Some chemical reactions proceed with alacrity. Most, though-including many that are industrially important-need a helping hand in the form of a catalyst.
Organism engineers design microbes to do industrially useful things, like bioremediate toxic waste sites or replace petroleum-based textiles with renewable ones.
On the other hand, lead was easy to extract and work, and almost embarrassingly profitable to produce industrially, and tetraethyl lead did indubitably stop engines from knocking.
And that's just on top of the normal and still damaging air pollution and water pollution that comes from an industrially intensive and dirty activity.
And even if it takes off, it's unclear whether it's any better for our health or the health of the planet than the industrially produced meat most of us eat today.
But a priority will be less industrialised crops such as berries and avocados, which have not experienced yield gains comparable to industrially grown maize and soya over recent decades.