Story of Stuff 

 

Introduction :-

Materials used to be rare and valuable to people because they cannot live without the basics and their favorite goods. Something that most of people don’t realize, however, is that the production and disposal of their goods can affect the world’s harmony. In ( Story of Stuff,2007)  has conducted research about the stuff that the people have, buy and throw away in the US and the disadvantages of this process and found some solutions of how we can solve the problem of waste. This draws the public’s attention to realizing what we are doing to our environment.

Extraction :-

Extraction it’s “a fancy word for natural resources exportation and torching the planet” (Story of Stuff, 2007). The main reason for the planet’s destruction is that we have too much unused and unwanted chattels leading to a 1/3 of the natural resource areas to be consumed .So if we kept corrupting our planet in this way no one can live here anymore and the people who don’t own or buy a lot of goods appear as if they don’t have a real value. Moreover, we lose almost about 2,000 trees a minute by cutting them down and torching them for fuel or to clear space. We must preserve the environment from this destruction or all animal and humans and the plants that live in these areas will be extinguished.

Production :-

There are many products which are globally used by people like coffee, fashion items and cosmetics. As long as there are people to buy these products production will not stop. The percentage of purchases that the people use of these products can be less than 1% and 99% are eventually trashed after a brief cycle. There are many countries that lead in industrial production and they are called the G8 or the Great Eight. The G8 GDP IS 42.5% currently of the global economy.

“The Group of Eight (G8) refers to the group of eight highly industrialized nations--France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, United States, Canada, and Russia--which hold a yearly meeting, the G8 Summit” (Lee, 2009).

 The industrial production system creates environmental problems such as climate change, waste disposal issues and toxic pollution.

Distribution :-

Distribution is in charge of transporting and selling the commodities fast and cheaply. Transportation is a very convenient and low-priced as the networks are set up and there is no route that has not been exploited. The business world is on an ongoing cycle, and to keep the market going, products must reach the consumer as soon as possible and in the most convenient way to keep prices down. This in turn encourages people buy and keep the materials moving and this is the backbone of world trade and widespread distribution of products.

 

Consumption :-

There are many problems in the new world order and one of the biggest problems is the pattern of consumption as humans are responsible for their own level of suffering. Governments and other related agencies in the world are trying to make people buy more and to never stop spending money an unnecessary items to boast the economy. Technology is constantly developing new product ranges with new options. One of the main reasons that help increase consumption is that the media constantly run different types of advertisements to fuel people’s dissatisfaction levels and refocus attention to trivial material spending rather than other values.   

“The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects.” (Shah, 2011)

Disposal :-

Disposal means the process of getting rid of unwanted items that we use in and the sheer scale of the problem is causing extreme pressure on the environment. These days, it is very a different issue from the past due to the evolution of technology and trading and the toxic chemical substance used in industries. The volume has been increased so much that resources are limited. The oceans are affected and the sea levels have risen due to the accelerated pace of climate change. Therefore, recycling has to be extended and people need to reduce their ecological footprint, and still have a good life-style.

“Almost 208 million tons of solid waste each year is generated” (Soto, 2010)

Consumerism in the UAE-  3 recycling concepts :-

The UAE has undertaken some initiatives to keep their waste disposal issues under control. One of these is the Al Owais Plastic Recycle FZE project, which offers three plants in Sharjah, Al Ain and RAK to produce new product from waste plastic. This is particularly helpful as plastic does not degrade naturally and it toxic when burned. They produce around 12000 tons of products annually to those clients who bring in the waste materials and service the government sector.

In addition, Dubai municipality has a plant at Al Aweer, run by the Tadweer Company that deals with mixed waste and there are plans to expand this facility.

There is also another venue in Sharjah run by Bee’ah that recycles old glasses, DVDS’s tyres and even hair from salons to make into mats.

Education seen as key to this project as Abu Dhabi is behind other emirates in the recycling stakes. There is a collection depot at Spinney’s but it is said that the materials are not recycled from there in reality as it is an appeasement policy only for environmentally aware citizens.

Conclusion :-

Therefore, it is possible to sat that an overall rationalization of waste disposal globally will help stop raping off our natural resources from our world .However, this is unlikely to happen automatically and governments must act together with concerned citizens to help preserve resources and by save the environment. International protocols have to be enforced but this takes a political will that is present mostly in Europe and other developed regions at present.  

 Word Count :968

References

Al Owais. (n.d.). Al Owais. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://www.alowaisplasticrecycling.com/profile.asp

Chubb, L. (2010, May 31). Recycling in the UAE. Community . Retrieved February 3, 2012, from www.timeoutabudhabi.com/community/features/16112-recycling-in-the-uae

Delacote, P., & Huck, M. (2011, October 20). Political consumerism and public policy: Good complements against market failures?. Consumerism. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from 0-web.ebscohost.com.library.hct.ac.ae/ehost/detail?vid=

Distribution (business) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2012, April 3). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(business)

G8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2012, April 28). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8

Lee, S., & Silver, A. (2012, April 30). The Group of Eight (G8) Industrialized Nations. COUNCIL ON FORGIGN RELATIONS. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from www.cfr.org/global-governance/group-eight-g8-industrialized-nations/p10647

Mohammed, D. (2011, December 4). Development of joint maintenance and production strategies in a subcontracting environment.. Production. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from 0-web.ebscohost.com.library.hct.ac.ae/ehost/detail? Shah, A. (2011, March 6). Consumption and Consumerism — Global Issues. Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all — Global Issues. Retrieved May 17, 2012, from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

Soto, R. (n.d.). WASTE DISPOSAL. GREEN TAGS ENVIRONMENTAL GUARDIANS. Retrieved May 17, 2012, from greentags.webs.com/apps/blog/show/4675210-waste-disposal

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health--and a Vision for Change. (2010, January 25). GALE STUDENT RESOURCES IN CONTEXT. Retrieved May 2, 2012, from 0-ic.galegroup.com.library.hct.ac.ae/ic/suic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?

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