What is the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources for the NY Regents?

A renewable resource is replenished on a human timescale, so using it does not run it out: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, forests and fresh water. A non-renewable resource forms far more slowly than it is used and is effectively used up: fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), nuclear fuel and mineral ores. The distinction is about the rate of replenishment compared with the rate of use, not whether the material exists. Fossil fuels come from living things but take millions of years to form, so they are non-renewable.

How does the greenhouse effect work?

Incoming short-wave solar energy passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by Earth's surface, which re-radiates the energy as long-wave (infrared) radiation. Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor) absorb this outgoing infrared and re-emit some of it back toward the surface, keeping Earth warmer than it would otherwise be. The natural greenhouse effect makes Earth habitable; burning fossil fuels adds extra carbon dioxide that enhances the effect and warms the climate. Nitrogen and oxygen, though most abundant, are not greenhouse gases.

How do humans alter the carbon cycle?

Carbon normally cycles among the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere through photosynthesis (carbon dioxide in), respiration and decomposition (carbon dioxide out), combustion, and slow burial into rock and fossil fuels. Humans shift the balance by burning fossil fuels, which releases carbon stored for millions of years into the air far faster than natural processes can remove it, and by deforestation, which removes a carbon sink. The result is a net rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide that enhances the greenhouse effect.

Why do earthquakes and volcanoes cluster in certain places?

Earthquakes and volcanoes concentrate along tectonic plate boundaries, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other, releasing energy and allowing magma to rise (for example the Ring of Fire). Because these locations are known from plate tectonics, geologists can draw hazard maps of the highest-risk areas before any event happens, even though the exact timing of an earthquake cannot be predicted. This is why monitoring, hazard maps and preparedness can reduce the impact.

What are Earth's four interconnected systems?

The atmosphere (the gases around Earth), the hydrosphere (all the water, including oceans, ice, rivers and groundwater), the geosphere (the solid Earth, rock and soil), and the biosphere (all living things). Matter and energy move between these systems, so a change in one affects the others. For example, burning fossil fuels (atmosphere) warms the climate, which melts ice and raises sea level (hydrosphere) and shifts habitats (biosphere). The new Earth and Space Sciences exam stresses this cross-system reasoning.

New YorkEarth and Environmental Science

Earth systems, resources and human impact: the environmental science unit for the NY Regents and the new Earth and Space Sciences exam

A deep-dive guide to the environmental science unit for the NY Regents and the new Earth and Space Sciences exam (ESS3): renewable and non-renewable energy, natural resources and sustainability, human impact on Earth's interconnected systems, the greenhouse effect and climate change, the carbon cycle, and natural hazards, with the cross-system reasoning the new exam rewards.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.818 min readESCI-ENVIROUpdated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

The unit the new exam is built around
Energy and resources
Earth's interconnected systems
Climate change and the carbon cycle
Natural hazards and society
Check your knowledge

The unit the new exam is built around

The environmental science unit, resources, human impact, climate change and hazards, is exactly the part of the course the new Earth and Space Sciences exam expands under ESS3 (Earth and Human Activity). It rewards cross-system reasoning: tracing how a change in one Earth system spreads to the others, and weighing trade-offs and solutions. This guide ties the dot-point pages together: energy resources, renewable and non-renewable, natural resources and their management, human impact on Earth's systems, climate change and the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle and Earth's systems.

Energy and resources

Renewable energy (solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal) is replenished as fast as it is used; non-renewable energy (coal, oil, gas, nuclear) is not. Fossil fuels form over millions of years from buried organisms. Every source has trade-offs: fossil fuels are cheap and energy-dense but emit carbon dioxide; renewables are clean but often intermittent. Natural resources (fresh water, soil, minerals, forests) must be managed: conservation reduces waste, and sustainability means meeting present needs without preventing future use, using renewables no faster than they regenerate.

Earth's interconnected systems

The atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere exchange matter and energy, so impacts spread. The strongest answers on the new exam trace a chain across systems.

Climate change and the carbon cycle

The greenhouse effect: short-wave solar energy in, long-wave (infrared) energy absorbed on the way out by carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor, warming the surface. Burning fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide, enhancing the effect. The carbon cycle moves carbon through photosynthesis (in), respiration and decomposition (out), combustion, and slow burial into rock and fossil fuels. Forests and oceans are carbon sinks. Humans move long-stored fossil carbon into the air quickly and remove sinks by deforestation, raising atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Natural hazards and society

Hazards cluster predictably: earthquakes and volcanoes at plate boundaries, floods on floodplains, hurricanes over warm seas. Earth science reduces the toll with forecasting, monitoring, hazard maps, warning systems and preparedness (building codes, levees, drills). We cannot stop the events, but we can prepare.

Check your knowledge

Attempt these, then check the solutions.

Classify solar, coal, wind and natural gas as renewable or non-renewable. (2 marks)
Define sustainability. (1 mark)
Name Earth's four interconnected systems. (2 marks)
Explain the greenhouse mechanism in terms of short-wave and long-wave energy. (2 marks)
Name two processes that return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. (2 marks)
Explain why a hazard map of earthquake risk can be drawn before any earthquake. (2 marks)
State one human activity that raises atmospheric carbon dioxide and why. (2 marks)

Solutions

Q1: Renewable: solar, wind. Non-renewable: coal, natural gas.
Q2: Using resources to meet present needs without preventing future generations from meeting their needs (using renewables no faster than they regenerate).
Q3: Atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere.
Q4: Short-wave solar energy is absorbed by the surface and re-radiated as long-wave (infrared) energy; greenhouse gases absorb the outgoing long-wave energy and re-emit some downward, warming the surface.
Q5: Respiration and decomposition (combustion also counts).
Q6: Earthquakes cluster along known tectonic plate boundaries and faults, so the high-risk areas are predictable from geology, even though the exact timing is not.
Q7: Burning fossil fuels releases carbon stored for millions of years as carbon dioxide, faster than natural processes can remove it (deforestation, by removing a sink, also counts).

Sources & how we know this

Earth and Space Sciences — New York State Education Department (2026)
Regents Examination in Physical Setting/Earth Science — New York State Education Department (2026)