It was my first year of middle school. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but I had finally started to develop a sense of connection with the people and things around me. I was learning about my interests (pizza and dodge ball) and my disinterests (video games and spinach soup). During these years I have experimented with scrap, setting the goal of creating something from nothing. I bent, cut, screwed, welded, and most of the time I ended up hurting myself trying to turn a vision into reality. Surprisingly, in 10,000 BC cavemen were doing very similar things. The caveman's first inventions were the hunting club and the sharpening stone. These tools became the all-purpose skinning and killing survival tools of their time. The sharpening stone later became the first writing instrument. Cavemen scratched drawings representing daily life events such as planting crops or hunting victories they achieved. The history of the writing instruments with which humans have recorded and transmitted thoughts, feelings and shopping lists is the history of civilization itself. We thus know our history, through the drawings, signs and words we have recorded. It is without a doubt that these tools have evolved to become an integral part of our lives and, moreover, have allowed us to become more intelligent and productive people. In this article I will discuss the extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal of a common consumer good; pencil number two Ticonderoga. Although pencil number two seems like a simplistic tool, its production involves a meticulous manufacturing process. To make a pencil you start with a mixture of graphite and a small amount of clay and water. Graphite is made using carbon...... half the paper...... ion. But ultimately disposing of pencil number two is much easier, then is extracting and producing the materials needed to produce it. Bibliography1) "I, Pencil: The Film". YouTube. YouTube, November 14, 2012. Web. April 19, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE2) “How a pencil is made.” YouTube. YouTube, June 7, 2010. Web. April 19, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHp1fGdAWE3) "Making a Pencil Today: How to Make a Pencil in 10 Steps - Pencils.com."Pencilscom RSS2. Np, nd Web. April 19, 2014. http://pencils.com/pencil-making-today/4) “How Products Are Made.” How rubber is made. Np, nd Web. April 19, 2014. http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Eraser.html5) “Timberlines.” : Pencils: an environmental profile. Np, nd Web. April 17, 2014. http://timberlines.blogspot.com/2006/01/pencils-environmental-profile.html