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Post Carbon Institute Presents

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The Ultimate Roller Coaster Ride

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An Abbreviated History of Fossil Fuels

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It all started with a big bang.

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Wait, we don't have to go that far.

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The earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago.

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Still too far, try this;

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It's the middle ages,
people in Britain

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run out of fire wood
and start burning coal.

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But they use up
the coal in the ground,

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miners dig deep,
coal mines fill with water,

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Thomas Newcomen invents
a coal burning steam engine

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to pump out water
so miners can keep digging.

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James Watt makes it
practical for other uses.

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Now we have ingredients
for the industrial revolution.

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Fossil fuels and
a way to put them to work.

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All hell breaks loose.

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Coal miners bog down
logging coal,

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rails make it easier.

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Rails and steam engines
combined make a railroad.

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Michael Faraday makes
the first electric motor.

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Nicolas Tesla invents
alternating current.

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Soon utility companies start
burning coal to generate electricity.

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Meanwhile Edwin Drake drills
the first rock oil well in Pennsylvania

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And Carl Daimler (Benz) builds
an automobile running on petroleum.

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Coal, tar and oil are
turned into industrial chemicals

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and pharmaceuticals that prolong
life, more population growth.

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The Wright brothers start 
oil fueled aviation.

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Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch make
fertilizers from fossil fuels.

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Fertilizer and oil powered
tractors expand food production,

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feeding more people.

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WWI is the first
fossil fueled conflict.

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Then comes WWII giving us 
guided missiles and atom bombs.

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In between is a great depression,
partly caused by overproduction,

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powered assembly lines make
products faster than people need them.

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Advertising executives invent
consumerism to soak up overproduction.

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It's the 1950's and
advertisers use television

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to hook new generations
of consumers.

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In the 70's there
is an oil shock.

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Everyone shocked to realize
how depended they are on oil.

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With the energy crises
the environmental movement is born.

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But oil prices fall and
everyone forgets energy shortages.

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There is a showdown between
market and planned economies.

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Market wins, goodbye
"evil Soviet Empire".

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Politicians decide the
market will solve everything.

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Personal computers arrive.

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Globalization takes over
when the market notices

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labor is cheaper in China.

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Suddenly everyone has a cellphone.

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But world oil production
stalls out.

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China is now burning half the world's
coal to make export products.

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But where will China get more
coal and oil to fuel more growth?

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Environmental problems everywhere,
rising CO2 levels lead to record heat waves,

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floods, droughts, oceans acidify.

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Top soil erodes by 25 billion tonnes
a year from industrial agriculture.

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Ancient forests disappear,
species go extinct at a 1000 times normal rates.

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Fresh water is
scarce or poluted.

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Oil companies drill in miles of sea-water
because the easy oil is gone.

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But a deep water oil-platform
explodes and fouls the gulf of mexico.

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Manufacturing moves to polluting
countries where labor is cheap,

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while the US becomes a casino,
the financial sector is 40% of the economy.

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But Wall street is
over-leveraged,

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banks fail, unemployment soars,
credit evaporates,

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the economy is
on the verge of collapse!

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Ok, present time.

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It's amazing how far
we have come in 200 years.

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Just 3 human life times,

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from the beginning of
industrialism until now.

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But where are we headed?

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We can't keep doubling human population,
we can't keep dumping carbon in the atmosphere.

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We can't keep ruining topsoil,
we can't keep growing population and consumption.

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Or basing our economy
on depleting fossil fuels.

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We can't just print more money
to solve the debt crisis.

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It's been an exhilarating ride
but there are limits.

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Now, it's not the end of the world
but we have to do 4 things fast.

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Learn to live without fossil fuels.

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Adapt to the end of economic
growth as we've known it.

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Support 7 billion humans and stabilize
population at a sustainable level.

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And deal with our legacy of
environmental destruction.

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In short, we have to live within nature's
budget of renewable resources,

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at rates of natural replenishment.

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Can we do it?

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We have no choice!

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Alternative energy sources are important

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but none can fully replace
fossil fuels in the time we have.

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Also, we've designed and built our
infrastructure for transport, electricity

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and farming to suit oil, coal and gas.

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Changing to different energy sources
will require us to redesign cities,

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manufacturing processes,
health care and more.

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We'll also have to rethink some
of our cultural values.

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None of our global problems
can be tackled in isolation

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and many cannot be fully solved.

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We have to prepare
for business as unusual.

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Our best goal is resilience.

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The ability to
absorb shocks and keep going.

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If we do nothing, we still get to a
post carbon future but it will be bleak.

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However if we plan the transition,

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we can have a world that supports
robust communities of healthy creative people

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and ecosystems with
millions of other species.

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One way or the other,
we are in for the ride of a lifetime.

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Understand the issues and pitch in.
It's all hands on deck!

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Narrated by:
RICHARD HEINBERG

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Illustrated by:
MONSTRO