Lab+4

** Tutorial #4 Wiki Question: **   Write six paragraphs, one on each stage of the 'materials economy', and define its interactions. (6 paragraphs/one stage each paragraph)  ** Extraction ** is can be depicted as the collection of resources to formulate products. Annie Leonard’s opinion of the extraction is ‘trashing the planet’ by altering the earth’s natural state because of its effects on both animals and humans. The population of countries is continuing to increase and there is a direct correlation between more people and more consumption. The U.S. can best exemplify this because they are using roughly 30% of the world’s extracted resources, however, their population is 5% of the world’s total population. Therefore, the greater consumption use will result in the increase use of extraction for resources.  ** Production ** is the next aspect of the system and it encompasses the extraction of the raw materials and transforming them into useful commodities. Energy is used to combine raw materials with sometimes-toxic chemicals to generating contaminated products. The production of some of these toxic products might not be regulated for health/safety exposing workers in low cost labour production. It is unknown how the system originated; however, the blame is focused on the U.S. for outsourcing their factories overseas to evade pollution in their own soil. Nevertheless, production is definitely the stage in the processing system that contributes to the most damage to the planet.  ** Distribution ** is the part in the system process whereby the products are brought to the consumers. The mentality behind it is to effectively move products at a low cost while increasing turnover rate. This idea will cover the costs in the Extraction and Production stages. Moreover a firm must still generate a profit ensured by externalizing the cost by asking for a price that is more than the cost used to produce it. Using developing countries is a tactic that some companies use to keep costs low.   ** Consumption ** entails that the entire system will cycle continuously. The more that people consume the more beneficial it is to the economy. Without consumption, none of the stages would be integral as we are constantly pressured to obtain certain products/brands. In addition, if one is able to consume the materials that were only needed for survival, the planet would be better off. The producers use the media/advertising to market unnecessary consumers into buying their products. Approximately 99% of the materials produced in the system are disposed of in the first six months after the consumer realizes the product is no longer useful. Planned obsolescence is when producers modify their products to ensure consumers buying them to keep up with demand and new trends. Perceived obsolescence is persuading someone that their product is obsolete because they should ‘upgrade’ to a newer product, completing the consumption cycle.  ** Disposal ** is the final stage where the consumers get rid of their current products to upgrade to new one’s. The most common and harmful method of disposing of a product is through incineration. This tactic is harmful to our environment because it outputs a large amount of toxic chemicals. Moreover, the distribution of this waste into particular areas is very destructive. Recycling is the safest technique of disposing of products conversely; not many people partake in this. Leonard further outlines different methods of disposing products that shift from traditional linear systems for a more beneficial circular one. Re-using the waste generated from the entire process to form new products is going to benefit future generations.