Life Cycle Assessments

Cards (25)

  • What is the focus of today's video?
    Life cycle assessments
  • What do life cycle assessments analyze?
    The different stages in a product's life cycle
  • What will be compared as an example in the video?
    Plastic bags and paper bags
  • What are the four main stages of a life cycle assessment?
    Extraction, manufacturing, usage, disposal
  • What is important to focus on in each stage of a life cycle assessment?
    Understanding them, not memorizing facts
  • How does extracting resources from nature impact the environment?
    It often directly damages the local environment
  • What is an example of direct environmental damage during extraction?
    Cutting down forests for wood
  • What can processing materials indirectly damage the environment?
    Energy requirements and pollutant release
  • What are three main problems associated with manufacturing and packaging?
    Energy use, pollution release, waste production
  • What can sometimes be done with waste products from manufacturing?
    Used as raw materials for something else
  • What two factors should be considered when using a product?
    Lifetime damage and usage duration
  • How does the usage of a durable bag compare to a single-use bag?
    A durable bag is used thousands of times
  • What happens if a product is disposed of in landfill?
    It takes up space and may leak chemicals
  • What are the consequences of burning waste products?
    Release of pollutants into the atmosphere
  • What is the raw material for plastic bags?
    Crude oil
  • How are paper bags made?
    From wood, reducing animal habitats
  • What process is required to manufacture plastic bags?
    Cracking hydrocarbons and polymerization
  • What is required to manufacture paper bags?
    Pulping timber, which uses energy
  • How do plastic bags compare to paper bags in terms of reuse?
    Plastic bags can be reused multiple times
  • What is a significant environmental issue with plastic bags?
    They are not biodegradable
  • Why are paper bags considered better for disposal?
    They are biodegradable and non-toxic
  • What is a limitation of life cycle assessments?
    Complexity makes quantifying steps difficult
  • Why can life cycle assessments be manipulated?
    They are complex and hard to notice changes
  • What is a challenge in comparing environmental impacts?
    Assessing harm of different pollutants
  • What should viewers do if they enjoyed the video?
    Let us know in the comments