cct333lab4

Annie describes the United States’ materials economy in a very subjective way. Certainly she makes a lot of good points about USA’s wastefulness as a culture compared to others, but I couldn’t take her seriously when she started throwing her opinions into an article that should be educational. Combined with her poor use of grammar, I was unenthused in reading the article through to the end. With that said, Annie starts by saying that the materials economy begins with extraction of materials, goes into production, distribution, consumption and finally to disposal. She points out that this cycle isn’t complete with information, and there are missing links in each stage that are hidden from the public. The first issue Annie highlights is that we are running out of resources. Our current rate of extraction would require three to five planets in order to sustain ourselves for a lengthened period of time without running out of resources. Something needs to be done about this or we’ll end up destroying our planet. The second issue she brings up is in the production stage, in which she claims that of all the synthetic chemicals used in production today, only a handful were tested for negative effects on the human body. The most strongly affected are also the ones who get paid the least: the factory workers. She also stresses that because of all the toxins we’re exposed to every day, one of the most highly contaminated foods today is human breast milk. Moving to distribution, Annie states that corporations can minimize costs by making the people in the production line pay for it; with their natural resource base, the loss of clean air, their health and their futures. This is how corporations externalize the costs of production. Consumption, she says, is the “golden arrow” of the materials economy and is the most important driving factor in the current state of affairs. All the products that we consume are designed to become obsolete or appear obsolete to us in as short a time as possible, but for us to maintain our loyalty to the brand name. This can be seen in a lot of things, with a perfect example being computer technology. Everything is designed to keep the consumers consuming, leaving them never satisfied with what they have, and always wanting more. Lastly, Annie says that of everything we consume, only 1% of the materials will remain 6 months from the purchase date. This is pretty hard-hitting as it shows just how wasteful we are. Another alarming fact about our waste was in regard to the incineration of our waste. A new toxin is created when incinerating some of our waste; dioxin, which is one of the most toxic man-made substances to ever exist on the planet. As a by-product of the things that go into our consumables, it shows how close we are to such substances for extended periods of time. The only way to save ourselves from this endless cycle of destruction is to change the cycle; to focus on zero-waste, closed-loop production, renewable energy, etc.  **2.**  Extraction: Extraction is the process of removing raw materials from their natural places in order to use them to in the production of various things. Removing trees for lumber, removing ores from mines, and collecting water all count as extraction.  Production: Production happens when we take our raw materials gathered from extraction and bring them together to create something new. This generally has its own process called the “production process” which consists of various steps beginning with the raw materials and ending with the finished product.  Distribution: Distribution is the step following production, in which we export the finished product to a wholesaler, or directly to a store where it is put on display for the consumer to buy.  <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">Consumption: <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">Consumption is simply what happens when an end-user purchases the product from a store and makes use of it however they need. <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;"> <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">Disposal: <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">This is the final stage of the materials economy in which the consumed product has fulfilled its use, and is disposed of by the end-user. It will usually end up in a landfill, somewhere on the ground, or incinerated first before ending up in a landfill. No matter how it’s disposed of, it’s causing more damage to our planet by not being recycled. <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;"> <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">**3.** <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;"> <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;"> Annie’s flash presentation organizes the categories comprising the materials economy just as effectively as the annotated script does. It’s a little bit easier to follow thanks to context and pictures helping us to piece the information together, but on the whole everything is put together very coherently. The layout of the flash is very simple, with her on the bottom and what she’s trying to show us up top, choosing moments to zoom in on important information very well. Giving us the option to choose which component of the materials economy we want to find out about is also a nice touch, especially because by skipping ahead or going back, you don’t feel like you’ve lost any information as she explains each section as independent of the others. <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;"> Another feature I’m happy with is the simplicity in the flash presentation. The perfect amount of detail is put into the animation, and it’s forced to stay simplified so we don’t have too much information being mixed together at the same time. The execution of her message was extremely well done. When she zooms in on something to emphasize some of the detail, it goes back to how it started as soon as she’s finished so we can switch focus back to what she wants us to focus on. <span style="font-family: "Avenir-Book","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Avenir-Book;">
 * __Lab 4: The Story of Stuff__**
 * 1.**