The Materials Cycle

Professor Wayne Hayes V. 0.4, Build #5 | 10/11/2012

From Production through Disposal

We have already Introduced The Story of Stuff, explaining Extraction.

Here, we briefly highlight Production, Distribution, Consumption Disposal, and Conclude.

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.

Keep in mind method 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.

The Story of Stuff directs attention to familiar products.

• • • • • Cotton Books Computers Aluminum cans PVC plastic.

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.

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?

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.

Stupid stuff?

Annie highlights two industries that should be curtailed. You know both.

1. Aluminum cans 2. PVC plastic, especially in schools .

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 !

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?

SoS wants to promote a better production cycle.

Source: Clean Production Action

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.

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 Port Arthur, Texas .

explains many case studies of folks and civil society organizations that are responding to such situations, such as Hilton Kelley of

There are laws.

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

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.

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).

Start upstream with better 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.

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.

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.

From typical supply chains . . .

Source: Connect Group

. . . to a sustainable supply chain.

Source: ICT4Green by Donato Toppeto

Look to green lean supply chains.

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

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.

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.

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.

Bretton Woods

The story begins at Bretton Woods as an arrangement among nation-states under the auspices of the United Nations: 1. to provide order to the international economy 2. to promote post-World War II economic growth 3. to forestall relapse into a global economic depression similar to the 1930s.

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.

The Bretton Woods set up three institutions to promote world trade.

1. The International Monetary Fund, or IMF 2. The World Bank 3. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which led to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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 .)

SoS promotes local economic development.

This topic, too, gets much attention later in the course. For now: 1. Look at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies .

2. Peek at my notes Economy.

around Bill McKibben, Deep

Consumption

is the heart of SoS.

This vital chapter is not about consumption alone, but really raises questions about 1. The culture of consumerism 2. The effects of overconsumption.

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.

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?

Does consumerism = materialism?

Is it anti-community?

Annie suspects that the cause of our discontent is found in two basic errors: 1. Community has been diminished by the privatization of our lives.

2. Materialism dominates our culture and our thinking (our paradigm).

Partially true? What do you think?

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 .

SoS points to the Steady State.

the The remedy appears so simple: Relax and enjoy leisure. This solution to growth was the original solution proposed by the first economist to contemplate steady state (see especially section IV.6.9).

John Stuart Mill in 1857 advocated ethics and leisure as the successor to our anachronistic pioneer economic period.

Imagine the Steady State.

Can

smaller footprint = higher quality of life

?

This may be the key to economy alchemy.

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.

! ?

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.

SoS promotes awareness.

Beware of two “tricks of the trade”: 1. Planned obsolescence sends consumer goods to the dump and limits the lifespan of a commodity.

2. Advertising, so pervasive, intends to persuade you to buy commodities.

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.

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.

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

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.

Per capita carbon footprints:

Source: Choice: The People’s Watchdog

Carbon emissions is not linked strongly to happiness.

Source: Treehugger (2009 data)

Disposal

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

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).

Waste management is Big Business.

The waste management industry is over $50 billion per year. There are four main types of waste: 1. Industrial waste 2. Municipal waste 3. Construction and demolition waste.

4. Special waste from mining and from processing fuels and metals.

Ray Anderson knows.

The late founder of Interface Carpeting claims that 97% of all the energy and material in manufacturing (the driver of the Anthropocene) is waste. He said: “We are operating an industrial system that is, in fact, first and foremost a waste-making machine.”

Some metrics:

SoS cites statistics: EPA claims that industry generates 7.6 billion tons of waste per year, but other sources claim 13 billion tons (185). Look at the breakdown: 1. Municipal solid waste: 2.5% 2. Demolition and construction waste: 3.5% 3. Special waste: 18% 4. Industrial waste 76%.

The hero of industrial ecology:

Source: UIC Office of Sustainability

Consider Ray Anderson.

Ray Anderson changed the paradigm of Interface Carpeting from “take-make-waste” to a cyclical closed loop of industrial ecology.

Interface Carpeting avoided $400 million in costs by diverting 74,000 tons away from landfills. See the case study, pages 187-9.

Municipal solid waste: garbage

See the statistics, pages 190-1.

Note the national comparisons. USA disposes of 4.55 pounds per person per day. For contrast, Canada is 1.79 and China is 0.70.

Almost a third of MSW is containers and packaging.

MSW goes to landfills.

1. Landfills leak.

2. Landfills are always toxic.

3. Landfills pollute the air and release methane, contributing to climate change.

4. Landfills waste resources.

Incineration and exporting waste may be even worse.

So, recycle.

About a third of trash is recycled. Good, but not enough: “Our goal should not be to recycle more but to waste less” (229). As in: “Reduce, reuse, recycle” (232).

Consider EPR and Zero Waste.

EPR is “extended producer responsibility,” meaning the manufacturer assumes responsibility of return.

Zero Waste takes a whole systems approach, designing waste out of the system. See the dandy list on page 235.

The Story of Stuff concludes:

“I understood waste was connected to everything else in our world. Unraveling the story of waste is what led me to The Story of Stuff” (236).

Epilogue

• • • • Shrink the growth-driven paradigm of economic progress. Focus on the quality of life not the quantity of stuff. Some advice: Share, aka, reciprocate. Build communities. Preserve the commons. Discourage commodification of nature.

Listen to sustainable business guru Paul Hawken.

Watch his video from Bioneers .

Shift paradigms.

1. Redefine progress beyond GDP to, for example, the Happy Progress Index . See the chart on page 243.

2. Say no to war.

3. Internalize externalities.

4. Value time over stuff.

Build a new world vision.

• • • • • Tax Bads: carbon, waste, pollution, if not consumption itself.

Ban toxins.

Substitute maintenance, repair, disassembly for more production. This creates useful work.

Build local economies.

Slow down. Appreciate.

Systems will change.

“System change is inevitable” (250). Not if but how. She remarks about Wales: “Nothing bad will happen.” And she thinks of her daughter.

The End

“. . . then let’s get to it.”