The environment has a significant impact on human health. Resources can be categorized as renewable, nonrenewable, or perpetual. Renewable resources like trees can be replenished, while nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels are limited and cannot be replaced once depleted. Perpetual resources including solar, wind, and tidal energy appear endless relative to human lifespans.

1. Environmental Health
How The Environment Affects Our Health
9/15/09

2. Our Resources
✤ Renewable Resource
✤ Nonrenewable Resource
✤ Perpetual Resource

3. Renewable Resources
✤ Materials that can be replenished through natural and/or human
processes
✤ For example, even though trees die naturally or are harvested by
lumber companies, new trees are re-seeded by nature or planted by
people

4. Nonrenewable Resources
✤ Exist in limited amounts, and once they are used up, they cannot be
replaced.
✤ An example would be fossil fuels such as oil, which are formed
through natural processes that span millions of years.
✤ Should we run out of these kinds of metals, we could only get them
from mining on other planets.

5. Perpetual Resources
✤ Such as solar energy, wind and tides, last seemingly forever, at least in
relation to our life span.
✤ Super-hot steam from deep underground is another example.