资源包括自然资源和劳动力资源两个基本要素,是创造社会财富的源泉。人们的生产劳动就是自然资源与劳动力资源的结合,是人类与自然界的物质变换关系。资源的开发利用,就是人们有目的地把自然物质变换为能够满足人类自身需要的有用物质的经济活动。 在漫长的历史中,人类先后经历了“劳力经济”时代,在这一时期,人类通过各种努力已经可以用畜力、水力、风力等部分地代替奴隶的劳动。从蒸汽机的出现,到电的发明与应用,特别是以内燃机应用于工业为标志的石油文明的开始,人类进入了“资源经济”时代或工业经济时代。一方面,人类利用资源生产财富,将资源转化为产品的效率以几十倍、几百倍地提高。汽车、飞机、轮船、电灯、电话、电视机……无数的发明不断涌现,机器解放了人类。煤炭、石油、天然气一系列能源和资源的开发和利用,为所创造的机器注入了强大的动力和原料,资源源源不断地被机器转变为产品,给人类带来了无穷无尽的享受;另 Resources, including two basic elements of natural resources and labor resources, are sources of social wealth. People’s productive labor is the combination of natural resources and labor resources, and is the material transformation of mankind and nature. The development and utilization of resources is the economic activity that people purposefully transform their natural materials into useful materials that can satisfy the needs of human beings themselves. In the long history, mankind went through the era of “labor economy” one after another. During this period, human beings have been able to partially replace the labor of slaves by animal power, water power and wind power through various efforts. From the appearance of steam engines to the invention and application of electricity, especially at the beginning of the oil civilization marked by the application of internal combustion engines to industry, mankind has entered an era of “resource economy” or industrial economy. On the one hand, the efficiency of mankind in using resources to produce wealth and converting resources into products has increased tens to hundreds of times. Cars, planes, ships, lights, telephones, televisions ... innumerable inventions continue to emerge, machines liberate mankind. The development and utilization of a series of energy and resources of coal, oil and natural gas have infused powerful machines and raw materials into the created machines. The endless stream of resources has been transformed into products by machines and brought endless enjoyment to human beings.