Growth of chemical industry vital

Growth of chemical industry vital

The chemical industry is on the rise, showing the kind of growth one normally sees in crops treated with agrochemicals. While the rest of Indonesia's economy continues to dig its own hole, the chemical industry is pointing the way toward a brighter future of chemically enhanced happiness.

Most people think of Grateful Dead concerts (I know Jerry Garcia is no longer with us and the Dead have ended their long strange trip), and all-weekend raves when they think of chemicals.

However, chemicals play a much more important and useful role in the world than simply altering the perceptions of teenagers and aging hippies.

The chemical industry actually is a socially responsible, environmentally friendly component of so much which is necessary for people to live comfortably and well.

For example, could the agricultural industry produce enough food to feed the world if it were not for chemicals? From chemically improved seeds which provide for greater yield to the herbicides which kill the weeds that threaten food crops, chemicals play a vital role in agriculture.

And with a continual growth in human population, agriculture will come more and more to depend on new innovations in the chemical industry to provide the basis for the increases needed in agricultural production to feed the growing population.

Chemicals also are needed in petroleum refining and the pulp and paper industry. Without chemicals for the petroleum industry, we would probably all be walking. And who wants to walk in this city with all that pollution rotting your lungs. Thankfully, in large part due to the chemical industry, we are able to drive our cars everywhere and avoid all that nasty pollution.

Without the chemicals used in the pulp and paper industry, you would not be able to read about the wonders of the chemical industry in this newspaper. And I wouldn't have a job.

And how about plastics processing, which would not be possible without chemicals. I think that if we all took the time to think about it, we would agree that plastic touches our lives in innumerable ways every single day of our lives. Can you imagine living without Tupperware, because I sure can't. And this is just one small example of the significant presence plastic has in the world.

I think, even though most of us don't realize it, that we all owe a big thank you to chemicals for giving us the opportunities and lives they have given us.

A friend to the environment

All those bleeding heart environmentalists who believe that if it is not natural it is unnatural probably believe chemicals do more harm than good.

The chemical industry is fully aware that if they destroy the environment they destroy themselves. Sure, they could make a quick killing, in terms of profit, by abusing the environment for their own ends. But because the chemical industry is in it for the long term, they are concentrating on environmentally sustainable growth.

This is why the industry has come up with such products as Roundup (R), a herbicide with low toxicity and which does not remain in the soil. It would have been cheaper to manufacture a herbicide which simply killed the weeds, soil and everything else it touched, but then the industry's future would have been destroyed as well.

The director general of Indonesia's chemical industry realizes the importance of protecting the environment, calling on all companies in the industry to be environmentally oriented. With this kind of leadership, it is no wonder Indonesia's chemical industry is so sensitive to issues involving the environment.

With all the wonders of chemicals, including our complete dependence on them to maintain our quality of lives, it is not surprising the chemical industry in Indonesia is experiencing such exciting growth.

Naturally, this kind of growth would not be possible if Indonesia did not offer the chemical industry the kind of environment which makes companies eager to invest. And judging from the number of multinational chemical companies which have been drawn to Indonesia, the environment here is ripe for chemicals.

With vast natural resources, a huge labor pool and the growth of Indonesia's industrial base in the 1990s, not to mention the potential for even greater growth once the economic crisis ends, Indonesia is a veritable Eden for chemical companies.

Showing the strength of the industry, Indonesia's chemical exports rose last year, and its dependence on imported raw materials declined. All in all, the chemical industry here is poised and ready to compete, and win, on the global chemical market. The chemical industry really serves as a good role model for the country's other industries.

Chemicals are vital to humans and yet it is extremely easy to overlook their importance. Chemicals are not the final product of the numerous industries in which they play such a vital role. They simply are part of the process which makes the final product possible. Chemicals can be seen as supporting actors, and who ever remembers who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Underappreciated and overlooked, chemicals make so much in our lives possible, and, in Indonesia, the chemical industry is helping lead the way to economic recovery.

You may not know their names, but you still have to love those chemicals. (David Eyerly)