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In Asia, the global oil crisis is turning into an everything crisis
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/04/business/global-oil-crisis-shortage-everything-intl-hnk-dst
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/04/business/global-oil-crisis-shortage-everything-intl-hnk-dst
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20 Comments
timwa@lemmy.snowgoons.ro · 97 pts · 158d
If this helps Asia get off its addiction to wrapping absolutely everything in about 5 layers of plastic, there may be an upside here.
(For the uninitiated: if you buy a packet of biscuits in Europe, you'll get a cardboard box, maybe one interior wrap of plastic, and the biscuits. The same packet of biscuits in China will see every two biscuits wrapped in its own sealed plastic bag. Each of those will have a small plastic bag of "oxygen remover" for God knows what reason. The bags will all then be carefully nestled into a thick plastic tray. The whole lot will then get another layer of plastic wrapped around it. Everything is like this there (and most of South East Asia in my experience) - it's genuinely nuts.)
pycorax@sh.itjust.works · 44 pts · 158d
It's the humidity in tropical regions. If it's not sealed properly, your biscuits will absorb the moisture in the air and turn soft. They're not oxygen removers, they're water vapour removers and it's there for a reason. It's not because we hate the environment or we're nuts. Hell, English as far as I know doesn't even have a word in common usage for it. In Hokkien we have a word "lau hong" which literally means to lose air as in lose the crispness of the biscuit.
Hell, there's also so many ants here that when I was in Finland, I was shocked that people leave biscuits as is without putting them into containers. If you do it in South East Asia, your biscuits would have become an ant colony in hours.
livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net · 30 pts · 158d
I'm not sure if that is accurate, as Brazil is also a high humidity tropical country, which does not have all those plastic layers in their products and their plastic is way slimmer than those I've seen used in Asia.
As far as I am aware, they also have one of the biggest and most diverse ant populations, yet their biscuits are as crispy as any without all the extra plastic
timwa@lemmy.snowgoons.ro · 26 pts · 158d
They're labelled "oxygen removers", so I rather assume that's what they're for. Dessicant is something else entirely.
I own a property & live part of the year in Thailand, and have worked in China for a decade - I don't need grandma to teach me to suck ants. Amazingly, in all that time I've discovered that a single layer of plastic and a bag clip is, in fact, entirely adequate to keep both humidity and ants out of food.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 158d
Staling. One L.
In reality, it's "gone soggy from humidity". The plastic layer 'preserves crispness'.
Surp@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 156d
Environment > your biscuits crispness
RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world · 52 pts · 158d
This isn't surprising, 20% of the world's supply of literally anything would have profound impacts with how tightly coupled the world supply chain is. When that resource is a basic need such as petrol, things tend to become dramatic quite quicly
arin@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 158d
Iran ironically helping us get off the oil and plastic koolaid.
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 155d
Iran has done more for renewable energies than anyone else.
tomatolung@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 158d
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net · 8 pts · 158d
It's pay walled.
RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 158d
Not for me. Looks like CNN it's not free everywhere. Interesting.
Here you go
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 155d
It is not just oil. Lots of fertilizer, Helium and alluminium also come via Hormuz.
Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca · -11 pts · 158d
I'm totally judging that article by the AI image they used. Negative view even before I open the link.
xthexder@l.sw0.com · 16 pts · 158d
All 4 images in the article are real photographs credited to a specific photographer with a date...
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 157d
They credit the photographer underneath the image, unless you're suggesting they made that up as well?
Eheran@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 158d
Which one is AI?
Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 158d
The ones with tricycles. Or maybe they edit out all identifiable brands. But it still feels off.
xthexder@l.sw0.com · 8 pts · 157d
Those are called Tuk Tuks, they're very common in Thailand and other parts of Asia
https://www.theluxurysignature.com/2024/06/05/on-three-wheels-the-history-and-tradition-of-thailands-tuk-tuks/
xthexder@l.sw0.com · 2 pts · 157d
Actually looking more at this image it looks like these are a little closer to a motorcycle side-car design. It's basically the same concept though, but it could have a different local name in the Philippines.