investigate some of the stuff in your own life
After reading the book, Stuff, it’s time to investigate some of the stuff in your own life.
Choose any manufactured product, appliance or gadget – preferably something that you own or interact with. Then trace its “wake,” using Stuff as your model – with one difference: your primary focus is on the environmental impact of the item you’ve chosen.

(a) at least three sources, from differing perspectives,
(b) What is the “life-cycle” of this product?(Extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal.)
(c) What are the environmental/social consequences of this process?
(d) How could this need be met more sustainably? In response to climate change, how might the life-cycle of this product be modified to make it more energy-efficient?
(e)Does a similar product by a different manufacturer function more sustainably? Is there an alternative method of addressing the same need? (Example: instead of bottled water, a filter.)

investigate some of the stuff in your own life
After reading the book, Stuff, it’s time to investigate some of the stuff in your own life.
Choose any manufactured product, appliance or gadget – preferably something that you own or interact with. Then trace its “wake,” using Stuff as your model – with one difference: your primary focus is on the environmental impact of the item you’ve chosen.

(a) at least three sources, from differing perspectives,
(b) What is the “life-cycle” of this product?(Extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal.)
(c) What are the environmental/social consequences of this process?
(d) How could this need be met more sustainably? In response to climate change, how might the life-cycle of this product be modified to make it more energy-efficient?
(e)Does a similar product by a different manufacturer function more sustainably? Is there an alternative method of addressing the same need? (Example: instead of bottled water, a filter.)