Topic 2: Consuming Resources

How and why does resource consumption vary in different parts of the world?
Key Ideas / Content / What you need to understand
Resources are classified as renewable, sustainable and non-renewable, and this has implications for their consumption / Define and classify different types of resources, including energy, mineral, physical and biological resources. /
  • Understand resources can be classified by type and availability i.e. energy, mineral, physical and biological. Non-renewable, sustainable that can be deliberately renewed and sustainable that renew themselves.
  • To be able to give examples of each type of resource.

Investigate the changing pattern of global inequalities in the supply and consumption of different types of resource. /
  • To understand what is meant by the terms supply and consumption.
  • To understand a country can only supply a resource if it is available in the country and they have the technical ability to extract it (Saudi Arabia)
  • To know some countries have a limited supply and have to import some resources.
  • Supply will change as resources run-out or are discovered, or changing circumstances within a country e.g. war.
  • To understand factors that affect how much of a resource is consumed (LEDC vs MEDC)

Issues surrounding
energy supply and
consumption have
produced a changing
world of ‘haves’ and ‘have
nots’. / Examine the reasons for variations in the global supply and consumption of:
•• one non-renewable energy resource
•• one renewable energy resource. /
  • To understand reasons for changes in the supply and consumption of oil.
  • To understand reasons for changes in the supply and consumption of wind or solar power.

Assess the likely future pressures on both the supply and consumption of the chosen energy resources brought by global economic growth and changing international relations. /
  • To know how economic growth will impact the supply and consumption of oil/wind
  • To know that how well countries get on will impact the supply and consumption of oil/wind (impact of conflict with Russia on oil supply.)

How sustainable is the current pattern of resource supply and consumption?
Different theories exist
about how far the world
can cope with the current
consumption of resources. / Investigate the differences between Malthusian and Boserupian theories about the relationship between population and resources. /
  • Understand the Malthusian theory (pessimistic) about population growth and resources
  • Understand Boserupian theory about population and resources (optimistic)

Evaluate these theories by considering the changing relationship between global food demand and supply. /
  • To know evidence for and against each theory
  • To understand why food demand and supply may change

The challenges for future
resource consumption
centre on achieving
sustainability. / Identify ways in which governments, both national and local, attempt to manage resource consumption through education, conservation and recycling. /
  • To learn what is meant by the term sustainable development.
  • To know ways in which resource consumption could be reduced e.g. farmers market, using bikes not cars, recycling.

Evaluate the potential of renewable resources and the ways in which new technologies, e.g. the hydrogen economy, might resolve resource
shortages. /
  • To understand the advantages and disadvantages of using renewable resources
  • To understand some ways in which technology could resolve our resource problems e.g. hydrogen fuel cell.