Lab+4+Che+ming+Chang

'The Story of Stuff' with Annie Leonard at http://www.storyofstuff.com/ index.html is a cultural and educational phenomenon, and has had over 5 million viewers.

Download her annotated script version of 'The Story of Stuff' from http://www.storyofstuff.org/ downloads.php and read it carefully.

Write three paragraphs on how Annie Leonard defines the system of the 'materials economy' and describes its interactions.

In Annie Leonard "material economy", there are five stages that Leonard describes, extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. According to Leonard, the world's natural resources are being depleted day bay day through extraction. There is only a limited amount of resources available but they are continually being extracted. 1/3 of the world's natural resources are already gone, and the extraction rate is increasing faster than ever.

The second stage of the material economy is the production stage where toxic chemicals are being mixed with natural resources to create hazardous products. A lot of our food now contains toxic chemicals, and a lot of us now have all sort of toxic chemicals in our body. The third stage of the material economy is the distribution stage where toxic products are being sold to supermarkets or superstores around the world as fast as possible so people can have low prices, while the one making the products and the cashier selling the product are getting underpaid.

The fourth stage of the material economy is consumption, this is the stage where consumers consumes products. The fifth stage is disposal where the individual have purchased too much products, they have to throw it away, and it creates more waste to the world. According to Leonard, U.S.A. population is 5% of the world's population, but they have 30% of the world's waste.

Define extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. (One paragraph for each term)

Extraction- Extraction is the exploitation of natural resources around the world. Humans have aggressively exploit more natural resources than ever, and at the rate we are consuming, the world's natural resources is all going to be gone.

Production- Production is the production of products, toxic chemicals are mixed with resources to produce harmful products. This not only harms our health and also harms our environment.

Distribution- Selling contaminated products to the outside world and distributing to the superstores.

Consumption- the consumption of products, and the buying of product repeatedly.

Disposal- Throwing away the products, and create massive waste in the world.

How does her Flash presentation effectively organize the categories comprising 'the materials economy' in its interface design? (2 paragraphs)

If you would like to read the article upon which 'The Story of Stuff ' is excerpted from, read the “Economies for Life” by David Korten in YES!Magazine, Living Economies Issue. Fall 2002 at http://peoplenotprofit.org/ livingeconomies.htm