If we look around, we can see how lucky we are. We are blessed with bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and oceans and different land forms like hills, valleys and mountains. Our country is also home to many kinds of animals and plants. The air, water, plants, animals, soil, rocks and minerals are collectively called natural resources. Natural resources are the things that we can find in our environment that we use to meet our needs. These resources are not made by humans or any scientific experiments inside the laboratories but they exist in nature. There are two types of natural resources: renewable and nonrenewable resources.
Types of Natural Resources
Renewable resources are materials that can be replaced easily or have the potential to be replaced over time. On the other hand, nonrenewable resources are natural resources that are in limited supply or once consumed, cannot be replaced.
Can you think of examples of renewable and nonrenewable resources? The foods that we eat come from plants and animals. When we consume the plants around us, these plants can be replaced by planting them again after each harvest. We also eat animals. But animals grow and reproduce new ones. The young animals that are born replenished the animals that were consumed. Therefore, plants and animals are renewable resources because they can be replaced after some time. Meanwhile, coal, oil, and natural gas are examples of nonrenewable resources because they will eventually run out.
Are we lucky in the Philippines?
Philippines is considered rich in natural resources. Because of our tropical climate, the Philippines receives an abundant rainfall and lots of sunshine. This is one of the reasons why we have many different kinds of plants and animals.
Based on the records of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or PAGASA, on average our country experiences about 20 typhoons in a year. Although rain and typhoons may result to some serious problems like flooding and landslides, we cannot deny the fact that water is essential to life. We need water for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes among others. Watershedis a catchment area that drains the water into streams, rivers, lakes, and springs. Some of the watersheds in the Philippines are Mt. Apo in Davao-Cotabato, La Mesa Dam in Metro Manila, and Angat Dam in Bulacan. These watersheds supply the water needed by the communities and the varied life forms in that area. A severe drought may cause rivers and deep wells to dry up but, when rain comes, the water is replaced. Water in this case is also a renewable resource.
On the other hand, too much rain can cause floods which can wash away the top soil where plants grow. Can top soil be replaced easily? How are soils formed? Soils are formed from rocks that were broken down by physical and chemical weathering along with the materials from dead plants and animals. Generally, it takes thousands of years for soils to form, so when soils are washed away, it takes a very long time to replace them. Hence, soil is a nonrenewable resource.
Philippines’ Rich Resources
Aside from the fertile and arable lands in the Philippines, our country is recognized as the fifth mineral-rich country in the world, third in gold reserves, fourth in copper, and fifth in nickel. Why do you think our country is rich in mineral resources?
Our location in the Pacific Ring of Fire as shown in Figure 2accounts for this bounty. It is called Ring of Fire because there is a continuing movement of very hot magma or molten materials under the ground. The countries included in the Pacific Ring of Fire is home to approximately 75% of the world’s active volcanoes. The heat within the Earth causes rocks and other materials to melt forming magma. When magma rises during volcanic eruptions, some of the magma does not reach the surface of the Earth but instead slowly cools and hardens forming different kinds of igneous rocks. With favorable temperature and pressure conditions, the rocks containing metals melt and redeposit, eventually forming minerals. Metallic mineral deposits like copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc are usually mined from deep within the roots of extinct volcanoes or those volcanoes with no record of eruption for the last 10,000 years and are not expected to erupt again in the future.
Metals have many uses. For instance, copper is used for making electrical wires. Iron is used in making steel bars for buildings and construction of roads. The milk cans are created from tin. Stainless cooking wares are made out of mixture of nickel and copper. Gold is usually used in making pieces of jewelry. Although metals are nonrenewable resources, people use them without limits because of the economic gain brought by these metals.
Moreover, our geological conditions also provide us with high potential for renewable energy resources. The table below lists the different renewable energy resources.
[Table 1. Renewable Energies and their Sources
Renewable Energy -- Source
Solar Energy --- energy from the sun
Geothermal Energy -- harnessed from heat within the Earth
Hydropower --- derived from fast-flowing water
Wind Energy --- generated from wind
Biomass --- energy from decomposition of organic wastes]
These renewable energy resources serve as the alternative resources for the commonly used nonrenewable energy resources such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels. These are formed from the geologic deposits of decayed plants and animals that existed millions of years ago. Coal, crude oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels are nonrenewable because it will take millions of years for dead plants and animals to turn into fossil fuels.
Much of the energy we use today are generated from these nonrenewable energy resources. Based on the 2017 Philippines’ energy statistics, approximately 88% of our energy consumption is taken from nonrenewable energy resources while only 12% of the energy consumption accounted for renewable energy resources. Oil and coal were listed as the primary sources of energy in the country. The nonrenewable energy resources are exhaustible and once consumed entirely, it will take millions of years to replenish them. With the high potential for cheap and clean energy from renewable resources, it is important that these alternative energy resources be explored to supply our energy needs before it becomes too late.