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Exploitation of natural resources
English Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
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Exploitation of natural resources
The
exploitation of natural resources
is the use of
natural resources
for
economic growth
, sometimes with a
negative connotation
of accompanying
environmental degradation
. It started to emerge on an
industrial
scale in the 19th century as the extraction and processing of
raw materials
(such as in
mining
,
steam power
, and
machinery
) developed much further than it had in preindustrial eras. During the 20th century,
energy
consumption rapidly increased. Today, about 80% of the
world’s energy consumption
is sustained by the extraction of
fossil fuels
, which consists of
oil
,
coal
and
gas
. Another
non-renewable resource
that is exploited by humans is subsoil minerals such as
precious metals
that are mainly used in the production of industrial
commodities
.
Intensive agriculture
is an example of a mode of production that hinders many aspects of the
natural environment
, for example the degradation of
forests
in a
terrestrial ecosystem
and
water pollution
in an
aquatic ecosystem
. As the
world population
rises and
economic growth
occurs, the
depletion of natural resources
influenced by the unsustainable extraction of
raw materials
becomes an increasing concern.
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