In message , Martin Brown
writes
Lawrence Jenkins wrote:

FFS can't people get a grip and some perspective.
WITHOUT THE USE OF FOSSIL FUELS HUMANS WOULD HAVE BECOME EXTINCT
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO

You are a liar. Fossil fuels played little or no part in prehistory.

Small amounts of coal near the surface were exploited from around 200BC
in China but that is as far back as it goes. A few local surface
outcrops in the UK were drift mined from Roman times. Newcastle had
industrial scale coal before most places with active mines in the 13th
century. Until the late middle ages mostly they used wood, charcoal or
animal fats for heat and light.

Coal only became really important after the 1615 Royal Proclamation
forbidding the use of wood for glass making and so spurring on the
industrial revolution. The remaining wood was needed for shipbuilding.

Mineral oil was even later before people really used it seriously.
First successful oil well dates from 1859 in the USA. Tallow, beeswax,
plant oils and whale oil were the preferred materials in antiquity.

Regards,
Martin Brown


Don't confuse him with fact.
--


Jim