MEMES
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Rubbish opportunity.
The oil's going to run out . . .
The jury’s out on how long that will take to happen though. Some are predicting that it’s just a question of a few decades – but they are ignoring the possibility that we may develop new ways to find supplies which are currently hidden from us. ( space-based ground penetrating radar for example )
Perhaps by the time supplies are exhausted there will be other means ( biomass / solar / fusion etc ) for generating energy, but what about the oil-derived physical materials that we have come to rely on ? The first example which springs to mind would be plastics. Although there are already a variety of ‘bio-plastics’, none even comes close to the durability an usefulness of, say, Nylon™ ( tights, fishing nets, ropes etc) or Polycarbonate. (CD’s, riot-shields etc)
It’s their durability which raises the possibility of being able to carry on using plastics even after the oil supply has run out. We are, of course, talking rubbish.
By the time there is no oil left, the Earth will have a plentiful supply of plastic still available. In old landfill sites. The really durable varieties mentioned above will last for centuries in the ground ( on the surface, their main enemy is UV radiation from the sun, which limits their lifetime to a few decades ). Bearing in mind the astonishing quantities of the stuff which is just dumped into holes in the ground on a daily basis, these old landfill sites may become very valuable resources – mines in fact.
Before rushing out to put down an offer on the purchase of a recently turfed-over mega dump, it might be worth bearing in mind that, along with all the useful recoverable plastics, the sites also contain vast quantities of highly dangerous substances. Explosive methane, which can be generated from breakdown of organic waste, can leak to the surface. Toxic heavy-metals which can leach downwards into the water table. Dangerous solvents, pharmaceuticals - the list goes on and on.
So, in the future, these old sites will be a curious mixture of attractive mining opportunity - and dangerous liabilities which might land their owners in the bankruptcy courts.
Here’s just one example of the current culture of wastefulness:
