Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
A
natural resource
is any physical environmental item that people perceive to be useful for
their well-being. That's a pretty broad definition, but an appropriate one. All kinds of environ-
mental items areuseful.Geographically,resources maybeeverywhere (air),prettywidespread
(water), limited to relatively few areas (petroleum), or downright rare (diamonds). As the fol-
lowing sections will demonstrate, however, the geography of resources, as well as the wealth
and power they provide, may have more to do with culture than the environmental items them-
selves.
The central role of culture
An energy crisis is currently underway. Fuel resources are becoming scarce, and demand for them is
growing faster than new sources are becoming available. Prices are going up. People wish for self-
sufficiency, but that is no longer possible. Increasingly, they must rely on fuel sources that are far
away, under the control of somebody else, and require increasing amounts of time and money to pro-
cure. No immediate solution is in sight.
No, this is not about petroleum or the United States, but instead the firewood crisis in parts of sub-
Saharan Africa. In some countries on that continent more than 75 percent of all energy consumption
involves burning firewood, mainly for cooking and boiling water. Population is growing and with it
the demand for firewood. But practically nowhere in the steppe and savanna realms, where scarcity
of firewood is most acute, are there effective programs that plant or replant trees faster than they are
cut. Woodlands that used to surround a village are gone, and therefore people must walk farther and
farther to get what they need.
Resources are culturally determined. That is, whether or not a particular environmental item
is useful depends on culture. Many Americans could care less about access to firewood, but
they certainly do care about access to gasoline. Lots of Africans feel the exact opposite. Cul-
tural difference, particularly as it relates to technology, is the principal explanation. American
culture is inseparable from a wide range of machinery that runs on gasoline or oil — cars for
transportation, tractors to help produce food, furnaces that heat buildings and homes, and so
forth. Over large parts of Africa, however, none of these matter very much, but firewood sure
does. The bottom line is that American culture is different than African culture, which are dif-
