Unit 3: Sustainability and Stewardship of

Natural resourcesC3. Availability and Use of Natural Resources

C2. Development of Natural ResourcesC1. Policies and Strategies

Natural Resources•Natural resources are naturally occurring materials such as minerals in rock, fertile land, animals, water, forests, etc. that can be used by man for their survival

•Are all resources equally important?

•What criteria would you use to rate the importance of different natural resources?

“Resources are not, they become”

• Flint is a kind of sedimentary rock that when struck with another rock, it produces a spark• This spark, when near kindling,

would of course ignite a fire• It was also the weapon of choice.

It could easily be shaved and chipped into sharp blades and deadly arrowheads

•Flint has been around since the dawn of time• It was a big resource centuries ago as having flint stones greatly increased your chances of survival• It meant you could build weapons to protect yourself and to hunt for meals• It also meant you could spark fires to keep warm and to ward off predators and to even cook your hunted food• It was a hot commodity…

•How many of you own flint stones?

•Today flint has little to no value• It has been replaced by various items and is no longer important to survival•On the other side, oil, centuries ago had little to no value.•Today, the world runs on oil including the gasoline that is extracted from it!

•Again a resource is only a resource if it is essential to survival•“resources are not, they become”

Alberta oil sands

•The oil sands are one of Canada’s largest natural resources and is also home to one of the largest oil supplies in north America

•The process to extract the bitumen and separate it from the sand and water particles is difficult and expensive but currently, it provides a substantial amount of oil to those of us living in North America (Remember the Keystone pipeline!)•The oil sands have been in Canada forever, yet, they are just beginning to tap into this natural resource over the last 10+ years•Why do you think this is?

Natural Resource

•materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain

• Industries and businesses do not operate to lose money•Oil industry is no different• The cost to extract was much higher than the

cost at which they could sell the oil for• 60cents/l vs 120cents/l (avg tank is 50-60l) •Difference seems small, but its 10 dollars in

savings on a fillup x 3 per month =$30• $30x12mo = $360/year for 1 car. Most families

have 2 cars which is $720 per year in savings for a family; x 100,000 families = roughly 72 Million dollars in lost revenue!

•As a result, years ago, the oil sands were seen as a potential resource. •Meaning, in time, it could be used as a

resource if the situation allowed for it (in this case, the price of oil needed to increase to make it a reasonable expense to extract and use the oil)

•What impact would the drop in the prices of oil have here in Canada?

•Long story short, resources are only resources if they are needed for our survival•There has to be a “want” for it to even be

considered as a resource• Its safe to say that in ranking resources, resources

that are most critical to our survival are most important•This means they could be the cheapest, or the most

expensive

•As time has passed the resources that were important to survival 100 years ago are no longer important today as they have been replaced by newer forms of technology or resources•Likewise, resources that were not viewed as important or even resources at all, are now running the world (money, oil)

•The next transition in resources is in the Green Energy industry•Oil, coal and gasoline (fossil fuels) are the primary drivers of the worlds economy now•With the development and refinement of harnessing the wind, water, and sunlight (perpetual resources) these fossil fuels will become old and useless to much of the world

•Resources are fluid and will constantly change as time and technology progress

Where are the Resources?

Resource Distribution

•Why do people live where they do?•Why did people settle into the big cities we see today?

•History and geography are married together•People only survived where resources were present •Settlements formed where there was food, riches, opportunity, stores, malls, entertainment, education, land space, water and shorelines, ore and minerals etc.•Resources were not always brought to your front door through Amazon.com

•To live near a resource meant a quality of life•Now with the available transportation we have been able to extend how far away from a resource we can live because we can now ship and deliver necessary resources

•We have even been able to use our technology and transportation to our advantage to discover new areas that hold key resources in areas we never thought to look in before

•Deep sea drilling is relatively new, but we have discovered key reserves of oil, natural gas and other valuable minerals and ore deep below the surface of the water

•Exploration into the far north and south into the frozen ice lands of the arctic and Antarctic circles has revealed major hidden deposits of valuable potential resources•Why would we call them potential resources?

Diavik Diamond Mine - Yukon

•What challenges does this bring?•How might this affect the price of the resource?

•With the expansion into these remote areas to claim resources, we have to build mechanisms for transporting the resources as well as the workers and equipment •This mine in the Yukon is complete with its own airport as travel by air was the only real method of transporting the goods

•With the added expenses, the cost of extraction increases, causing the purchasing price of the actual product to increase as well even though the supply of the material has now increased•Supply vs demand – high supply; prices are lower as they are accessible to everyone. In low supply prices are higher as not everyone can get their share so people will be willing to pay more for something to know they could be only one of a few to have that item

•Putting this together:•How does the spatial distribution of a natural resource influence the viability of developing it?

Declining Oil Production•Although they (OPEC) vehemently deny it and

publicly try to hide it, conventional Middle East oil production is either in or approaching decline, even among the big hitters.•The following chart shows not only that oil

production is steadily declining, it also reveals that many Middle Eastern countries may stop exporting oil and gas altogether within the next few years, while some already have.

• It's not that they're running out of oil. It's that they're just about tapped out of the easy stuff• Recently discovered classified documents reveal that

Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, told US officials that reserves of the world's biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40% and that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries would not be able to satisfy an anticipated sharp growth in global oil demand

• "[World] reserves are confused and in fact inflated. Many of the so-called reserves are in fact resources. They're not delineated, they're not accessible, they're not available for production."• In other words, having it in the ground... and having the

technology to get it out... are two different things.• This is especially true in the Middle East where the

majority of OPEC's production comes from state-owned monopolies that only know and use "conventional" techniques – many of which have been around since the turn of the 20th century

• I want you to choose a country of your choice and I want you to find its source of fossil fuel production and transportation• Plot this point or area on a map• Next, I want you to roughly graph and map out the transportation

routes of the resource• Next, I want you to list somewhere on the map points in particular

that could environmentally be at risk (lakes, rivers, people, etc)• Connect these with a line to their approximate location on the

map• Lastly, I want you to research and plot on your map the

approximate location of future resource extraction

•What do you think about this information?•Describe the potential dangers•Who or what else could be at risk?•Are the future sites for development seen as viable? Or are they going to be a challenge to get to? Will the transportation methods change? How might this affect the price of the resource?