This article was written approximately six months ago and I have been too busy to post anything on my blog. Many new developments are in progress that have yet to be announced. Announcements will be made not long from now as I get caught up on my to do list.
Some years back I found myself driving a know-it-all professor and his student to another college. I decided that the most intelligent conversation could be had with the student and so I began to ask him a series of questions to see how awake he was. One thing I said at the time was that gold is cheap right now and it is most likely going to go to well over $2,000/oz?1 He said that he knew this and that it would be a good idea to own gold. I then proceeded to ask if he knew that his home country was going to be used as a proxy by the US in a war against China? He acknowledged this. Then I told him that the US would be at war with both Russia and China in the not too distant future. Again, he said that it was most likely to occur. At that point the overly schooled imbecile riding in the back chimed in, “Oh, that will never happen.”2
At one time I had interest in working in conjunction with companies like BASF and Exxon-Mobil,3 primarily because they are producers of polymers made by the method of polymerization that I specialize in (i.e., cationic polymerization). For the latter company I made numerous attempts over fifteen years to interest them in green polymerization methods. My thoughts were that the individuals who I was familiarized with (primarily from literature) had integrity and high moral fiber. Unfortunately, I was incorrect and my conclusion is that they are mere wage slaves with no allegiance to anything except a paycheck. So please disregard any previous mention of such people by this author that portrays them in a positive light and realize that even I am prone to misjudgments of character.
Within the past year I approached Exxon-Mobil and informed one of the chief scientists that I had made some very significant breakthroughs, not only in the area of cationic polymerization but also in the synthesis of a potentially very valuable, new set of activators for single site catalysts used in coordination polymerization. I informed this person that not only did the chemistry in both cases dramatically reduce the pollution that Exxon-Mobil generates using their existing systems (e.g., CO2, toxic metal waste streams) but that my chemistry would give them a monopoly on a new series of acids and in all instances was cheaper to utilize. The response was (paraphrased), “we are busy working on chemistry geared to decarbonization and don’t have time to take a look at your results.” I was flabbergasted to say the least, these clowns who have never spent a single day working in the green polymer field were now all of sudden going to do green chemistry? Immediately I told myself that the most likely outcome (ca. 99%) for them is failure.4
Recently, Nomi Prins put out a video where she claimed that many of the big oil companies in the US were now focusing on lithium based ventures. I have to be very careful in my commentary here due to the value of the knowledge I have so reader please bear with me. The ignorance and downright stupidity that I have seen displayed by chemists at BASF, Exxon-Mobil, and Chevron (to mention a few) is beyond belief. These people cost their employers millions of dollars every single year but the good thing is that the CEOs that run these companies are too dumb to realize this fact.5 They say a fish rots from the head down and if you happen to be stock holder in any of the aforementioned companies I can guarantee you that their heads are incompetent, maybe even criminally so if laws stipulate that they maximize shareholder returns. Likewise, Prins’ comment that “congress” was helping push this along surely didn’t bode well for the success of such an undertaking given their long history of incompetence and failures.
It would seem that the US and Europe are filled with clones of the know-it-all professor who I discuss in the opening of this commentary while developing and/or resource-rich countries are like the student. It is hard for me to believe that companies that have zero experience mining are going to somehow produce lithium competitively compared to established producers. I also do not think that they will make many if any significant leaps in cleaning up their existing chemistry without the technology being outsourced.6
What I do suspect is that these efforts will fall flat on their face for the most part just like the policies of those who run the countries that house the bulk of their factories. Meanwhile, do not be surprised if industry in BRICS+ member countries grows to fill the void created by dying western big oil and chemical companies. What most people in the west do not appreciate is that you simply cannot turn on a dime when it comes to making changes of the type being discussed here. Just to open a mine alone generally takes no less than twenty years and for a country that has at best a “C” infrastructure it is doubtful that needed upgrades to electrify everything will occur before its debt load exceeds 50 trillion USD and a total collapse occurs.
Before I conclude I don’t want the reader to misunderstand this author. The bulk majority of his scientific career has focused on green chemistry and he has literally risked his life to make advances in this area. Additionally, this author has invested a great deal of his meager savings towards such research. As such, he may be the only polymer scientist to use his own money towards the endeavor of making changes to chemistry that are beneficial to the planet as a whole. At this juncture I prefer the approach attributed to G.K. Chesterson, “Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”7 In conclusion, the most probable outcome is countries that continue to rely on oil into the near future and also make transitions to alternative energy sources at the proper stage in their development will dominate the world stage while those who rushed to make such changes without proper thinking/planning will flounder in a state of perpetual decay.
Footnotes:
- At the time gold was around $1,000/oz.
- The window to buy gold is closing in this author’s opinion and war has already started.
- This was before I learned of their long entrenched history with the Nazis which made me realize that the bulk of negative PR they have obtained over the years is well-deserved. I have much more to say about these topics in the future. Sage advice on dealing with such situations can be found in the book entitled “Special Treatment” by Alan Abrams where the father of Werner Goldberg tells him “If somebody doesn’t want you, don’t run after them.”
- Note, Dr. R.P. Quirk told me many years ago (this author’s paraphrasing), “To never say never as things you thought were impossible chemistry-wise could eventually be done in some instances.” I would say the possibility of failure for them will be 99.9%.
- This doesn’t just apply to the scientists that work at these companies but includes those who work in other non-scientific positions.
- About ten years ago Exxon-Mobil put out one of their usual BS propaganda adverts telling the general public about how they made advances to their butyl rubber process that lowered energy consumption. What they didn’t mention is that the chemistry had been developed by Std. Oil in the late 1930s by Kraus and that they had simply never employed it. Furthermore, it is doubtful that to this very date that they modified the chemistry developed by Sparks and Thomas which came soon after Kraus in the 1940s. It reminds this author of the Ministry song, Lies, Lies, Lies..
- It would appear that the true origin of this statement is up for debate.