ABSTRACT
Fossil fuels provided the backbone of the industrial revolution,
contributing enormously to the development of modern society, but
were of benefit only to some, not all, of the world’s population and
also polluted the environment and increased the relative proportion
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Population growth, coupled
with climate change (contributed by the burning of fossil fuels), is
presenting the human world with perhaps its most severe problem
and challenge in living history.
