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Showerthoughts_Mod t1_j1ji8f7 wrote

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Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"

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Umpteenth_zebra t1_j1jjsz2 wrote

There are more pressing problems. You shouldn't use fossil fuels because they're polluting anyway, but veganism is about not harming animals by encouraging exploitation by using their products.

Oil and gas come from ancient plants mainly, and you are not harming the ancient animals by using their fossils even if it did come from animals.

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AxialGem t1_j1jm75a wrote

How many times does it need to be said that oil doesn't come from dinosaurs for this stubborn myth to finally disappear?

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addy_daddy_07 t1_j1js9sp wrote

Largely from from plant matter and thought to be mostly algae

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AxialGem t1_j1jx8q8 wrote

Well, as I understand it, the vast majority of coal comes from, well, the carboniferous (litt. 'coal-bearing') and also from the permian. Dinosaurs didn't exist at that time.

Petroleum is found in sedimentary rocks, and is mostly zooplankton and algae. You know, sediment. Zooplankton is indeed animals, but things like fish eggs and small larvae of various stuff. For petroleum to form, organic matter needs to settle to the bottom of a body of water and decompose without oxygen.

Dinosaurs don't tend to do that in large amounts, for a couple of reasons.

1: Dinosaurs are vanishingly small percentage of the biomass of an ecosystem, especially compared with plants

2: As far as I know there were no (fully) aquatic dinosaurs, so it's not a likely place for them to die to begin with

In conclusion, saying that fossil fuels are made of dinosaurs is about as correct as saying that peanut butter is made of flies because the occasional fly part might be in there. It's misleading. I'm not a paleontologist or geologist, so feel free to correct me ofc, but I'm fairly confident it's not dinos lol

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LittleBullBoy t1_j1k6p5q wrote

I think what you’ve written makes sense.

I don’t know enough about different types of fossil fuels, where they are all found, and how it relates to dead things from the Mesozoic era to contest anything you’ve claimed.

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DkindCrhymes t1_j1knndp wrote

No it doesn’t. The vast majority of fossil fuels come from plants, namely trees during a specific interval in history, because detritivores hadn’t yet evolved the ability to break down lignin. Funny how many people actually think fossil fuels are derived from dinosaur remains.

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LittleBullBoy t1_j1ktrum wrote

If only I was willing to waste my time “researching” fossil fuels and the Mesozoic era to then anoint myself an expert in the field that’s do ‘doing my own research’. If only I was arrogant to think that these are such simple questions.

At what depths, and locations, are all types of fossil fuels found around the world?

What are all the locations and depths of dinosaur life that died ?

Calculate probability that, on some reasonable level, these remains formed hydrocarbon materials potentially used as fuel?

Super simple.

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Timigos t1_j1kylhu wrote

Stupid people shouldn’t post because they don’t understand science

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JD_Blaze t1_j1ld7fq wrote

True. Humans could even manufacture oil and refine gasoline from it... But multinational corporations take crude oil bc it has a better profit margin & they have to maintain the overwhelmingly successful guise of scarcity, bc that too is good for profit margins.

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Bottle_Nachos t1_j1ncs60 wrote

vegans aren't at fault that their environment is build on fossil fuels and animal products; if you're forced to use a car to survive, others don't have a right to nag about it.

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