5.1: Take Apart Activity

Exercise: Take Apart

For this activity, you will "take apart" something, literally and/or figuratively--a coffeemaker, a pen, sunglasses and/or coffee, sugar, chocolate, AI, etc.--to research mining, manufacturing, and consumption in the context of what we study in this class. This exercise will enable you to apply what we have studied this semester, reflect on the implications of the product, offer solutions, and present to the class.

For this assignment, the objectives are as follow:

Objectives for this assignment:

· To investigate the global environmental impact of a common item

· To evaluate scientific sources to analyze and critique the integrity of the information presented, realize how information/misinformation is distributed, research greenwashing vs. legitimate sustainable practices, address issues of slow violence, and articulate the contributions of how technology affects information exchange

· To develop a project involving writing, data collection, data analysis, data reporting and proposal presentation to demonstrate knowledge of how the scientific community functions using established methods

The trailer below highlights some of the consumption issues that get at what you have studied and what this exercise is about.

Please take a few minutes to watch it.

Each group will research the questions below, working with credible sources through the library, and each student will then individually write an essay analyzing what you have found in light of environmental justice and sustainability issues we have discussed in class. You will have some class time to work but will often have to finish the research and writing outside of class. Your answers to the questions below will come in as a group, but your Final Essay will be individual.

Take Apart Day 1:

a) In groups, choose an appliance or object to take apart. Document the following about the process, including photos.

• Inventory: Take an inventory of the pieces that comprise your item, including images of each. Identify the components of the product and create a parts list (Bill of Materials, BOM) for the entire product.
• Analysis of Design and Design Alternative: Perform a functional design analysis of the product. This means after identifying the parts of the product, figure out what the product does and what each part does, as best as you can. Determine how a product accomplishes its function.
• Engineers often look to improve performance, increase marketability, decrease cost, and increase assembly efficiency, among other things. For this class, we are seeking to make the item more sustainable in some way. Identify one area that could be potentially improved to achieve that.

b) Where did the materials for this item originate and what is the life cycle and costs of the material? Answer the following questions in your essay (for three materials in your item):

• For each different object, determine how the material was made. For example, if you have screws in your pile of objects, you would determine that screws are made from metal, or more specifically zinc coated iron. For this example, you would need to determine why the iron screws were coated with zinc, in addition to where the iron and zinc come from. Some of this is hard to tell, but do your best.
• Where is the material mined/processed, and what are the human and environmental impacts in that area/those nations?
• What companies are involved, and what political/social factors affect production?
• What is the lifecycle of each material – starting with the raw material and ending with its disposal or reuse? Outline the process (for example, what socio-political issues and environmental justice issues surround mining the product, transporting it, and recycling or disposing of it?).

Take Apart Day 2: What scientific advancements have been made with or because of the materials used in this item and how is each scientific advancement related to environmental issues?

Begin by referring back to earlier, when your group was discussing essential and non-essential uses of each material/item., and answer the following questions in your essay (for each material):

• What major scientific advancements (e.g. polymerization or invention of steel) needed to happen to make this part of your item a reality?
• Why did these advancements happened (e.g. give the context to the advancement)? For example, steel could have been invented when people were trying to make more durable weaponry. The uses of steel were not only in weaponry, but methods of transportation, roadways, railways, appliances, and buildings, particularly after the 17^th century.
• How does your material link to technology--both in the US and globally? The example of steel would be expanded upon in this manner by discussing how steel used in railways allowed for faster travel of people and things--allowing communication and item building to quicken. You could then go on and discuss how faster travel helped technology in trains and eventually airplanes. More travel requires more sophisticated communication systems (e.g. at the airport or at rail stations), again feeding into the technology that has benefited from the invention of steel.
• What two countries have either benefited most or suffered most with regards to the scientific advancements related the part?

Take Apart Day 3: What consumer concerns have you revealed in your research?

By this point in this assignment, your group will be familiar with the material, function, and related scientific advancements that occurred for your part to be fabricated or as a result of your part’s fabrication. Answer the following questions in your essay (for five materials in your item):

• What consumer concerns, both locally, nationally, and even internationally, have you revealed in your research?
• What were you aware of before starting this project and what are you aware of now?
• Do any of the new items you are now aware of concern you? Why or why not?
• Are there any groups, national or international, that are concerned with the materials/parts you were given to research? What is their argument? Do you support it?
• List the two major recent consumer concerns for each part. Provide data to support each concern.

Take Apart Essay

For this individually written 3-4 page essay, you will summarize your Take Apart research and focus on a specific portion of the research to analyze more in depth in terms of environmental justice. For instance, you could focus on the amount of transport your item required from mining through manufacturing or you could focus on how the product could be designed more sustainably.

Please cite credible sources and integrate with our course’s readings, activities, and lectures up to this point. I strongly recommend meeting with the Writing Center of your institution or with your instructor during office hours to go over a draft of your essay.

Possible topics are below:

• Why is the item essential or not? Think about if and how the technological advancements balance with the environmental or human rights costs.
• How does your research on this item connect with another text or news item from the course and what significant conclusions have you come to?
• How does informed consumerism change your approach to thinking about materials, engineering, or purchasing?
• How should we use technological innovations that you studied in the Take Apart Research and that we have looked at in class to alleviate environmental issues?
• Is it important for the general public to be informed about materials sciences, mining, the history of technological innovations and/or advancements, and engineering?
• What sustainable engineering design practices should be emphasized in future innovations?