We have been using plastics for less time than fusion has been “just around the corner.” Going back to a plastics-free lifestyle will be easier than magicking up fusion power.

The point is: the claim is just that, a claim. A big, sweeping, depressing claim, without any actual evidence to back it up, and which doesn't hold up against a bit of critical analysis.

To be clear: I'm not saying we need fusion to keep our environment inhabitable for humans. Personally, I'm bullish on more effective use of the resources we already have, first and foremost through pigovian taxes. I'm pessimistic about the politics required to achieve that. But I disagree that we're doomed. That's patently false.

We are essentially doomed, because we have an economy geared around infinite expansion. No level of Pigovian taxation is going to suppress that. Taxes will lead to the house-for-every-family, bedroom-for-every-person, and tv-in-every-room lifestyles being unattainable and then people start rioting.

To produce food sustainably we need to find sources for phosphates other than mining. To produce anything out of metal we need to find sources of metals other than mining. We can’t keep going on the assumption that Earth’s crust has limitless supplies of resources, because we need that land to live on and grow food.

As for the politics required to get Pigovian taxes accepted, it’s very easy to run negative campaigns to scare people such as the Murdoch campaign during the Gillard Government in Australia telling people that the carbon pricing scheme was going to make a lamb roast cost $100, and that people wouldn’t be able to afford to turn on the air conditioning in Summer.