Natural Resources and Sustainability explores how human needs and desires, from sustenance and shelter to recreation and travel, have spurred the consumption of Earth's material resources. Scientists, ecologists, social scientists, and other expert authors focus on innovative approaches to sustainable resource management while encouraging readers to examine underlying assumptions and motivations of unsustainable use in the past. Contributors also present the historical impact of commercial activities, discuss traditional and contemporary processes that have affected the global distribution and use pattern of a particular resource; and outline concepts and theories that are particularly relevant to resource use; preservation; and restoration.