Some natural resources are renewable—nature produces them fast enough that humans can obtain valuable and useful supplies of a resource without depleting it. other natural resources are nonrenewable—if we use the resource at a rate fast enough to matter to our economy, the resource will run out because use is much faster than natural production. what do we know about oil and coal?
a. both oil and coal are renewable resources; they are being made rapidly by natural processes in places such as anwr on the north slope of alaska, and in sea-floor regions off the continental shelf.
b. oil is a nonrenewable resource, but coal is made more rapidly, especially in coastal mangrove swamps, and so is a renewable resource.
c. coal is a nonrenewable resource, but oil is made more rapidly in places such as large river deltas and so is a renewable resource.
d. both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, oil will run out in about a century and coal will run out in a few centuries.
e. both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, both will last about one century before running out