The Materials Cycle

1. The Materials Cycle Professor Wayne Hayes V. 0.4, Build #5 | 10/11/2012

2. From Production through Disposal We have already Introduced The Story of Stuff, explaining Extraction. Here, we briefly highlight Production, Distribution, Consumption Disposal, and Conclude.

3. Look at Production Annie examines how stuff is made. She starts with synthetic chemicals, which do not naturally exist on earth but are made for production processes. Again, she will look to cases. Notice, again, how she gets around the planet.

4. Keep in mindmethod and context. Her case method within the materials cycle is concrete, specific, and timely. This does not rest on abstract theory. That we will do next in Ecology, Economics, and Ethics.

5. The Story of Stuff directs attention to familiar products. • Cotton • Books • Computers • Aluminum cans • PVC plastic.

6. Critique cotton. • Cotton becomes the symbol of hidden cost and product lifecycle intersecting with lifestyle. See an organic consumer fact sheet. • Remember the Aral Sea! Cotton is a staple, often the major regional export. Thus, cotton is heavily subsidized and promoted --- often hurting poor nations. Annie prefers fair trade. • Lots of harm goes into cotton cultivation. • Labor conditions can be harsh. See her story on cotton in Haiti.

7. Critique books. • Like The Story of Stuff! She explains how her book is made, p. 307. Kindle, anyone? • Where does paper come from? Trees! See top of page 53. • What to you think?

8. Critique computers Annie strikes to the heart of our lifestyle, again! • Consider e-waste: 5 to 7 million tons per year. • Examine her diagram on page 61.

9. Stupid stuff? Annie highlights two industries that should be curtailed. You know both. • Aluminum cans • PVC plastic, especially in schools.

10. Want relief? Go to Good Guide! The Story of Stuff recommends consulting the Good Guide web site. Their video explains their mission. You can download a green mobile app!

11. Think through production. Annie asks two important types of questions: • How is this stuff made and where did it come from? • Is purchasing this stuff worth my hours of work? Can I do without? Find an alternative? Borrow it? Build a better business model?

12. SoS wants to promote a better production cycle. Source: Clean Production Action

13. Environmental Justice as Fence Line Communities. The discussion of The Front Lines and Fence-line Communities (84-94) is an informative overview of the issue of Environmental Justice, essential for Ecology, Economics, and Ethics.

14. Remember Bhopal! A significant case is the Union Carbide tragedy at Bhopal in 1984, illustrated in the story of Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla. The Goldman Prize web site explains many case studies of folks and civil society organizations that are responding to such situations, such as Hilton Kelley of Port Arthur, Texas.

15. There are laws. Annie provides an overview of the administration of public policy over pollution and toxins (94-101).

16. Get Production right! Annie Leonard concludes the chapter on Production with a savvy discussion on how to get production right (101-105), which should be read closely.

17. Less Consumption = Less Production • She explains aspects of Anthropocene II, the Great Acceleration. Lots of toxic chemicals were introduced into Production. • Overproduction occurs when consumers consume less. The economy slows but leisure can rise. What goes? • So, “make far less stuff and far better stuff” (102).

18. Start upstream withbetter design. • This requires a transformation of thinking, upgrading our paradigms. • She praises the work of Bill McDonough: sustainable design. • She explains biomimicry, imitating the design found in and inspired by nature. This movement merges science with design.

19. Distribution is next. The Story of Stuff starts this chapter with globalization and supply chains and ends with localization. The tension is basic to sustainability.

20. Corporations produce brands. This chapter starts with an overview of globalization and the all important supply chains (106-116). Note the case of Toyota's assembly line (108). The important point is that many companies (Annie mentions Nike, Apple, and the Gap) produce brands, not products. That is, they design and market but generally do not produce in house.

21. From typical supply chains . . . Source: Connect Group

22. . . . to a sustainable supply chain. Source: ICT4Green by Donato Toppeto

23. Look to green lean supply chains. Annie and Dara O'Rourke of Good Guide (see 111-112) advocate a "green lean" supply chain.

24. Critique freight hauling. Note the externalities of freight hauling as estimated public health costs: • for California, $20 billion per year • for New Jersey $5 billion annually. Less commodity miles, more sustainability. This move supports local economies.

25. Critique Big Box Stores. Annie questions all kinds of mass consumption outfits, like H&M apparel, Amazon and the Kindle. Her hostility is strongest for big box chains such as Walmart and Target.

26. Critique of the rule makers. An organized regime, or mode of governance, over global trade was negotiated by the victors of WWII at the dawn of the Age of Acceleration.

27. Bretton Woods The story begins at Bretton Woods as an arrangement among nation-states under the auspices of the United Nations: • to provide order to the international economy • to promote post-World War II economic growth • to forestall relapse into a global economic depression similar to the 1930s.

28. The Bretton Woods accord The accord negotiated in July 1944 set up the framework for global trade since, paving the way for the Great Acceleration.

29. The Bretton Woods set up three institutions to promote world trade. • The International Monetary Fund, or IMF • The World Bank • The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which led to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

30. The significance of Bretton Woods We will discuss Bretton Woods later in the course as we examine the origins, character, and trajectory of economic globalization. (See my notes.)

31. SoS promotes local economic development. This topic, too, gets much attention later in the course. For now: • Look at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. • Peek at my notes around Bill McKibben, Deep Economy.

32. Consumptionis the heart of SoS. This vital chapter is not about consumption alone, but really raises questions about • The culture of consumerism • The effects of overconsumption.

33. Is Annie on to something here? Consumption, as an economic category, points to the 70% or so of the GNP that is driven by the final demand purchased by households. Consumption (final demand) drives the economy. Investment responds to consumption through production and distribution.

34. Does consumption = happiness? Bill McKibben writes in Deep Economy, (pp.35-6) that “ . . . that Americans reported the highest level of contentment and happiness in 1957 . . .” Leonard, page 149. Has more consumption and economic growth become uncoupled from happiness and fulfillment?

35. Does consumerism = materialism?Is it anti-community? Annie suspects that the cause of our discontent is found in two basic errors: • Community has been diminished by the privatization of our lives. • Materialism dominates our culture and our thinking (our paradigm). Partially true? What do you think?

36. Consider the Happy Planet Index. This indicator comes from the New Economics Foundation as “a global indicator of sustainable well-being.” Nic Marks explains in a short video. View the current map.

37. SoS points to the Steady State. The remedy appears so simple: Relax and enjoy leisure. This solution to growth was the original solution proposed by the first economist to contemplate the steady state (see especially section IV.6.9).  John Stuart Mill in 1857 advocatedethics and leisure as the successor to our anachronistic pioneer economic period.

38. Imagine the Steady State. Can smaller footprint = higher quality of life ? This may be the key to economy alchemy.

39. Less work, more leisure, happier planet? See the graph on page 157. Work less? Be happy? Downshift to enough? Practice self-development not economic growth. ! ?

40. SoS questions Fordism. Henry Ford in 1914 forged the link between mass production and mass consumption. Do to otherwise is to break the cycle of industrialism, basic to the Anthropocene.

41. SoS promotes awareness. Beware of two “tricks of the trade”: • Planned obsolescence sends consumer goods to the dump and limits the lifespan of a commodity. • Advertising, so pervasive, intends to persuade you to buy commodities.

42. The choice of how to consume is ours. Consumerism requires that we compare ourselves to a reference group, especially for our choices in housing, transportation, and fashion. But these socially constituted choices are ours to make Lots of activities and stuff can make us happy, so do so wisely. This is a domain of freedom open to us all.

43. SoS puts citizenship first. More important even than conscious consumption is Engaged citizenship. Here is how: Put social relationships first and value vibrant community life in which you actively participate.

44. Should the rich practice restraint? See the diagram on page 177 and the statistics on page 178. And view this image of Rio: Source: Brazil, the divide between rich and poor, Design Context

45. Carbon footprint is linked to affluence. The Story of Stuff spends little time on climate change but here it is, pages 180-1. • Not surprisingly, the carbon footprint of the rich, like USA, approaches 20 tons per capita per year. Poor countries emit perhaps one ton per capita per year, but may be growing fast. • This disparity can become a huge dilemma in forging an international consensus on climate change. More later in EEE.

46. Per capita carbon footprints: Source: Choice: The People’s Watchdog

47. Carbon emissions is not linked strongly to happiness. Source: Treehugger (2009 data)

48. Disposal Stuff, aka commodities, loses value as soon as it leaves the store. Economists call this depreciation. That is, it loses value.

49. So, what is waste? “Waste is defined by where something is, not what it is. It’s about context, not content.” Waste is a “resource in the wrong place. ‘Waste’ is a verb, not a noun” (183).

50. Waste management is Big Business. The waste management industry is over $50 billion per year. There are four main types of waste: • Industrial waste • Municipal waste • Construction and demolition waste. • Special waste from mining and from processing fuels and metals.