NC Using Resources

NC Using Resources

Types of Resources

In a free enterprise economy, entrepreneurs are free to start new businesses. An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and runs a business. Entrepreneurs often come up with better ways to do things. They provide goods and services and create jobs for workers. To make products and provide services, businesses need three types of resources. These three types of resources are called the factors of production.

Open Ended

Write a sentence describing an entrepreneur.

The Factors of Production

One type of resource that businesses need is natural resources. Natural resources supply businesses with raw materials such as minerals, plants, and water. Raw materials are used to make products. For example, wood is used in making paper, furniture, and lumber. Rushing water is used to make hydroelectricity.

Open Ended

List one or more examples of a natural resource.

Businesses also need human resources. Human resources are the workers who make goods or provide services. Some gather raw materials to make products. Others make products from raw materials or deliver products to markets. Still others oversee workers or help train them. Many workers today need special training to operate computers and other machinery.

Capital resources are the tools, machines, and buildings needed to run a business. These include the machines used to make a product. Airplanes, boats, trains, and trucks that deliver products are also capital resources.

Open Ended

What is the difference between human resources and capital resources?

Businesses also use capital, or money. Businesses need money to buy capital resources and to pay workers. Many business leaders use their own money to start and run companies.

Banks also lend money to businesses. Today, Charlotte is the second-leading finance center in the United States. Finance is the use or management of money.

Open Ended

List the three types of resources.

Multiple Choice

Workers in a books store is an example of...

• a natural resource

• a human resource

• a capital resource

Multiple Choice

A machine used to make textiles is an example of...

• a natural resource

• a human resource

• a capital resource

Multiple Choice

The stone granite used to make buildings is an example of....

• a natural resource

• a human resource

• a capital resource

Using Natural Resources

When people use natural resources, they often change the environment. These changes can have positive and negative effects.

When factories in North Carolina make products, they create jobs and help businesses grow. However, smoke from some factories and power plants causes air pollution. Some factories and power plants also create water pollution. Pollution is anything that makes a natural resource dirty or unsafe to use.

Air pollution gets trapped in the valleys between mountains, causing smog. Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog. Air pollution also

causes haze, or dust and smoke in the air. Haze makes it hard to see for long distances in some mountain areas. It is also unsafe for people to breathe polluted air.

Open Ended

List TWO effects of air pollution.

Another source of pollution is waste from trash. As North Carolina grows, many of the state’s landfills are filling up. A landfill is a place where trash is buried. Unburied trash causes pollution.

Today, North Carolinians are working to use natural resources wisely. Many businesses now use machines that create less pollution. They are also more careful when they collect natural resources. For example, most companies that use the forests in the state now plant new trees when they cut down older trees. Other companies are looking for safer ways to mine minerals.

Many North Carolinians also recycle, or reuse products. Recycling helps people conserve resources. Recycling newspapers and magazines, for example, conserves trees. Recycling metal cans and glass bottles conserves mineral resources. Recycling tires and some kinds of plastics conserves oil.

Multiple Choice

Which activity can help conserve trees?

• recycling cans

• recycling tires

• recycling newspapers

• recycling glass

North Carolina’s government also works to use resources wisely and to manage growth. The government encourages people and businesses to use renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity. The state’s government also works with nearby states to find ways to clean up the air and water that they share.

Open Ended

Why do you think it is important for North Carolina to work with other states to solve pollution and other problems?