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Story of Stuff

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For this assignment, I had to choose one of the story of stuff videos and create a better world by thinking of ideas that should be used to counter the issues on the environment emitted from the electronics industry. These videos are to inform us about the truth behind certain things such as electronics, cosmetics and water bottles. They are videos telling us about what the industry are actually doing to the environment and to us. I choose the story of electronics.

To make a better world, the electronics industry must improve in four areas, nature, well being, economy and society. To improve the nature area, the electronics industry should stop using harmful chemicals in their products. Computers are usually filled with harmful chemicals which Apple was able to remove them from their macs. This would produce fewer emissions when manufacturing the computers. The companies should also stop sending the unused PC all the way to China to be recycled since the parts are just being burnt leaving the valuable parts and by shipping them to China causes more emissions. They should send the unused computers to a local recycle facility. The electronics industry should also look for smaller designs which will look more attractive and uses less materials. This would help with nature.

For economy, if the electronics industry decides to make smaller designs of their products, which uses less resources resulting in less money invested to manufacture the product and it can be retailed at a lower price or even the same price as the fat versions. This would help the environment and make the consumers satisfied with the looks of the product. When looking at wellbeing. Companies are too hungry for profit. They do what we call “externalizing costs”. This means that the companies does not spend money to improve the manufacturing facilities so that it is safe for their workers. Instead, they just let the people risk their health working for them. The chemicals will give the workers serious health problems and there are ALOT of workers out there.

Now, for the final factor, society. Companies design things which are “for the dump”. Old gadgets are heavy to upgrade and all of the chargers are made individually for that certain model. And I’ve noticed that notebook PCs easily fall apart! So, if you want a new gadget, you must purchase a brand new gadget and dump the previous one. This affects the society because, by buying more, you are saying you want more to the companies. So they manufacture more of the products which results in health risks for the workers. The wastes are emitted on the community so the people there could also gain health risks. By recycling, irresponsible companies send your gadgets to China where workers in NORMAL clothes smashes your gadgets and takes out the valuable parts, and burning the rest. This pollutes the whole community.

If the electronics industry decides to make some changes and since many factors are linked to each other. Making one change could improve the world on all four factors: Nature, Wellbeing, Economy and Society.

Click here to view the embedded video.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW APPLE CONTRIBUTES TO THE ENVIRONMENT. This is a very good example for other companies to follow.


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