The Chemical Plant That Is To Die For (ft. The LyondellBasell Channelview Complex)
Why hello there, traveler, and welcome to the "Apocalypse Tour." This is thee place to observe all the locations that had a significant impact on species 947's collapse (947 were also known as humanity [hyoo·ma·nuh·tee]). We discuss the physical locations that contributed to humanity's untimely end on a tiny planet called Earth in the year 90,423 XE (what humans may know as 2XXX AD).
Today, we are looking at the Channelview Complex. Located 20 miles east of downtown Houston [hyoo·stuhn], it began commercial operation in the late 1950s AD and, at its height, spanned almost 4,000 acres. The complex was not just one building but many, including an administration building and what historical propaganda referred to as the world's largest "propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol plant" (we will get to what those funny Earth words mean in a moment)
The Channelview Complex was owned by the petrochemical manufacturing company LyondellBasell [lun·dell·ba·sell] — note: a "company" is Earthling slang for a corporate oligarchy. LyondellBasell popularly made polyethylene and polypropylene, chemicals used to create a primitive material known as a "plastic." Plastics were pliable materials that could be molded into objects of various shapes, which allowed humans to quickly produce everything from cups to clothing.
However, as a byproduct of making these materials and other petrochemical derivatives, this facility also released what most species residing on a Tier 6 world would know as "death chemicals" (e.g., nitric oxide (NO), Volatile organic compounds, etc.) into Earth's puny atmosphere. The historical record even shows the company having to pay a fine in the ancient year 2021 to the regulatory agency known as the EPA [ee·pee·a] for violating their people's Clean Air Act (these efforts were obviously unsuccessful).
Cumulatively these chemicals had a detrimental impact on species 947's ability to exist on Earth. Carbon dioxide, in particular, trapped heat in Earth's atmosphere, warming the planet to unsustainable levels: various species died on mass, crops failed, and extreme weather increased. By the year 20XX, humanity's population had been culled from 8 billion to only a couple million. Its globalized society splintered into hundreds of thousands of isolated polities at various levels of technological development until finally being destroyed by REDACTED (see also the Fall of the Evermore Zealots and the Three Stars Corp Catastophy for more historical parallels).
Despite this well-documented drawback, the Channelview Complex was special to Earthlings for being one of the largest in the polity known as the United States of America [yoo·nai·tuhd stayts uhv uh·meh·ruh·kuh] to produce these petrochemicals and their deadly byproducts. Company leadership, in particular, was very proud of this feat because the facility earned them billions of "dollars" (i.e., fictional tokens used to perpetuate an elaborate caste system) for spewing these death chemicals into Earth's atmosphere. These tokens allowed members of the company's oligarchy to purchase contract labor or "jobs," which their society seemed to value more than their long-term survivability.
Even here though things were vastly unequal. The leader of this corporate oligarchy or "CEO" [see·ee·o] was paid 16 million of these tokens a year, which was well above the rate paid to the average citizen of the United States or even the average LyondellBasell contract laborer. For comparison, the median amount of tokens given to a human laborer in the United States in the distant year of 2020 was only about 67,000. LyondellBasell's contract laborers faired slightly better with a median "wage" of about 120,000 tokens.
For temporal visitors who want to visit the facility, we advise you to do some research. Do not only use the archaic search engine Google but also do proper reconnaissance to see what parts of this exhibit you would like to observe (note: employee deaths were known to occur from time to time, so please be careful travelers!)
Know that species 947 followed scarcity-centered ownership laws. These customs would make you eligible for confinement inside a torture facility known as a "prison" [pri·zn] if the company claims you entered their "property" without explicit consent. LyondellBasell employed property enforcers known as "security guards." Barriers called fences were also set up at major intersections to halt primitive land vehicles.
And so please take this information into consideration before respectfully visiting this part of humanity's tragic history.
Note — for the humans who have somehow bypassed our encryption protocols, take comfort in the fact that this is a joke from a normal human and not a retrospective on your species' imminent demise.
DO NOT use this information to stop this future because that would create a time paradox and go against your people's laws, as well as Medium's ToS., which I'm told are very important. I AM NOT encouraging you to take the law into your own hands, something I cannot do as an appendageless species.