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Written by Ken Gebhart
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Thursday, March 20 2008 |
 Value of a resource
The value or the importance of the gifts of nature depends upon several factors:
The needs of the people
Human needs are not uniform all over the world. Over the years, they
have grown and become more complex with the progress of human society.
In very developed societies, people use a variety of products which are
highly processed. On the other hand, in developing countries, the
consumption of processed items is much less; while primitive
communities like the Pygmies in Africa hardly use any processed items.
The level of technology possessed by the people
The level of technology also influences the utilization of resources.
For example, the Prairies of North America were inhabited by the
American Indians who used the Prairies as hunting grounds. Later when
the European settlers arrived, they used the Prairies for agriculture.
Today the Prairies are famous for the cultivation of wheat and the
rearing of animals on a commercial basis.
Time
The value of the resource changes with time as well. For example, water
was used by early man purely for his personal needs. As time went on,
water was used by humans for agricultural purposes namely irrigation.
Later, water was also used as a means of transportation and humans
built boats to travel on water. Nowadays, water is also used to
generate electricity.
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