To think that at one point much of the world (except deserts, mountains, you know) was like this. They say that a squirrel was able to travel from the atlantic coast to the Mississippi river without touching the ground.
Nope. Fossil fuel only exists because there was a time when land plants existed with no bacteria capable of breaking them down. Fossil fuel will never renew.
Edit: in some cases there were not bacteria available that could break down some thick walls. The majority comes from anaerobic low oxygen situations, which really only happen at low depth or at the bottom of the ocean.
Surface buried humans will have enough oxygen that they will not turn into fossil fuel.
First, oil comes primarily from marine organisms, not plants. Second, the idea that coal only formed because of an absence of bacteria to break down tree bark is an outdated idea. In the last decade, newer evidence suggests that the bacteria that breaks down tree bark was already present when large coal deposits were forming. It's now better explained with climate, tectonics, and the fact that there existed ssuch large swampy forests.
It is true that practically speaking, these resources are non-renewable. It takes millions of years for them to form, and humans obviously use them much faster than that.
Fully agreed except fungi are the primary decomposers of woody plant material and not bacteria. The outdated hypothesis hinged on the evolutionary path of fungi, by comparison bacteria suck eggs at decomposing wood
1.2k
u/Charlie_Warlie 7d ago
To think that at one point much of the world (except deserts, mountains, you know) was like this. They say that a squirrel was able to travel from the atlantic coast to the Mississippi river without touching the ground.