This guide provides resources to help you analyze the environmental and social impacts of a typical consumer product, focusing on a commodity by-commodity guide to impacts and practices. If you need assistance, contact Jenna Walsh, Indigenous Initiatives Librarian & Librarian for Indigenous Studies, Archaeology, Environmental Science, and Resource & Environmental Management at [email protected] or use Ask a librarian.
Tip #1: Start Early and Plan Ahead!
This assignment’s research phase can be intricate and time-consuming.
- Gather information from diverse sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of each stage of your product’s life cycle.
- Adapt information from similar products if specific data for your chosen product is unavailable.
- Thoroughly examine the environmental and social consequences at every stage, conducting detailed research.
- Investigate sustainable alternatives to harmful practices in production, distribution, usage, or disposal.
- Synthesize your research findings to create a well-structured and compelling analysis.
Preparing for Research: Assignment Review and Product Selection
Reviewing the Assignment
Begin by carefully reading your assignment to ensure a complete understanding of the task at hand. To conduct a lifecycle analysis of a typical consumer product, investigate the inputs and outputs at each stage:
- Materials used in the product.
- How these materials are created (grown or manufactured).
- Energy costs for development and transportation to market.
- Waste products generated during production and consumption (e.g., packaging).
- Any other aspect of production, distribution, or consumption with environmental or social impact.
Tip #2: Start with Introductory and Overview Information.
Selecting a Consumer Product
Choose a product that isn’t overly complex. Analyzing products like cars or MP3 players can be unmanageable given time constraints. Test your choice by searching for information. If you find limited material, consider an alternative.
Tip #3: Proprietary vs. Generic Products
- Avoid proprietary products like Styrofoam or Coca-Cola. Manufacturing processes and ingredients are often kept secret for competitive reasons.
- Select a generic product (e.g., cola drinks instead of Coca-Cola) for broader research scope.
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Coca Cola bottles on a conveyor belt at a bottling plant.
Identifying Known Facts and Questions
After selecting a product, jot down what you already know, its components, and information gaps needing to be filled.
Example: Denim Blue Jeans
Known facts:
- Raw materials: Denim cloth dyed blue, metal zipper and button, and thread.
- Denim is cotton manufactured at textile mills.
- Jeans are distributed to retailers.
- Consumers use and discard them.
Questions for research:
- Where is cotton grown? Environmental and social impacts of agriculture (resource inputs, by-products)? Pesticide use? Monoculture effects? Soil degradation?
- Where are denim mills located? What’s the process of turning cotton into denim?
- Environmental significance of the dyeing process?
- Energy use and waste production in manufacturing? Mitigation strategies?
- Where are clothing manufacturers? Sweatshop labor?
- How are products marketed? Significant impacts from selling or using jeans?
- How long do jeans last? Recyclable or reusable?
- Damaging substances released during product breakdown?
Tip #4: Keep track of your sources
Maintain a research diary to track questions and sources. Properly cite sources in your paper and bibliography, following the Citation Guide: APA. Consider using Citation Management Software. Understand and avoid plagiarism with our plagiarism tutorial.
Research Process: Overview, Background, and Reference Sources
Tip #5: Start with overview and background sources
Consult the sources listed below at the beginning of your research. These are especially useful as introductions to your consumer product. Search by product name or process. If nothing appears, try synonyms.
General Encyclopedias
Cross-disciplinary and general encyclopedias provide excellent background information and generate keywords for database searching.
Subject-Specific Encyclopedias
- McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology (print): A twenty-volume encyclopedia with explanations of technical subjects, especially for electronics.
- Encyclopedia of Products & Industries – Manufacturing. (2008) Manufacturing processes for 120 product categories, including information on the industrial context and distribution.
- Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability [print] Especially volume 4 (Natural resources and Sustainability) and volume 2 (the Business of Sustainability).
- How Products Are Made: An Illustrated Guide to Product Manufacturing Manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, aimed at a general audience; check the sources cited at the end of the article for further information.
Diagram illustrating the product manufacturing process.
Other Overview and Background Sources
- The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard: A 20-minute animated presentation about extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. With annotated scripts that include extensive references.
- Consumer Products Information Database Useful to research products based on chemical ingredients
- Use keywords in the Library Catalogue to find online and print books on products and consumer goods.
Recommended Books (Online and Print)
- Kirk Othmer encyclopedia of chemical technology (print) Manufacturing processes for chemically derived products.
- Chemical formulary (print) Generic formulas for products such as detergents, cosmetics, paint, etc.
- Dictionary of plants used by man (print) Includes information on cultivation techniques, where specific products are cultivated.
- Oxford companion to food (print]
- Foods & nutrition encyclopedia (print)
- Encyclopedia of food sciences and nutrition (online and print]
- World agriculture and the environment: a commodity-by-commodity guide to impacts and practices
Finding More Books with Advanced Subject Searching
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.
Further Campus Resources: SFUPIRG and Rotunda Libraries
Consult the books and magazines located in the offices of the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (aka SF PIRG). Consult the Rotunda Libraries Catalogue. SFP!RG is a student organization dedicated to working for social and environmental change.
Research Process: In-Depth Sources
Finding Books
Search the SFU Library catalogue using the generic name of your product, components, or the specific industry as a Subject or Keyword search.
Example: Blue Jeans
- Keyword Search: “blue jeans”, “jeans”, “denim”, or “cotton.”
- Use synonyms or related terms if results are limited.
- Subject Search: “Cotton textiles”, “Cotton manufacture”, “Textile industry”, “Cotton textile industry”, etc.
Tip #6: Find in-depth sources using the appropriate searches. Start with a Keyword search and look at the subject headings in relevant book’s records. If you find a useful book, you can use the linked subject headings in the catalog record to find additional relevant sources. Ask a librarian for help.
Specialized Books for Environmental Impacts
The following list of sources may help you track down some specific types of environmental impact information.
- World agriculture and the environment : a commodity-by-commodity guide to impacts and practices [online or print]
- Encyclopedia of environmental issues (print)
- Encyclopedia of global change: environmental change and human society [online or print]
- Water encyclopedia (online or print] Includes water supply and waste disposal, water quality, and resource development.
- Water encyclopedia (print) Information on environmental problems relating to agriculture, manufacturing.
- Encyclopedia of energy [online or print)
- The Wiley encyclopedia of energy and the environment (print) Information on the technology involved in energy production and use as well as environmental impacts, including transportation
- Handbook of environmental degradation rates (print) Lists rates for specific chemical substances.
Finding Journal Articles
Journal articles provide focused information. Use How to find journal articles for tips.
To find articles, start with a keyword search using “environmental” or “environment” and the product name, components, or industry. For example, search for “environmental and (coffee or coffee industry)”. Or use search terms that discuss specific aspects of your analysis, e.g. “(cotton or textiles) and manufacturing”. Consider using broader, narrower or related concepts as search terms.
Tip #7 + Tip #8: Consider all the angles — and use journal articles. Discipline specific databases will limit your search results to journals in that field, which may not include all the useful perspectives on a topic.
Finding Journal Articles: Recommended Databases
- Environment Complete: Covers all aspects of the impact of people and technology on the environment, as well as remedial policies and technologies used to address these issues.
- GeoBase: Articles from human and physical geography
- Agricola: Agriculture and allied disciplines, such as forestry and fisheries. Good for plant-derived products.
- Applied Science and Technology Index: Covers a range of journals on applied science and technology topics. Good for information on manufacturing and processing, energy, transportation, etc.
- Academic Search Premier: Multidisciplinary database for broad coverage of products.
- Business Source Complete: Covers journal articles in all business areas. Good for information on consumer and product information.
- ScienceDirect: Searchable collection of over 1700 journals housed on the publisher Elsevier’s site. Scientific articles (mostly fulltext).
- GreenFILE: Focuses on the relationship between human beings and the environment.
- Alternative Press Index: Alternative and radical views on environmental and other issues.
Web Sources
Conduct general web searches, but carefully evaluate source accuracy and completeness. Using information from various sources helps provide a critical analysis. Use the Finding and evaluating resources guide for advanced Google and Google Scholar search tips, as well as strategies for evaluating sources.
Tip #9: Ask for help! Ask any of the librarians or library staff for assistance. We can provide help with any of the topics covered on this page and more. No question too small or too big!
