How did we make plastic that isn’t biodegradable and is so bad for the planet, out of materials only found on Earth?

Question

I just wondered how we made these sorts of things when everything on Earth works together and naturally decomposes.

In: 6571

Answer 1

During the Carboniferous Period, plants with real wood and bark first appeared. Nothing on the planet at the time could digest them (lignin and suberin) at the time, so they didn’t rot. Huge amounts were buried and formed coal beds. Much of the rest burned in continent-wide wildfires. It took the appearance of fungi to change the process. So this is not the first time an indigestible organic material has showed up.