Fossil Fuels

Middle ages - Start burning coal

Jan 1, 1000

During the middle ages, people in Britain ran out of firewood, they started burning coal.

Samuel Newcomen invented a coal burning steam engine

Jan 2, 1000

They used up the coal on the ground, so they dug deep, but the coal mines were filled with water. Then, Samuel Newcomen invented a coal burning steam engine to pump out water so that the miners can keep digging for coals.

Rails make it easier, railroad created.

Jan 3, 1000

Coal miners bog down lugging coal, rails make it easier. Rails and steam engine combined and to make a railroad.

Michael Faraday made the first electric motor

Jan 4, 1000

Michael Faraday made the first electric motor.

Nicola Tesla invented alternating current

Jan 5, 1000

Nicola Tesla invented alternating current.

Utility companies started to burn coal to generate electricity

Jan 6, 1000

Utility companies started to burn coal to generate electricity.

Edwin Drake drilled the first rock oil well in Pennsylvania

Jan 7, 1000

Edwin Drake drilled the first rock oil well in Pennsylvania.

Gottlieb Daimler built an automobile running on petroleum

Jan 8, 1000

Gottlieb Daimler built an automobile running on petroleum.

Coal tar and oil were turned into industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals that prolong life

Jan 9, 1000

Coal tar and oil were turned into industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals that prolong life; More population growth.

The Wright brothers started oil fueled aviation

Jan 10, 1000

The Wright brothers started oil fueled aviation.

Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch made fertilizer from fossil fuels

Jan 11, 1000

Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch made fertilizer from fossil fuels. Fertilizer and oil-powered tractors expand food production, it feeds more people.

First fossil fueled conflict - WW I & WW II

Jan 12, 1000

World war one is the first fossil fueled conflict. Then comes world war
two, giving us guided missiles and atom bombs. In between is a great depression partly caused by overproduction. Powered assembly lines make products faster than people need them.

Advertising executives invent consumerism to soak up overproduction

Jan 12, 1000

Advertising executives invent consumerism to soak up overproduction.

Advertisers use television to hood new generations of consumers

Jan 13, 1000

Advertisers use television to hood new generations of consumers.

Oil shock

Jan 14, 1000

In the 1970s, there was an oil shock. Everyone's shocked to realize how dependent they are on oil. With the energy crisis, the environmental movement is born. But oil prices fall, and everyone forgets energy shortages. There was a showdown between market and planned economies. Market won. Politicians decided that the market will solve everything.

Personal computers arrived

Jan 15, 1000

Personal computers arrived.

Globalization took over when the market notices labor is cheaper in China

Jan 16, 1000

Globalization took over when the market notices labor is cheaper in China.

Everyone has a cell phone; World oil production stalls out

Jan 17, 1000

Suddenly everyone has a cell phone, but world oil production stalls out.

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

Jan 18, 1000

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

Rising CO2 levels and also sorts of environmental issues

Jan 19, 1000

Rising CO2 levels led to record heat waves, floods, droughts. Oceans acidify. Topsoil erodes by 25 billion tons a year from industrial agriculture. Ancient forests disappear. Species go extinct at a thousand times normal rates. Freshwater is scarce or polluted.

Oil companies drill in sea (easy oil gone)

Jan 20, 1000

Oil companies drill in miles of sea water, because the easy oil is gone, but a deep water oil platform explodes and fouls the gulf of Mexico.

Manufacturing moves to polluting countries where labor is cheap and other crisis

Jan 21, 1000

Manufacturing moves to polluting countries where labor is cheap while the U.S. becomes a casino. The financial sector is 40% of the economy. Wall street is over-leveraged. Banks fail, unemployment soars, credit evaporates. The economy is on the verge of collapse.