Grade 6 · Social Studies · Lesson 16

Natural resources around the world

Everything we use — every car, computer, phone, sandwich, and glass of water — starts with a natural resource. A natural resource is anything found in nature that people can use: minerals from the ground, water from a river, sunlight from the sky, soil for crops, fish from the sea. Earth is generous, but it is not generous in the same way everywhere. Resources are unevenly distributed, and that fact has shaped politics, trade, and conflict for thousands of years.

What this lesson teaches

1Define natural resources and distinguish renewable from nonrenewable resources
2Identify the main world regions that produce oil, coal, fresh water, and key minerals
3Explain why natural resources are unevenly distributed across the planet
4Describe why conservation matters for nonrenewable resources

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