> The same stuff we need to make plastics? You don't need oil to make plastic. You can make plastic out of air. The atoms needed for virtually all plastics are

> The same stuff we need to make plastics? You don't need oil to make plastic. You can make plastic out of air. The atoms needed for virtually all plastics are just Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and sometimes chlorine. You can get every single one of those out of air, and maybe seawater. The only reason we usually use oil is because of the energy embodied in it, which is needed to make plastic. If you had an alternative source of energy it's quite easy to make plastic out of lots of other things.