Essay 2

How stuff works

 

Introduction:

Annie Leonard is the person who made the Story of Stuff (2007). It is a short animated documentary that Annie Leonard talks about the true five stages which they are extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal that most products go through.

Extraction:

"Extraction means taking the planet’s resources- wood, minerals, coal, fossil fuel, water, plants, animals, and soil out of the earth and starting their journey through the materials economy"(2007). Extraction can have bad effects on the environment, one example is that the earth works in a way that it could renew its natural sources at a certain time but the problem is that people in that field consuming and trashing more than the earth can renew .on top of that the process of extraction causes destroying of forests , climate change and creating pollution .one of  the health problems caused by extraction is it increased the percentage of some diseases like asthma, respiratory and other ailments.

 Production:

Production is "the processes and methods used to transform tangible inputs (raw materials, semi-finished goods, subassemblies) and intangible inputs (ideas, information, knowledge) into goods or services"(What is production? definition and meaning, 2013). To produce goods to sell to consumer there are factors which they are labor, funds and raw materials. In this process they add poisoned chemical to the earth's natural resources to create poisoned products. Most people who catch poisons are the factory workers. Protecting people in the workplace is a basic job of companies but workers are still getting poison by consumer goods. Companies move their factories overseas to places where workers have fewer rights and fewer earnings, in a place where public cannot access to get information about the companies work.

Distribution:

Distribution "is about how a business gets its products to the customers"(Riley, J.2012).Transporting and selling all goods quickly and inexpensively are part of distribution. "The objective of distribution is clear. It is: To make products available in the right place at the right time in the right quantities"(Riley, J.2012). Distributing causes environmental problems such as transporting all goods from the factory to shopping malls and stores can lead to road traffics which it will increase greenhouse gases that will harm the planet. Distribution has a bad health impact on workers in the company and the costumers. The bad health effect on the workers, who get a low payment to cover their health care, is it increases their stress. When it comes to consumers instead of walking to local community they stress their selves by driving to malls.

 Consumption:

The percentage of consumption nowadays is not reasonable and not equal so it needs to be changed. "Products that no-one in their right mind could truly justify as necessary, adorn every shelf and showroom, enticing towards wasteful and thoughtless consumption. Regrettably, this is considered part of the acceptable goal of 'economic growth"(Consumerism and Over-consumption. 2013). Consumption has bad effects on people physical and mental health. In the recent years the typical of workers is working additional hours which it leads to more consumption, watching TV for hours and spending money on buying products. The most dangerous act of consumption is trashing the planet and the neighborhood.

Disposal:

Disposal is "the act or means of getting rid of something"(disposal - definition of disposal by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. 2013). All the products those no longer are useable or they are waste their going to disposed by burning them or dumping them or their going to recycle. Recycling would not be a good idea if the products had a high percentage of toxic. Waste would pollute the air, water and land if they have been burned or dumped. Disposal has bad health effect on all creatures, the air could contain toxics which it would poison the animals or plants which it would effects on the humans who going to eat them.

 Consumerism in the UAE:

One of the main causes of the financial problems in the UAE families and residents is consumerism. The percentage of consumerism is high because the majority of families have a high earning Because of the way of consumerism people in the UAE are stressful and feeling terrible about the challenges of daily life. The most important cause of high consumerism in the UAE is marketing companies they trig people to spend their money to buy products. "Too much consumerism is harmful to individuals, to societies-at-large and, as we can see now, to the entire global community"(Bruce, D.2009).To decrease the percentage of consumerism in the UAE the government should use it sources to protect people from getting in this problem too much consumerism.

Conclusion:

There are five stages that most products go through them "The stages of the cycle are extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal" (Kim, B.2011). In extraction they use the planet's resources. In production they change the planet's resources into products those can be use. In distribution they transport the products to stores to sell them. People consume more than they need. All products that not useable they going to disposing. Consumerism in the UAE causes an enormous financial problem which it can be solved by the government

 

Words Count: 849

 

References

Bruce, D. (2009, February 27). A Word a Day (in the UAE): Consumerism. A Word a Day (in the UAE). Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://word-a-day-uae.blogspot.ae/2009/02/consumerism.html

Consumerism and Over-consumption. (2013, January 1). | QSEP: Quraan Sunnah Educational Programs. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://qsep.com/modules.php?name=assunnah&d_op=viewarticle&aid=40

Disposal - definition of disposal by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.. (2013, January 1). Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disposal

Kim, B. (2011, August 2). Boram's life. Boram's life. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://84kimboram.blogspot.ae/

Learn « The Story of Stuff Project. (2013, January 1). The Story of Stuff Project. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-stuff/learn/

Production of Goods. (2013, January 1). Lit & Homework Help | Cliffs Notes. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/economics/theory-of-the-firm/production-of-goods

Riley, J. (2012, September 23). Distribution (Place). tutor2u | Economics | Business Studies | Politics | Sociology | History | Law | Marketing | Accounting | Business Strategy. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_distribution.htm

The Story of Stuff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2013, April 25). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Stuff

Vadayar, M. (2012, October 9). gulftoday.ae | Consumerism ‘root cause of economic woes ‘Latest news, comments and reviews from The Gulf Today | gulftoday.ae. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://gulftoday.ae/portal/4364688e-fc56-4cfa-a502-746f192c3c50.aspx

What is production? Definition and meaning. (2013, January 1). BusinessDictionary.com - Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/production.html

 

 

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