cct333Lab4


 * Tutorial Question #4**
 * Write five paragraphs, one on each stage of the 'materials economy', and define its interactions. (5 paragraphs/one stage each paragraph)**

In this day and age people are vastly dependent on consumer products that are mass produced by the economy. We live in a consumerism economy, also called the ‘material economy’, a term coined by Annie Leonard. She talks about how this increasing demand for goods and services is affecting our economy in a negative way and also says that there are 5 stages to the ‘material economy’. They are as follows: Extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal

__Extraction__: The stage of extraction is the primary process in the whole cycle of ‘material economy’. It is the beginning of the process whereby raw materials and natural resources are extracted from the planet to make the product. Annie Leonard refers to this as ‘thrashing the planet’ as the constant extraction is duly increasing. This is largely due to the fact that the demand for products in our economy is gradually increasing and as more and more demand for products increase, the extraction of raw materials is amplified to meet the requirement to make such goods. This increase in extraction is exhausting our natural resources and that could be detrimental for our future economy.

__Production__: The succeeding process in the cycle is the production process. This is the stage where the raw materials and the natural resources are made into finals products by using machinery and labour, as well as by adding others substances to it. Annie Leonard specifies that these other substances include a lot of ‘toxic substances’, substances that are damaging to ones’ health in the long run. The truth is most products these days include a lot of toxins that could be harmful to the people’s health but most people are oblivious to it and that could be damaging to them.

__Distribution__: The next part of the cycle is the distribution process. The distribution process brings together the first two processes and combines them to get the final products to the consumers through the distribution process. This process is time and again helped by externalizing the cost of production and that often sees products being sold at a way cheaper price than what we usually expect it to be. A prime example of such externalization is the use of cheap labour in developing nations.

__Consumption__: Consumption is the most important aspect in the whole cycle of the ‘material economy’. This is what fuels the whole system and this why producers keep going back to the first 3 processes. The society today keeps increasing their consumption of goods in the economy and that is causing the whole process of ‘material economy’ to rapidly increase. This increase in consumption spurs the increase in demand for more such products and that causes more extraction and exhaustion of natural resources as well as harming our environment with toxic waste as a byproduct.

__Disposal__: The process of disposal is the final stage in the cycle of ‘material economy’. As soon as a newer product hits the market, the old ones are usually disposed of. As a result of the excessive demand and consumption of products, there is usually a glut of waste left from the disposed products. According to the article, the most common method of recycling such products is by incineration and that in turns causes further harm to the environment. As more and more demand for different products are increasing in the economy, so is the final stage of disposal as more products are being disposed. This is further increasing the rate of disposal and harming the environment in the long run.