https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-carbon/

Robert Hazen is one of five expert speakers on Scientific American’s 175th Anniversary Cruise to the Americas in March 2020. For more information on our 175th Anniversary Cruise, including a detailed itinerary, seminar descriptions and speaker bios, click here.

Look around you. Carbon is everywhere: In the paper of every book, the ink on its pages, and the glue that binds it; in the soles and leather of your shoes, the synthetic fibers and colorful dyes of your clothes, and the Teflon zippers and Velcro strips that fasten them; in every bite of food you eat, in beer and booze, in fizzy water and sparkling wine; in the carpets on your floors, the paint on your walls, and the tiles on your ceilings; in fuels from natural gas to gasoline to candle wax; in sturdy wood and polished marble; in every adhesive and every lubricant; in the lead of pencils and the diamond of rings; in aspirin and nicotine, codeine and caffeine, and every other drug you’ve ever taken; in every plastic from grocery bags to bicycle helmets, cheap furniture to designer sunglasses. From your first baby clothes to your silk-lined coffin, carbon atoms surround you.