[mrnoble]

One could also make the case that we as FIRST teams are exploiting the environment and ruining it for future generations. After all, we are using mined materials, fossil fuel products, and a good deal of energy (especially considering the number of overnight orders we place). Some teams are even sponsored by oil and gas companies! Lacking any specific data about FIRST competitions and teams as polluters, I'll go ahead and make the broad assertion that we are having a substantial negative impact. What should we do? Petition FIRST to require that teams only use certified recycled materials? Eliminate plastics such as polycarbonate from FIRST robots? Boycott competitions that don't show a measured reduction in energy usage? Quit?

Like everything else we do, participating in FIRST makes us part of a much larger system that has both negative and positive impacts over a broad range. Neither the "made in America" issue nor the hypothetical "polluter" issue is simple; both are real, but are so complex that the proposed solution (making it a requirement that FIRST use only "made in America" parts, in this case) would do nothing more than serve as a political gesture that would alienate some, and entirely fail to solve the problem, while making the FIRST experience significantly poorer overall.