In the age of the Roman Empire, glass was their form of plastic with bronze coming in at second place. Then iron became the world’s plastic, finally followed by cast iron in the 19th century, which was replaced by Bakelite in the early 20th century. Bakelite wasn’t the first form of actual plastic but it was the most successful and easiest to mass produce cheaply.
Since then, plastic has been made from all sorts of materials including cow’s milk, but petroleum oil has proven to be the best of all at making plastics with every imaginable desired quality.
Now the push is on to stop the oil pumps and convert all vehicle production to electric power. There’s a strong negative sentiment against the making of plastics, as well, because even though it degrades into tiny particles it still stays in the environment and enters the food chain.
So what will the next plastic be? Carbon. Have you seen the incredible things scientists have been doing with carbon over the past few years? They’ve created a transparent material only an atom thick that’s vastly stronger than our best steel. Nanotube transistors. Galvorn, made of carbon, that is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and has the conductivity of copper and has unlimited applications in electronics and construction, and more.
Carbon is the 15th most common element on Earth and the easiest to extract because it’s found in almost everything and it’s about as cheap as dirt. What could possibly attract environmentalists more than to have an industry that takes carbon out of the environment and makes useful products out of it? Carbon is the future.