this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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We already know how to create plastics from CO2 extracted from the air and hydrogen from water. There is no shortage of raw material for plastics. The main question for the industry is cheap plastics and the answer to that has always been cheap oil and gas.
Using proven reserves and current consumption you get to 47 years and things run out. That's a "within my lifetime" number for many.
Nail on the head! It's not that we can't make products from something other than curde oil, it's just by far the cheapest. To a lot of people the economy is more important than the environment.
We can make plastic out of fucking algae if we wanted. Doctors aren't going to run out of gloves because a bunch of internet autists decided to blow up a coal plant.
I'd be more worried about the people on O2 and life support who need access to electricity. It's why I support forcing power companies to switch to renewables so we can transition humanely. Note that holding shotguns to oil execs' heads to make them sign the paperwork is in no way inhumane :P
So my understanding out of this is that we need a government that takes responsibility and raises taxes on the cheap oil and gas to move the industry in the right direction. And we need a system where politicians aren't being paid by companies so they make decisions in their favor.
As a last point I'd like to mention that by that time there will be bio fuels and bio plastics. I am hoping that we will move to those within those 47 years.