© boardworks ltd 20051 of 23 resistant materials moral and environmental issues these icons...

© Boardworks Ltd 20051 of 23

Resistant MaterialsMoral and Environmental

Issues

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Learning objectives


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To realize the importance of considering other people and the environment when you are designing and making a product.

To effectively market a product, and the issues involved.

To understand the significance of long and short product life cycles in a throwaway society.

To see how the production and manufacture of a product can affect the environment.

To become familiar with the environmental mistakes made by early technologies.

To become aware of the environmental problems of today and what we can do to reduce them.


Technology is about designing and making products for people.

People live in many different places with different climates, different levels of wealth and different needs and beliefs.

We need to be aware of this in our designing and making, and make sure that we do not harm or offend any people, or damage our environment in any way.Two strands need to be covered in our work in design and technology:

moral issues and environmental issues.

Moral issues – consumerism


Moral issues - marketing


Who the advert is aimed at must also be taken into consideration – is it for a local, national or global market?

Design a poster advertising a product. Use as many tactics as you can to make people notice and buy it!

In order to sell a product, someone has to tell people about it – this is called marketing or advertising.

A very important part of marketing is to attract people’s attention and interest – bright colours, loud sounds and sexy men or women do this most effectively! Was this the first section of the page that caught your eye?

The wording on an advert is also very important – if you say ‘All products in store from only £5!’ it can trick people into thinking that they will get a better bargain than they probably will.



What is your view on advertising?Do you think that the world is a better place because of it?What do you think about the companies that pay the most for advertising?

Maybe if I buy that nail

varnish, i'll look more

like her!



Moral issues – manufacturing


When people buy some things, they want them to last as long as possible. These things have long product life cycles. Examples of these kinds of products are below:

BridgesWhy are these products

the ones with the longest life cycles?

Buildings

Furniture

AircraftRoads

Railways

Moral issues


Scroll through the products below, and estimate the average life cycle (in years) of each one.

You might think that when people buy a product they will want it to last as long as possible. This is not always the case. When products are designed to only last for a specific period this is called planned obsolescence.

Think about a product you bought recently.How long do you want it to last for?

Moral issues – product life cycles


Rich countries, mostly in the western world, have been accused of creating a ‘throwaway society’ –

we buy things and when we have finished with them or are bored with them we throw them away.

You cannot replace the batteries on some electrical toys.

When something goes wrong with electrical equipment, it is often too difficult or expensive to repair.

Do you think this is true?

Often, whole circuit boards or components are replaced when the fault is with one small component – it is cheaper to replace the whole thing.

Moral issues – throwaway society


In summary, big companies and factories:

Use the earth’s natural resources

Consume energy transporting and

processing the materials and products…

And use even more distributing them

Often charge more than necessary to make extra profit

Advertise using clever tactics that

a lot of people are unaware of

Make products that have short

life cyclesDo you think this is right?

What can you do to try to make the system fairer?

Moral issues


Consumers demand more products –

increased demand.

So the manufacturing industry produces more

– increased output.

This puts an increased strain on the world’s natural resources. For example, oil is non-renewable and

hardwood trees take hundreds of years to replace.

It also leads to more waste, as

well as…

more pollution.Coal-burning power stations lead

to acid rain, as well as contributing to the greenhouse effect and the

decline of the ozone layer.

In what sorts of ways could you reduce the amount of waste and pollution that you cause?

Environmental issues – background


Pollution by early technologies


After WW1, the situation in London and other big cities in Britain became very bad, due to the large number of factories and industries burning huge amounts of coal. The cities were constantly covered by a mixture of smoke and fog (called smog), which created a thick, dirty, dense, choking atmosphere, causing countless deaths each year.

Smog


Something had to be done. The government took action and introduced new laws. The process of passing new laws is called legislation.

The Clean Air Act (1956) introduced smokeless zones, with no coal fires in houses, no bonfires and no smoke from factories, which were relocated to more rural areas.

Now the air is cleaner and healthier!

Legislation


In order to reduce any harmful effects that may have been experienced by employees, the government introduced C.O.S.H.H. (Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health). The aims of these regulations were to help to:

reduce harm to environ-ment

collect data

analyse data

assess risks (risk assessment)

make rules and laws

reduce harm to workers

So working is now cleaner, healthier and less polluting.

C.O.S.H.H.


Accidents still happen. There are oil spills and the rivers and air are polluted because of people ignoring the rules, and equipment failing.

And, most importantly, all manufacturing uses energy – electricity has to be generated, raw materials have to be obtained and delivered and the whole process can end up being very damaging to the environment.

This is what you have to be aware of when designing and making a product – it is important to think of all the different ways in which you may be affecting the environment, and to make the effort to cause as little harm as possible.

BUT…

Current situation


The greenhouse effect


Acid rain


Alternatives to burning coal

The reason for all of these problems is the burning of fossil fuels, so what alternatives are there?


Reduce waste


Match the word to the definition


Key points


Key

po

ints

It is important to consider the rest of society and the environment when designing and making a product.

Marketing is about attracting attention and making people buy your product.

Products can have long or short life cycles, depending on the choice of the manufacturer.

This leads to a lot of environmental problems.

Early industries also caused many environmental problems, but legislation was introduced to reduce them.

There are still a lot of environmental issues today, including the greenhouse effect, acid rain and pollution.

It is important to reduce the amount of waste produced and to help the environment as much as possible.

© boardworks ltd 20051 of 23 resistant materials moral and environmental issues these icons...

Documents

moral issues marketing

moral issues consumerism

environmental issues

learning objectives

long product life cycles

short product life cycles

resistant materials

kinds of products