It’s sometimes hard for people to feel issues like sustainability connect with their everyday lives because the effects aren’t easily seen. But one issue that has to be addressed is our consumption of petroleum, not only as a fuel source, but also as the building block for many consumer goods including plastics, shoes and some toothpastes.
The demand for petroleum for both energy and the production of commercial goods is not decreasing, but the supply and availability of petroleum is. One way to minimize the effect of our overall demand is by embracing sources of energy outside of petroleum.
Chemists have recently developed a means of producing tires from sugar, according to an article on EurekAlert. From an environmental standpoint, replacing a limited resource such as petroleum with a renewable resource like sugar in a product that is so widely consumed worldwide is a good thing. However, when the societal impact is considered, the overall implications get a little complicated.
A decision by the tire industry to make the switch from petroleum to sugar would greatly increase the demand for sugar cane production worldwide. Working conditions on sugar plantations in both Central and South America are often substandard. Many sugar field workers die young from kidney failure brought on by constant dehydration, according to an article in The New York Times. Companies pressure workers to work long hours without providing adequate hydration.
Even if these labor problems were rectified, using a food source like sugar cane to produce a consumer good like tires is flawed.
Corn-based ethanol is one example of how using a food source to produce a commodity can backfire. Although use of a renewable resource like corn-based bio-fuel to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels is appealing on the surface, it has inherent negative side effects.
Production of corn-based ethanol drives up the cost of corn as well as the cost of wheat, as many farmers have abandoned wheat in favor of corn, due to profitability and government subsidies. By subsidizing corn to be used in the production of ethanol, the price of corn-based food also increased while supply decreased. This potential consequence of bringing food sources into the commodities market could be disastrous for those both here and abroad needing affordable food.
Nevertheless, the pursuit of renewable resources isn’t to be discouraged, as there are still many cases where renewable sources are successfully employed as alternative energy sources. There has been positive research into making a methane-based bio-fuel from algae that can be grown in water unfit for human consumption, thereby not affecting the amount of available drinking water.
Butanol, a fuel source that is being explored as a replacement for gasoline, can be produced from wood, according to butanol.com. The part of wood utilized in Butanol production is not necessary for paper production, which means it is not as wasteful as sugar or starch-base sources.
Future technological and scientific developments involving renewable energy need to consider how far-reaching the potential social, economical and environmental impacts are.
Policymakers, consumers and researchers should keep this in mind now and in the future, as increasing population and demand will only increase the pressure of this issue. Although not every impact can be avoided, we can do our best to mitigate them or select the least severe cause. Our choices should take into account not only the need for sustainability but also the effect those choices will have on our community and our overall quality of life.