Extraction & Production
Distribution
Consumption
Disposal
Solutions
100
Valuable rocks that often cause war, terrible working conditions, and destruction of indigenous populations and landscapes.
What are conflict minerals?
100
The paths by which our products get to us.
What are supply chains?
100
Not just buying but buying too much.
What is overconsumption?
100
"Resources in the wrong place."
What is waste?
100
A change in our dominant set of assumptions, values, and ideas. What Leonard’s book is ultimately asking for.
What is a paradigm shift?
200
Social movement to make sure racial/social minorities do not bear all of the burden of toxic industry (pollution, incinerators in their neighborhoods, etc.) for the rest of us.
What is environmental justice?
200
The most expensive and environmentally-harmful way of transporting goods per transport-mile.
What is airplane transportation?
200
A strategy whereby items are designed to break; then repair costs too much; thus, you are forced to buy another of the same item.
What is planned obsolescence?
200
The label given to the garbage that comes out of our houses and businesses.
What is municipal solid waste?
200
The main way for individuals to contributing to the production (etc.) of lots of new stuff.
What is just using your old stuff for longer?!
300
The point at which we have used more oil than is left in the ground.
What is peak oil?
300
Name for people who don't eat imported food to avoid the problems associated with food transportation and to support nearby farmers and producers.
What are locavores?
300
When we compare ourselves and our lifestyles to those of celebrities.
What is "vertical expansion of our reference group"?
300
Placing food and lawn scraps in a place where they can decompose and then be re-used as fertilizer.
What is composting?
300
System that would make companies responsible for all of the waste related to their products.
What is extended producer liability?
400
An inventory of harmful (and often synthetic) chemicals you carry within you.
What is body burden?
400
Category that includes the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization, which some say do not prioritize sustainable economies enough.
What are International Financial Institutions (IFIs)?
400
One year of the average American’s life.
What is the amount of time we spend watching advertisements?
400
Potentially toxic gunk that leaks out of landfills.
What is leachate?
400
A database (and app) that gives you current data on the environmental, social, and health impacts of individual products. (And thus would be a good resource for Assignment 3.)
What is the Good Guide?
500
Procedure by which businesses do not account for all of their costs because they don’t have to pay for harm to environment, human health, dependence on social services, etc.
What is externalizing costs?
500
When manufacturers cut production costs, including more efficient processes, but also often including avoiding environmental safety, outsourcing, externalizing costs, and moving workers to part-time or short-term contracts to avoid paying for benefits like healthcare (or "casualizing" labor).
What is lean manufacturing?
500
Turning things that were once activities of the public, friends, and neighbors into stuff one has to purchase.
What is commodification?
500
The disposal type that do the best job of dispersing the pollutants and supertoxins, as well as often most violate the principles of environmental justice.
What are incinerators?
500
Durability, reparability, recyclability, adaptability.
What are "front-end" design solutions?
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