Page 176 -

150 • Green Project Management

product to the raw-material acquisition stage). If an LCA were not per-
formed, the transfer might not be recognized and properly included in
the analysis because it is outside of the typical scope or focus of product
design and selection processes.
In connecting the different parts of the system, many LCAs have led to
unexpected and nonintuitive results. This is especially true for products that
are sourced from natural, bio-based feed stocks, such as the various prod-
ucts that are being made from corn, including packaging, cups and plates,
and bioethanol, to name just a few. These products are often perceived as
environmentally superior to comparable products that are made from non-
renewable petroleum feed stocks. However, if we look more broadly at the
product life cycle, it becomes clear that large amounts of pesticides and fer-
tilizers and land are needed to grow corn. Figure 9.2 shows how fertilizers
that are applied to cropland runoff into waterways and end up in the Gulf
of Mexico, contributing to the hypoxic Dead Zone (fertilizers cause algae to
bloom, then as the algae die, their decay depletes the water of oxygen causing
a condition of hypoxia). Yet it is not immediately obvious to connect corn
from the upper Midwest of the United States with water pollution problems
in the Gulf of Mexico, a thousand miles away. Using a holistic approach to
these kinds of analyses highlights how the environmental impacts of alter-
native products may lead to unanticipated consequences.

Upper Mississippi
River Basin

Missouri
River Basin

Arkansas - White
River Basin
Ohio
River Basin
Lower Mississippi
Red River Basin
River Basin

Hypoxic Zone
Zone of Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico:
Approximately 7,000 square miles
(about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined)

Figure 9.2
Zone of hypoxia.