Lab+4

Materials economy is composed of five stages; extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. It is a linear system, which is problematic because a linear system could not be run on a finite system indefinitely. All five stages are related in the sense that they all affect each other and there are no specific steps to the stage. Also, extraction, production, distribution and disposal all occur outside of our field of vision so it does not really happen. On the other hand, consumption is the only stage that is visible.

Extraction is a nicer word to represent natural resource exploitation. Over the past three decades, one third of the planet’s natural resources have been extracted and consumed by developed countries. The main problem is that we are extracting faster than this planet’s ability to replenish resources such as clean water or trees. Developed countries such as the United States are using more than their share. To overcome this problem, developed countries turn to developing countries and extract their resources. The amount we extracted depends on the amount of consumption. The more we consume, the more natural resources extracted.

In order to produce, energy is used to mix toxic chemicals with the natural resources. Numerous chemicals are used in all sorts of production but only a handful is tested to determine their impacts on human health. A problem with this is that we are exposed to all the sorts of chemicals every day. It is in our everyday products such as couches, pillows or mattresses.

Distribution is the process of selling the produced goods to the consumers. The main goal is to keep prices low to maintain a constant demand from society. As long as people buy, the previous two stages are able to continue. In order to keep prices low, workers at third-world countries are exploited by multinational corporations.

Consumption is the central component to the materials economy. People’s social identity is defined through the products we buy. People are now purchasing twice as much as they did 50 years ago. Consumption is now the way of life and we need everything that is out there. The products we consume are designed in two ways. Planned obsolescence is when the products are designed to be useless as quickly as possible so we can dispose of them and purchase a new one. Advertisements try to convince consumers to throw away products that are still perfectly useful. This is known as perceived obsolescence.

Disposal is throwing out the products that are either useless or we think we should throw out. With the increased amount of compensation, the amount of garbage is also increasing. The main problem with this is that it is polluting the air, land, and water and damaging the climate. Toxics from the produced goods are being released back into environment. With a damaged climate, natural resources are being destroyed.