Overconsumption: Engineering Conscientiously

With the most recent set of readings, (1, 2, 3), we have been presented with the problem of overconsumption.  Things that contribute to the issue of overconsumption are things like wasted food, or excess chemicals from producing a product.  These waste products end up polluting our ecosystem.  Waste is so embedded in our culture as a society that, as consumers, we do not even see just how crucial creating tremendous amounts of waste is to our daily lives.  Behind the scenes, we create some 32 times the weight of an average product in waste.  That is, to obtain a one pound product, 32 pounds are expended and sent to landfills in order to facilitate fulfilling that need and getting that product to the consumer.  Many of these wastes are due to the use of engineering processes that are not socially and environmentally responsible.  To tackle the source of the problem, Woodhouse proposes reforms to education and even mentions RPI's very own STS program in the process.  His changes have a proposed goal of teaching more Engineers to be more conscious of the environmental impact of their field and teaching them the best practices for reducing waste and creating a better product or better process to waste less.  This is a great place to start, and now I'll be suggesting yet another reform, this time outside of education.  With a standards system for what companies can actually claim for their products, we could produce an ecosystem of environmental certification that actually requires manufacturers to cut down on waste to achieve the certification.  This, paired with a reason for companies to desire it, can create a positive change toward less waste.

Consumers do care, to some extent, to be more environmentally friendly.  If they have the ability to buy a product that is more environmentally friendly, and there were some proof, it would sway many buyers in that products direction.  This creates a labeling system that we know all to well today where products label themselves as "environmentally conscious" or something along those lines and slap a nice sticker on their product that they can justify one way or another.  If there were a standard for what you can say about your product environmentally speaking then these labels could be done away with and replaced only where actually applicable.  Standardizing these claims with heavy requirements and large-enough benefits will help facilitate an effort from corporations to create a product that actually is environmentally friendly, not just a product that claims to be.

If companies want these products to seem environmentally savvy with a nice certification of environmental consciousness then they have to work for it.  The requirements would be determined by experts who can put a specific allowance of waste in the manufacturing process of the product and say exactly what is and what is not allowed to take place in the process.  This also allows them to disallow harmful chemicals on top of regulating how much waste is produced.  These sorts of requirements would ask a lot of the makers of a product, but in return would provide benefits like a standard consumer symbol that works such that consumers can make a quick decision to buy a product that is doing the right thing simply by seeing the logo and picking that one instead.  If a company wants that over its competitors, they have got to play ball.  If they do not, others can and will and they will be left as the bad apple.  This could create a tool for consumers to use where they do not have to think or research, simply look for the logo and make the decision.  Other benefits could include tax incentives or subsidies for the certification.

As Raptitute.com said in its fantastic article, "Your Lifestyle is Being Designed," the eight hour work day takes all the time consumers have our of their day and although we could do without many of the luxuries we decide to purchase every day, there are many products we must buy to go about our daily lives (which some can and should argue can also be fundamentally changed) and with these products there is not always time for a consumer to make an educated decision between work and trying to make the most of the time that's left over.  This gives them a tool to make an informed decision at a glance without having to ask questions.  There is nothing stopping a socially conscious standard as well for knowing whether human rights were sacrificed in the making of a product.  The important part is that it be extremely stringent and make sure that the companies are working for the certification.  It is also important that over time these requirements get stricter and stricter to move us towards a better less wasteful culture.