Ethics and Environment

Ethics and Environment

1. Sustainable Design

   • No permanent damage to environment
     • This depends on:
       • The materials that are used
         • Renewable/non-renewable
         • Recyclable or Biogderadable
       • The process
         • does the process needs lots of ENERGY
         • does it create waste & pollution?
   • Not using up finite resources

2. Some products aren't designed to last

   • Some products are designed to become 'Obsolete' (Useless quickly) e.g Razor blades
   • Designs that go out of fashion easy (Mobile Phones) become obsolete.
   • Obsolescence is bad
     • More material & energy are used to make replacements
   • Some can LAST
     • Make the product durable
       • Design parts that can be maintained, repaired and replaced

3. Carbon Footprint

   • What is it?
     • It is the amount of greenhouse gases that are released when making or using a product.
       • All products have a carbon footprint
   • Why?
     • Carbon dioxide is released when products are made, transported and used.
   • The more energy needed = the bigger carbon footprint
   • Product Miles - is the distance the product has travelled from where it was made to where it is used

4. The 6 R's

   • Repair
     • its better to fix things instead of throwing them away
       • This way it is better for the environment
   • Reuse
     • It can extend a products life
     • The product can be made into other things, for example a car tyre can be made into a swing
   • Recycle
     • Recycling uses less energy then making new materials
     • Recycling is when you extract a material from a product.
   • Rethink
     • You should think about your design carefully and all of the different possibilities
     • For example a radio that you wind up instead of using batteries
   • Reduce
     • We should buy longer lasting products for example, rechargeable batteries.
       • This would then reduce the amount of energy we use making the products
   • Refuse
     • You can easily refuse a product if you think it is wasteful, for example if you think it is not durable enough and is going to be a waste of money you can refuse it.