What are we doing here?
I enjoy the phrase “what are we doing here” to refer to activities that seem to miss the point. I am in favor of electrification and clean forms of energy such as nuclear but one belief I hold is that oil is not going anywhere.
In countries that have mostly electrified transportation such as Norway, demand for oil has not declined nearly as much as predicted. One area we need to solve before we can even pretend oil can be replaced is food/perishables and sterile/medical packaging.
I frequently see articles that extol the great progress being made in plastic replacement using plant alternatives such as this recent article and ask myself: What are we doing here?