This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy Season 1, Episode 3 review: All about the rubber

It’s not all about the bass in This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy Season 1, Episode 3. It’s all about the rubber. Yes, this is what makes the world go ’round.

While there’s the popular saying that money makes the world go ’round, Kal Penn takes a look at something else that does this in This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy Season 1, Episode 3. It’s all about the rubber.

Now, get your mind out of the gutter. This isn’t about that rubber. It’s about the rubber that is used to make sneaker soles, car tires, and so much more. The material may mostly be natural (there are synthetic options but they’re not good enough for tires) but it’s not in abundance. In fact, there’s a huge concern about the future of rubber and life as we know it.

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Penn takes us through the necessity of rubber throughout the episode. And it’s used in more ways than you would likely think, with natural rubber being the most important. Without it, we wouldn’t have tires because the synthetic options aren’t strong enough to withstand the abrasion from the road.

So, without natural rubber, we wouldn’t have deliveries in the way we know it. We’d be back to the world pre-cars. So, everything being delivered by horse and cart.

Hmm, no thank you!

While sharing why rubber is so important, the episode delves into how rubber is created and why it’s under such threat. Between disease and low wages for those who collect the latex sap from rubber trees, we’re losing the trees that the rubber comes from and it takes seven years for one tree to mature.

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You’ll certainly want to watch this full episode to understand the growing problem. But like other episodes, there is a bright side. Continental in Germany is looking at creation rubber (well, tires) from dandelions. How? You’ll be amazed.

One of the things about This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy tries to do is teach us something new in the middle of some of the facts that we may already know. This episode starts us from the beginning. Rather than assuming we know something, it teaches us as if we don’t and then grows into something much bigger.

Far better than the second episode, this is the one that I was looking forward to watching and it certainly didn’t disappoint. My one big question was why didn’t the discussion of luxury vs. essential come up — there was a huge focus on the monster truck tires but, to me, that’s a luxury that should be the first to go if it really comes down to a huge problem with the supply of rubber. Maybe it’s not such a major deal.

What do you think of “The Rubber Episode?” What have you loved about This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy so far? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

This Giant Beast That Is the Global Economy is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.