[Publius6961]

But they could just as easily -- and in many cases, more easily -- be made from any other organic substance.

Oh really? without unintended consequences?
I suppose that in a free market society, the market avoids "the more easy" way because they would rather keep their costs high.

Are you serious?

[IronJack]

By "more easily," I didn't say "more CHEAPLY." The simplest fractions of crude oil are not particularly reactive chemically. That's one of the reasons gasoline burns so dirty. Other raw materials are far more reactive, and much more easily converted into the compounds we historically associate with petrochemicals -- plastics, insecticides, herbicides, solvents.

If crude keeps heading for the stratosphere, it's just a matter of time until the replacements are economically viable.

With any luck, oil's reign is winding down.