The study of human valuation and use of Earth's materials lies at the core of the modern discipline of geography. Indeed, investigation into the character, production, and distribution of natural resources might be said to be a quintessential pursuit for a discipline that has in large part been fashioned on the relationships between humans and their environment. Linked to political geographies by concerns over territoriality and proprietorship, to economic geographies through networks of production and consumption, to social and cultural geographies by collective practice and meaning making, and to environmental geographies through [Page 2447]the modification of natural systems, the study of resource geographies requires consideration of both the “human” and the “physical” sides of the discipline. As such, it is well conceived as a specialty ...