Week+4

Annie Leonard suggests that we buy alot of stuff and all of it goes through three stages: extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal known as //the materials economy//. Through years of study, Leonard concludes this system is a crisis particularly because it is a linear system. As in, the materials economy is not in a cycle where stuff is reused, once the product reaches the end of the three stages, they are useless. Ultimately, this will lead to the depletion of resources because we do not have infinite resources on our planet. The first step is extraction, the implications with this is "we're running out of resources". Next is production where we turn the resources into "stuff" that people will buy. The problem with production is what we use to produce our stuff. The problem with production is we mix toxic chemicals with the natrual resources gathered from the extraction stage to produce the final product which is essentially toxic contaminated.Leonard describes distribution as “selling all this toxic contaminated junk as quickly as possible.” The goal of distribution is to keep the cost down and move and sell the products as soon as possible. Consumption is the backbone of the materials economy, it drives this entire process, it is the reason why there is such a process. At the end of the product's life cycle, we arrive at disposal where we need to get rid of the product as we no longer need nor have use for it.
 * Write three paragraphs on how Annie Leonard defines the system of the 'materials economy' and describes its interactions.**

Extraction** is when we gather the resources to begin the process of creating a product. A main issue with extraction is we are running out of resources to harvest.
 * Define extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. (One paragraph for each term)
 * Production** is when we turn the resources gathered from the extraction stage into "stuff" or products for consumers to buy.
 * Distribution** is bringing the products to the consumers. It involves sending it out as quickly as possible and keeping costs down.
 * Consumption** is the main reason why we have such a process. Products are only made as we consume them or we show a need or want for them. Production relies on consumption to determine how much, what we need and how quickly items should be produced.
 * Disposal** is getting rid of the items. When we dispose of the products, they are often not recycled and therefore explaining the crisis involved with the materials economy.

In her flash presentation, she places emphasis on the word STUFF. This effectively symbolizes that we have a lot of stuff by making it stand out and how she chose to design the word. The images used in the flash effectively indicates the key problems, we have too much stuff therefore creating too much junk. This clearly shows her main point making it apparent to readers and viewers.
 * How does her Flash presentation effectively organize the categories comprising 'the materials economy' in its interface design? (2 paragraphs)**