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=Throwaway Society: = =The Not-So-Secret Life of the Plastic Water Bottle =

We are all consumers. We buy dozens and dozens of products every year - from iPods to automobiles to new jeans. All products run through our Materials Economy, moving from extraction, to production, to distribution and finally to disposal. As we have learned, 99% of the stuff we buy is chucked into the trash can within six months!

One of the biggest travesties of our time is society's indiscriminate use of plastics, in particular, the plastic water bottle. Destined for "one-way use", from extraction to disposal, people in the USA alone dispose of about 2.5 million plastic water bottles per hour! Why do we continue on this path? Some people would argue we do it because it's the only way to distribute clean drinking water, do you agree?

Let's explore the not-so-secret life of the ubiquitous plastic water bottle. You will play the roll of a fact-finder for the Department of Health and Social Welfare in your very own country called The Republic of Mbantu. Very African, very wise. You will attempt to report the facts of the manufacturing of plastic water bottles at the various stages of the Materials Cycle, and then make recommendations to your government. Should your country continue the proliferation of plastic bottles or pick another route? Read the letter below to further understand your mission...

= =

**//Dear Sir / Madam, //**
//As a member of the team at the Department of Health and Social Welfare with the Peoples Republic of Mbantu, you have been charged to uncover the facts! Your government has some concerns over the proliferation of plastic water bottles and needs your advice: what is the reality of creating and disposing of so many plastic water bottles? Your department has been organized into a task force to do the following: //
 * 1) //Research and present facts about the life cycle of a plastic bottle through each stage of the Materials Cycle //
 * 2) //Write a recommendation to the government on what to do about plastic proliferation each stage of the Materials Cycle //
 * 3) //Work as a department and settle on an action you can take at the Department of Health and Social Welfare Headquarters //

**//Part I: Fact Finding and Presentation //**
//Your job is to research and to find out whether to scale up the production of plastic water bottles to provide your growing number of citizens with clean water, or to come up with alternative solutions to using plastic. Your team must come up with salient facts about extraction, distribution, and disposal of plastic bottles in today's world - and to look for alternatives. //

=The big question to ask yourself is: "What impact does a throwaway society have on the health and social welfare of our people and their environment?" =

//One or two people from the team will be assigned to research and present on ONE of the following stages of the Materials Cycle: extraction, production, distribution or disposal. Another member or two of the team will need to look at alternative solutions. //
 * //Extraction-offshore oil drilling //
 * //Extraction-oil wells on land //
 * //Production-issues involved in production //
 * //<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Distribution-issues involved in distribution //
 * //<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Disposal-landfills and incineration //
 * //<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Disposal-rivers and oceans //
 * //<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Disposal-recycling //
 * //<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Plastic Alternative-biodegradable materials //

//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Everyone's mission will be to come up with multiple facts about plastic bottles at the various stages of the Materials Cycle and present this to the rest of the team. People can present their information with the technology tool of their choice. The presentations should be contain amazing facts, be lively and give people visual images. People can use video to support their case, but most of their presentation should be an original piece of work. //

//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">One problem: you have very little time! Your government needs your information quickly! You have 160 - 200 minutes to research and put it all together! Work quickly, work efficiently, and dazzle your audience. After the presentations, people will copy their findings to the appropriate page in this Wiki. //

**//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Part II: Written Recommendation to the Government //**
//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">After the above information is presented to the team, each individual will write a recommendation to the government. The recommendation will advise the government on the bad and good points of plastic bottle proliferation at the stage of the cycle in which they conducted their research. //

**//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Part III: Take Action //**
//<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">To finish the job, the entire Department of Health and Social Welfare team will need to settle on an action that will be taken here in their headquarters as to be a model for "best practice." //