Week_4

=** Tutorial Question #4 ** = ===** Write six paragraphs, one on each stage of the 'materials economy', and define its interactions. (6 paragraphs/one stage each paragraph) ** === ===** Extraction involves chopping down trees, blowing up mountains to get the metals inside, use up all the water, and wipe out wildlife habitats. We have used up one third of the planet’s natural resources. ** ===

Production, simplified as toxins in. Toxins out.During production, factories put toxins into the production system that are then brought into our homes, workplaces, schools, and even our bodies.Such toxins include BFRs, brominated flame retardants.BFRs make things more fireproof, but are extremely toxic.So toxic that they are neurotoxins.Women of reproductive age are working in these factories and working with these reproductive toxics, carcinogens, and more.Toxics then leave the factory as products, but even more leave as by-products, or pollution.The industry admits to releasing over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals per year in America.

Distribution is selling all of this toxic contaminated product as quickly as possible.Their goal is to keep prices down, by keeping inventory moving.They externalize the costs, meaning the costs of production are not captured in the price.We, as consumers, are not really paying for the stuff we buy.The people who are paying are the people who have lost their natural resource bases such as clean air, clean water, and fertile land.

Consumption is defined as using up of a resource.99 percent of the stuff we run through this system is trashed.So 1 percent of the stuff we harvest, mine, and transport is actually kept.Companies use effective strategies such as planned and perceived obsolescence in order to keep consumers consuming.Planned obsolescence is when products are designed to be useless as quickly as possible so we will toss them and go buy a new one, such as notebooks, coffee cups, and computers.Perceived obsolescence is when we are convinced to throw out stuff that is still perfectly useful.Companies change the way stuff looks and maybe add a new feature, such as cell phones, appliances, shoes, clothing, even cars.The way we demonstrate value is by contributing to this arrow of consumption.National happiness is declining because we think happiness can be attained through consumption.

Disposal is when garbage is either dumped into a landfill or it is burned in an incinerator and then dumped into a landfill.Incineration releases all of the toxins from the production stage up into the air, but it is much worse; it creates new toxins, such as dioxin.Dioxin is the most toxic man-madesubstance know to science.Incinerators are the number one source of dioxin.Upstream pollution is manufactured by-product, air, or water pollution, from manufacturing.A lot of things can’t be recycled because they contain too many toxics or it is actually designed to not be recycled in the first place.

Another way of protecting our planet through the materials economy would be through green chemistry, zero waste, and closed loop production.Green chemistry protects the environment, not by cleaning up after a polluting process, but inventing new chemistry and new chemical processes that do not pollute in the first place.Zero waste is a guide for people to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. It means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. And finally, closed loop production seeks to eliminate toxic inputs, protect workers, communities, and the environment along entire supply chains, use renewable energy, and eliminate superfluous consumption.