I have been reading this great book, Environmentally Responsible Design, and have come to the chapter about waste. Not just the process of discarding a product at the end of it's life cycle, but the actual waste from a manufacturing process that a consumer may not grasp when selecting a product for use.

This book describes how  processing has changed through the centuries and has become increasingly more destructive to the environment (as we all know)... An example they talk about in this book is mining for gold. Think about it.... Miners way back when, used to go out in their Levi's with the screen bottom pans and sift (by hand) through the water and mud to find their treasures. These days, industrial practices have taken the miners place. Instead,  they use a process called "heap- leaching" where tons of land is dug up and chemically sifted with liquid cyanide, to extract the tiniest of gold pebbles... In some cases up to 30 tons of rock and dirt are displaced which many times only has 1 ounce of gold. Once the gold is removed, the dirt and rock are displaced and the cyanide solution is stored in open, lined ponds. I mean really... what is going on??

Another example:

PVC, common in household products, siding for houses, vinyl flooring, shower curtains, children products, (the list could go on) provides waste in all forms- gas, liquid and solid. To start, PVC is made up of the following chemicals; chlorine gas, hydrochloric acid, ethylene, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate and dioxin.. (If this doesn't yell pollutant i don't know what would..)  Separately or collectively, these substances are either carcinogenic, explosive, deadly or even outlawed as weapons... and they are found in your sweet baby's high chair.

PVC production facilities are one of the top pollutants in the country, one in particular released 31,000-45,000 POUNDS of vinyl chloride or vinyl acetate into the atmosphere in 2001 and 2002. Once a product (with PVC) is made, it continues to off gas during its useful life. At the end of it's useful life, the product then sits in a landfill or is incinerated and leaches chemicals into the earth and atmosphere.... 

So, now what's that about that "Green" vinyl that vendor was trying to sell you??? Greenwashing at it's finest.

It goes to show how important asking questions and understanding processes become. As a professional, its tough to find the time to be able dissect each product and their manufacturer... i get it, but having the understanding how your product got to your house is so important to sustain not only your own health but the health of the planet. 

I'm Out.