National Survey Reveals More than 70% of Americans Don't Know Plastic is Made from Oil
2007-04-24 19:38 - Links
According to a nationwide online survey released today, 72 percent of the American public does not know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products, primarily oil.
The article goes on to cite a figure of 10% of U.S. oil consumption is to produce plastics. I wonder if that counts imported plastic? Either way, it's the points that really makes me worry about what happens when the world runs out of oil.
I, obviously, assume it's going to happen. Some people still claim that oil is a renewable resource. I think the more reasonable of us realize that while that may technically be true, it's renewable on a very different timeline than the rate at which humans are consuming it.
So what happens when there's no more oil? The vehicles_in_the_United_States'>250 million or so cars in the U.S. stop running. Somewhere around 17% of our electricity no longer has a source. And all the plastic will be gone! We'll have to rely on recycling, and we all know how well that's gone.
I think it's a pretty safe prediction that somewhere inside 100 years, probably inside 50 years, garbage dumps will become major mining sites. There's going to be a higher concentration of (non-natural?) resources there than anywhere else sooner or later.
