China's going to be fine.

"In China, people burned crude oil and gas for heat and light as early as 500 B.C. By the fourth century A.D., they were drilling for these natural resources and transporting it via bamboo pipes."

#HannahOsborne, 2024

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/the-165-year-reign-of-oil-is-coming-to-an-end-but-will-we-ever-be-able-to-live-without-it

#China #energy#FossilFuels#FossilOil#FossilGas #bamboo

"I couldn't even imagine health care without plastics, and I don't even think we should go there. I would argue that plastic has allowed very important innovation of medical devices and supplies, and is here to stay."

#DrJodiSherman, Founding Director, Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/the-165-year-reign-of-oil-is-coming-to-an-end-but-will-we-ever-be-able-to-live-without-it

Head in the sand, much? How will you get plastic, without the fossil fuel industry spitting it out as byproduct?

#healthcare #plastic#Yale #sustainability

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@roknrol
> There are a lot of areas where plastic reduction is nearly impossible

This line of argument, like the good doctor's, presumes that continuing to use plastic as we do now is an option. Thus my question.

Plastic is cheap and ubiquitous because its made from the byproducts of oil refineries. As oil use peaks and declines, in response to climate change and long term energy security concerns, so will oil refining. At which point making plastic will get *very* expensive.