The materials economy is a lineal system in which stuff moves through different steps; extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Despite it seems to be a well-organized system, it is in crisis because it is based on finite resources. It was originated after the Second World War and its purpose was to produce more consumers’ goods leaving aside (add adjective or expand) aspects such as healthcare, education, justice, self-transportation and sustainability.
* Extraction: exploitation of natural resources. Nowadays, the population use more global resources than they should. It is not taken into account that resources are scarce and that the indiscriminate use of them does not take into account nature´s rhythm.
Deforestation, mining, water and hunting are trashing the environment.
* Production: in this stage we use energy to combine raw materials with chemicals so as to produce all kind of stuff. Our industrial production systems use vast amounts of natural resources, water, energy and chemical compounds to churn out pollution, work and community health problems and products, many of which contain toxics known to be harmful to human health and the environment.
* Distribution: it is the sale of all the products that were made in the previous stage. Generally, that stuff is produced in the first world and in that way, as the factories are situated there, the prices are low and people consume more and more. As a result, first world countries earn more money. However, for those places not everything is nice. Not only are they losing their natural resources, but also the fresh air, employers are not well-paid and they have their health insurance whenever their bosses want. That is called externalized true cost production. (The information here is wrong, check and correct this!)
* Consumption: That stage is the hard system; the engine of prices; the top priority for both government and corporations. They make consumption our way of life; our ritual. Nowadays, we have become compulsive consumers so as to maintain the flow of materials; it is our primary identity. There are some effective strategies for consumption such as:
* Planned obsolescence: design for the dump; it means design things that can be not be useful more rapidly so as people buy again these things. However, things can not break so fast, so another strategy is:
* Perceived obsolescence: Sellers convince us that we have things that are useful, but actually these products will be not on fashion in a short period of time. They are changing constantly, so people should buy the new product so as to be on fashion and to be part of the system. Moreover, advertising and mass media in general play an
important role in the consumption of people, because they are all the time telling us that we must go shopping so as to be happy. (use language to explain the ideas mixed here!)
* Disposal: This is the part of the materials economy that we all know the most, because we are constantly tossing junk. There are many different ways of dumping the garbage like making holes on the ground, incinerating them, throwing them to the water or even exporting. Disposal has to do with consumption speed; it means that we consume so many products that we have to have to throw them away when they are not on fashion anymore. But people are polluting not only the air but also the water, the land and as a result, they are changing the climate. Moreover is important to say that synthetic chemists are controlled so as not to damage people, scientists do not know if they are dangerous when they are in contact with other chemists. In conclusion, all chemists pollute the environment. ( coherence - information does not flow)
