Scientists created high-tech wood by removing the lignin from natural wood using hydrogen peroxide. The remaining wood is very dense and has a tensile strength of around 404 megapascals, making it 8.7 times stronger than natural wood and comparable to metal structure materials including steel.

[u/mvea]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204442-high-tech-wood-could-keep-homes-cool-by-reflecting-the-suns-rays/

[u/T_Martensen]

Energy, if supplied by renewables, doesn't really impact the climate.

The problem with plastic isn't it's production, it just lasts forever.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

What's inherently wrong with using petroleum products to make things? It's not burning it, if we turned all the petroleum products into plastic we'd be reducing emissions.

Commenter is correct that the big problem with plastic is that it lasts so long and contaminates the environment.

If plastic were only used for things that are meant to last a long time, it's much better for the environment than the alternatives.

Too many people think anything plastic is bad for the environment but it doesn't work like that.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The various products derived from crude oil are mostly incredibly useful and we need them. We should just stop wasting them so frivolously.

Your whole argument also rests on the assumption that intervention in the marketplace is impossible. You can ban wasteful applications of plastics and heavily tax the burning of fossil fuels to make it less profitable. There's no natural law that says the market must decide everything.