environmental, social, and economic impacts of a product’s lifecycle

MODULE THREE – Story of Stuff

Review the video resource.

This assignment relates to the video resource Story of Stuff (see citation on next page), which describes environmental, social, and economic impacts of a product’s lifecycle. The narrator wonders how the $4.99 price tag on a small radio can capture the full costs of producing and consuming that item, and so explores the cycle of extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. Materials economies, which are based upon a linear system, waste precious materials. That is, most of the resources extracted from the planet are not recovered and reused. Running through the video is the idea that this system is not sustainable, and that we must redesign the way that consumer products are made, used, and disposed of, as well as treat people better along the way.

Instructions

Underlined text below represents the “required content” for this assignment. These elements must be included in your presentation slide(s) according to the Content area of the rubric.

Go to http://www.madehow.com/index.html. Skim through the various volumes and choose one common, frequently used product to evaluate. Read through the article for that product and create a bulleted list of raw materials that go into making and packaging it. For example, the raw materials in toothpaste are………..

Liquid base (water, glycerin)
Fillers and abrasives (calcium carbonate, hydrated silica, sodium bicarbonate, dicalcium phosphate and sodium metaphosphate)
Detergents (to create foaming when brushing)
Active ingredients (fluoride, fluorine, sodium)
Flavoring, sweetener, coloring, preservatives
Plastic (petroleum) for tube
Cardboard (paper) for packaging

Find a video that shows the extraction of at least one material on the list and note the URL for it. For example……..

A toothpaste container is made out of plastic, which is made from petroleum. A video for the extraction of petroleum may be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

0SmSNRTU1Vw&feature=related

Highlight ways that the raw materials on your list may contribute to environmental issues due to the steps in the product lifecycle in at least three descriptive, well-constructed bullets.

Create APA bibliographic citation(s) for your research resource(s) and place it/them into a References slide for the module. This will include one entry for the MadeHow webpage for the product chosen, as well as one(s) for the location of the video link(s), and any other outside source you may have used in completing step III.