I am not an expert but I catch myself thinking this all the time.
Fossil fuels and plastics are bad staples, but would be good seasonings in our material culture if they could be limited to that. Medical implants! Certain industrial coatings! Helmets and seat belts!
The problems arise when you burn millions of tons of it a day and send microscopic shards of it into every nook and cranny of the planet.
This is kind of what I’m trying to get at when I talk about aviation. It’s a huge problem. But if we had a zero-based carbon budget, letting people see other parts of the world is far more valuable than letting people, you know, rent out an improperly insulated building, or commute in a five-seat car for hours a day, or whatever.
It’s painfully easy – which is different from realistic – to imagine a society with the self-control to say life-changing experiences yes, car commutes no.
@vruba Right!? So much could be glass. Could be waxed paper. heck, much of the rest could be PLA.
@aredridel Totally – this isn’t even getting to the ways different plastics have wildly different impacts.
@aredridel @vruba I think it’s interesting to look at the hybrid products produced in the 50s-70s before the really cheap stuff caught on. We have much better materials now but we did an interesting job of mixing plastics in only when required for a few years there.
@vruba we need to consume much much less - replacing plastic with wood is not the answer. Replacing most plastic with nothing and then replacing the remainder with bio plastics is better
@vruba Bioplastics are complicated, but sufficient for most basic plastic stuff like tires and plumbing. Advanced synthetic plastics from biomaterials will require significant research before they are at e.g. medical device quality though.
But also, we invested trillions of dollars and millions of smart minds into learning how to synth everything from fossils for more than a century, completely neglecting other raw materials. I guess it won't be that long until we can get all core raw molecules for advanced synthetics from hempoil or similar raw stuff.
@vruba we used to have wooden cases on TV but they are very heavy. Can get radios with wooden cases
@vruba yeah, I think lubricants are a necessary evil, and that implies a fair number of other things because you just can’t crack petroleum for one thing. But getting the right mix in a minimal amount is going to be an interesting difficult question.
@vruba yes yes yes yes
Airplanes do something (mix cultures across vast distances) we have no alternative for.
Cars and beef are so replaceable.
Maybe 90% of the plastic stuff I own would be at least as good if it were wood – maybe in a processed form like paper or cardboard – or even the cheapest possible metal. Tinplate and cast iron.
The last 10% (or whatever) is trickier to replace, but that’s a much smaller problem.
We’re getting the benefits of a society that uses plastic in a few key places, but the problems of a society that uses way too much plastic. Surely we can figure this out.