the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela) have nearly 80% of all the world’s oil (Figure
20.5). However, none of these is the world’s biggest user of oil. In fact, the biggest users of
oil, the United States, China, and Japan, are all located outside this oil-rich region. This
differenceinavailabilityanduseofresourcescanbeasourceofeconomicandpoliticaltrouble
throughout the world. Nations that have abundant resources oftenexportthem to other
countries, while countries that lack a resource mustimportit from somewhere else.
Figure 20.5: The nations in green are the 11 biggest producers of worldwide oil. They have
almost 80% of the world’s current oil supply, even though the United States, China, and
Japan are the world’s biggest users of oil. ( 7 )
In developed countries like the United States and most of Europe, we often use many more
natural resources than we need just to live. We have many luxury and recreational materials
made from resources. We also tend to throw things away quickly because we can afford to
replace them. Discarding materials not only leads to more resource use, but it also leads
to more waste that has to be disposed of in some way. Pollution from discarded materials
degrades the land, air, and water (Figure20.6). As our cities and neighborhoods grow,
we use more and more resources and produce more and more waste. Natural resource use
is generally lower in developing countries because people cannot afford to use as much.
Still, developing countries need to actively protect their resources by adopting sustainable
practices as they develop.
Conserving Natural Resources
We need to conserve natural resources so that we can continue to use them in the future,
and so that they will be safe for use. While renewable resources will not run out, they can
become degraded or polluted. For example, water is a renewable resource, but we can pollute
it to the point that it is not safe for use. Reducing use and recycling materials is a great
way to conserve resources (Figure20.7). Many people are also researching ways to find
renewable alternatives to non-renewable resources. Here is a checklist of some things we can
do to conserve resources: