Life Cycle Assessments

• 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 are the four main stages of a life cycle assessment?

  Extraction, manufacturing, usage, disposal
• What is important to focus on in life cycle assessments?

  Understanding stages, not memorizing facts
• How does extracting resources from nature impact the environment?

  It often directly damages the local environment
• What can processing materials indirectly damage?

  The environment through energy use and pollutants
• What are the three main problems in manufacturing and packaging?

  Energy use, pollution release, waste production
• What happens to waste products in manufacturing?

  They are often useless and need disposal
• What two factors must 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 are the disposal issues with plastic bags?

  They are not biodegradable and harm wildlife
• Why are paper bags considered better for disposal?

  They are biodegradable and non-toxic
• What are the limitations of life cycle assessments?

  Complexity and potential manipulation of data
• Why is it difficult to quantify all steps in product making?

  Products involve many complex steps
• How can life cycle assessments be manipulated?

  To support a particular company for advertising
• 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