotas, protocols, incentives
, -
Soil and soil erosion
Soil is an ABIOTIC ECOSYSTEM providing us with water, nutrients, firm support for plants
- Soil erosion: topsoil depletes at a rate that is faster than it is developed
How is soil formed
- Soil characteristics depend on physical/chemical/biological factors and the timescale
1. Weathering of the parent rock = loose layer of broken material called REGOLITH
2. Formation of topsoil= living organisms, water, gas and decaying organic material are
added to soil
Soil forming factors
1. Parent material (passive factor)
- Determines mineral composition, texture, depth, permeability (drainage), soil colour
EG. Weathered granite produces coarse, well-drained light soil
2. Time (passive factor)
- Soil formation is slow
- More time= more mature= more soil horizons, less time= immature soil= less horizons=
shallower
3. Climate (active)
- Climate affects rate of weathering: hot/humid climate = chemical weathering, high rainfall=
high leaching, dry= salination/calcification occurs
4. Topography (active)
- Shallower soils= steeper slopes, Gentle slope= well-drained soils
- Aspect causes temperature differences/ creates micro-climates on slopes
5. Organisms (active)
- Humus production and nutrient cycle
- earthworms and termites mix and aerate the soil
RESOURCES AND
ENERGY NOTES
GRADE 11 IEB
GEOGRAPHY
, Resources and sustainability
What are resources: anything in the environment that can be used to meet the needs of humans
Resources
Natural resources Human resources
Land, soil, forest, water, air Labor, People need to make food, provide services
Eg. Teaching, doctors
Non- renewable
Will not be replaced after Renewable
having been used up Resources that are being continuously being
replaced by natural cycle
Fossil fuels Minerals Sustainable
Coal, oil, natural gas Copper/gold
Continuous
water
forests
• Resources - unevenly spread and consumed • Resource depletion: resources are over-
across the world. utilized and become scarce
• Access and use of resources is an indicator
to a country’s development • Graphs showing resource depletion and
resource exploitations
• Demand for resources has increased
- Direct: two values increase or decrease at the
because of:
same time EG. Wood decreases, paper
- Uncontrolled economic growth: industries
decreases
consume a lot of expensive resources
- Inverse: one value increases and the other
- Population growth: people use resources
decreases EG. Food decreases, famine
increases
• Increase in demand leads to:
- Delayed relationship: direct and inverse
- Resource shortage- poverty
relationships are delayed
- Food shortage- famine
EG. Industrial and population
- Pollution, waste, environmental destruction
- No relationship: no connection between
values
• Optimum population: a country that has
enough resources to provide a decent
• Strategies to implement to mitigate resource
standard of living to its entire population
depletion:
- Recycling, reuse, waste management
• Overpopulation: too many people for the
- Alternate forms of energy solar
number of resources that are available
- Population control
- Moving away from mass consumption, End to
• Carrying capacity: maximum number of
globalization
people a place can support before its
- Sustainable lifestyle
resources start to run out
- Targets, quotas, protocols, incentives
, -
Soil and soil erosion
Soil is an ABIOTIC ECOSYSTEM providing us with water, nutrients, firm support for plants
- Soil erosion: topsoil depletes at a rate that is faster than it is developed
How is soil formed
- Soil characteristics depend on physical/chemical/biological factors and the timescale
1. Weathering of the parent rock = loose layer of broken material called REGOLITH
2. Formation of topsoil= living organisms, water, gas and decaying organic material are
added to soil
Soil forming factors
1. Parent material (passive factor)
- Determines mineral composition, texture, depth, permeability (drainage), soil colour
EG. Weathered granite produces coarse, well-drained light soil
2. Time (passive factor)
- Soil formation is slow
- More time= more mature= more soil horizons, less time= immature soil= less horizons=
shallower
3. Climate (active)
- Climate affects rate of weathering: hot/humid climate = chemical weathering, high rainfall=
high leaching, dry= salination/calcification occurs
4. Topography (active)
- Shallower soils= steeper slopes, Gentle slope= well-drained soils
- Aspect causes temperature differences/ creates micro-climates on slopes
5. Organisms (active)
- Humus production and nutrient cycle
- earthworms and termites mix and aerate the soil
