Made in China

How many times have you looked down at an item you just purchased and seen the three words: “Made in China”? Do you ever think about how your product got from China to your hands? Or about who made it? More often than not, as a society, we rarely think about the manufacturing of products and what happens to them before they end up in our homes. While every product is different and may come from different parts of the world, the bottom line is that a lot actually happens to the product before it reaches store shelves.

You may be wondering “why should I care what happens to these products before I get them? I pay for them, right?” Wrong. As it turns out, consumers do pay a price for the product, but they don’t really pay for the product itself, or the process before or after the consumer’s time with the product. This is what’s called an externality, which is what happens “when producing or consuming a good cause an impact on third parties not directly related to the transaction.” Even though as consumers we are not directly impacted by externalized costs, people all over the world are and we might soon be too. It is important to understand externalized costs and the impact they have on the world to prevent more damage from occurring.

An article from 2017 discusses one example of a global externality, pollution. The article claims that air pollution has been the cause of “the premature deaths of more than 750,000 people.” According to the article, “PM2.5 (particles of air pollution) resulting from goods and services produced in one part of the world then transported or used in another had caused 762,400 people to die earlier than they otherwise might.” As you can see, air pollution is so bad in certain parts of the world it can be very dangerous. In the image below, you can see an example of high air pollution as the air is filled with smog and the woman in front is wearing a mask to protect herself.  The articles also claims that PM2.5 is caused by the transportation of goods from one place to the next. So a small product made in China that was transported across the ocean to the United States creates externalities like the one described in the article. When products are produced in foreign countries, there is usually very little environmental regulation which allows for an increase in externalities such as pollution and human labor.

Air pollution isn’t the only externalized cost there is, there are plenty more. Similar to how air pollution has the potential to kill people, externalized costs can be people’s health as well. The article “E-waste Republic,” discusses the Agbogbloshie Scrapyard in Ghana and the process of how products such as televisions and computers end up in the scrapyard and what happens to them once they get there. One of the problems of throwing out all of this stuff in scrapyards, is that “Only 12.5 percent of e-waste is recycled, according to the EPA.” If more e-waste was being recycled, less of it would be ending up in scrapyards all over the world. Not only does the article detail information about what happens at the scrapyard but it also informs the reader about the people who live around the scrapyard and work their and the current status of their health. Unfortunately, the people who interact with the scrapyard have “lead in their blood; iron, lead and antimony in their urine; PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls) in breast milk; the air has been found to have iron, lead, and copper; and the soil has been found to have lead” It is a sad reality that people in other parts of the world, like Ghana, are having to pay the price for other people’s purchases. You can read more about Agbogbloshie by clicking here.

Annie Leonard discusses these ideas further in her video, the Story of Stuff. Leonard informs viewers about what happens to our “stuff” from the very beginning during extraction to the end stage of disposal. Leonard does an excellent job and uses important statistics and graphics to convey the message. Leonard tells a short personal story to discuss externalities in both the Story of Stuff and in an article she wrote about “the $4.99 radio.” In this mini story Leonard talks about how she stopped by Radio shack and found a small radio for only $4.99. Leonard wondered, “I stood in line to pay, but then started wondering: how could $4.99 cover the cost of extracting the raw materials, manufacturing the parts, assembling the radio, and getting it into my hands?” Leonard informs the reader that the materials came from all over the world and that as she soon realized, “I didn’t pay for the radio. So who did?” and goes on to discuss about externalities.

Not only does Leonard discuss this process and the overwhelming quantity of stuff that has been collected, but she draws attention to the fact that the production of some of these goods, especially to the extent they are being produced, is toxic. One of the statistics from the Story of Stuff is that, “in the U.S., industry admits to releasing over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year.” That is crazy. The first time I watched the Story of Stuff I was very overwhelmed. With consumerism and capitalism alone there are a lot of problems and not a lot being done to stop them. However, people like Annie Leonard give me hope that there might be changes soon, before it is too late. To learn more about the Story of Stuff and the other videos Annie Leonard has made, click here.

In order to slow down the environmental and societal harm occurring throughout the world as a result of capitalism and consumerism, we must stop and think about what we can do to change the future. If we refuse to stop and think about the affects our actions have on the planet and the world, we will only make matters worse. The next generation could grow up with toxic levels of lead and PCB’s in their body, that are only made worse by the iron, lead, and copper that exists in the air. I challenge you to think about externalities and the story of stuff next time you make a purchase, because it matters.