Economics

Economics is the exchange of resources. More particularly, it has historically been the social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Some economic theorists also add that economics deals with the theory and practice of economic management.

Historically, economics has posited that economic activity occurs when humans engage in a transaction that involves the exchange of goods and/or services between parties. This interpretation of economic activity was adequate when the human population was low and its economic activity had only a limited impact on nature. However, modernization and technology has led people to engage in economic activity in greater numbers that has led to the destruction of vast areas in nature.

Since the 1970s, economic theories have arisen that emphasize that the nature of economic costs comes with direct and indirect consequences. Therefore, to preserve the biological diversity of the earth, and to promote economic equity alternatives, economic theories and approaches have been developed, which seek to make biodiversity central to economic activity.

For all humans, the exchange of scarce resources, both renewable and nonrenewable, is necessary for the development and maintenance of life. Nonrenewable resources include minerals and petroleum, which cannot be reproduced once consumed. However, where there may be no other resources, substitutes may be used if costs of extraction and processing are acceptable to consumers in the market; for example, diamonds and oil can be synthesized.

However, the key issue will always be at what price. Renewable resources are those resources that are harvested after being planted, cultivated, raised, or otherwise produced in a manner that allows for more of them to be produced from the same source. The very idea of husbandry is rooted in the idea of renewable resources. Successful farmers do not consume their seed corn or their breeding stock except in extreme emergencies. The range of human needs combined with human wants results in an economy of goods and services, which requires huge volumes of these natural resources that are is grown, caught on land or in waters, or mined.

Mined resources include minerals, inorganic building materials, soils, petroleum, and other resources that are used in building the foundation of modern industrial society. These types of resources have been produced by the geochemical processes at work in the earth's crust, and include sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, and igneous rocks. They are considered nonrenewable resources because the geological conditions in which they were formed cannot be repeated by nature.

Granite, for example, is a hard, igneous rock that is found in abundant supply. It has been used in the past for cobblestone streets or in the building of large structures. Other types of mined, igneous rock include those rich in feldspar or other minerals.

Metamorphic rock can also be found in abundance. Large supplies of marble are used in sculpting or in buildings such as the United States Supreme Court. Marble for that structure was shipped from Alabama, Georgia, Vermont, Italy, and other places. In addition, marble can be ground to a fine powder and used in white paint or in hundreds of other products. There is a threat that due to the growing consumption of these mineral resources, its supply could one day be exhausted.

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