What has become clear from the science is that we cannot burn all of the fossil fuels without creating a very different planet.
My object will be first to show by what connections the history of the fossil bones of land animals is linked to the theory of the earth and why they have a particular importance in this respect.
In reality Republicans have long been at war with clean energy. They have ridiculed investments in solar and wind power bashed energy-efficiency standards attacked state moves to promote renewable energy and championed laws that would enshrine taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels while stripping them from wind and solar.
When the first fossils began to be found in eastern Africa in the late 1950s I thought what a wonderful marriage this was biology and anthropology. I was around 16 years old when I made this particular choice of academic pursuit.
Prayer does not use up artificial energy doesn't burn up any fossil fuel doesn't pollute. Neither does song neither does love neither does the dance.
The biggest tab the public picks up for fossil fuels has to do with what economists call 'external costs ' like the health effects of air and water pollution.
In addition to contributing to erosion pollution food poisoning and the dead zone corn requires huge amounts of fossil fuel - it takes a half gallon of fossil fuel to produce a bushel of corn.
Practically every environmental problem we have can be traced to our addiction to fossil fuels primarily oil.
Beyond reducing individual use one of our top priorities must be to move from fossil fuels to energy that has fewer detrimental effects on water supplies and fewer environmental impacts overall.
If we want to address global warming along with the other environmental problems associated with our continued rush to burn our precious fossil fuels as quickly as possible we must learn to use our resources more wisely kick our addiction and quickly start turning to sources of energy that have fewer negative impacts.
Why has not anyone seen that fossils alone gave birth to a theory about the formation of the earth that without them no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the globe.