CCT333+Week+4+Lab

Write six paragraphs, one on each stage of the 'materials economy', and define its interactions. (6 paragraphs/one stage each paragraph)
 * Tutorial #4 Wiki Question:**

According to Annie Leonard, we have grown into a materialistic dependant society also known as the 'materials economy.' We have become so reliant on materialistic things based on social norms and perceived/planned obsolescence that we do not realize the externalized costs of our actions and desires. There are 5 major stages in the 'materials economy: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. All of which are interconnected throughout the 'materials economy.' Extraction is the first stage of the 'materials economy' which is defined by the removal and exploitation of natural resources in our environments. This includes extraction of oil, wood, coal etc. This stage is very destructive to our environment, people, and communities.

The next stage in the 'material economy' is production. This stage involves using the extracted resources from the first stage to produce the material goods and services that we consume today. This is one of the most destructive stages in the material economy, as we add toxic resources to create create toxic products. The amounts of pollution generated from the productions of material goods is extremely harmful to our existing environments.

After the products have been created, the next stage is the distribution process. The main goal in this stage is to keep inventory moving as fast as possible, which also means keeping production high. We don't realize in our purchases the externalized costs in producing the things we buy and how it has negatively affected both our environments and societies across the globe.

The stage that drives this whole 'material economy' is consumption. We have become a nation of consumers constantly buying material goods to keep us satisfied. The economy has generated two types of obsolescence that drives this need to consume goods. The first is planned obsolescence, which is producing things designed to be thrown out and we continue to buy newer models. The second type of obsolescence is perceived, meaning that we throw away things that are still useful but believe that are "out of fashion." Companies and marketers have convinced society and our economy the need to consume more and more goods that we do not necessarily need.

Lastly, approximately "99% of the stuff we consume is trashed within 6 months." This brings us to our last stage which is the disposal of the material goods that we consume. This has become a dominant source to the overflow of pollution and waste of material goods across the world. We

In order to maintain our environment in this material economy that we live in we need to have a more sustainable process in the production of material goods. Things like having truly recyclable products is one of the many ways we can limit the amount of waste and external costs that our economy is producing the rest of the world.