#Scottish fossil

[uk-fossils]

Stigmaria Fossil Stem Carboniferous Coal Measures Scotland UK | Musselburgh Plant Fossil with Certificate

This listing is for a beautifully preserved Stigmaria fossil stem, originating from the Carboniferous Period, specifically the Coal Measures of Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. This is a genuine piece of ancient plant life from approximately 310–300 million years ago, dating to the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) sub-period.

The fossil shown in the photos is the exact specimen you will receive. It has been carefully selected for its distinct features and natural history significance, making it ideal for collectors, educators, and anyone interested in palaeobotany.

Geological & Palaeontological Details:

Fossil Type: Root/stem structure (rhizomorph) of an ancient lycopsid plant

Genus: Stigmaria (likely belonging to the root system of Lepidodendron or Sigillaria)

Order: Lepidodendrales

Geological Period: Carboniferous

Stage: Pennsylvanian (Westphalian)

Stratigraphy: Coal Measures (part of the Scottish Coal Measures Group)

Location: Musselburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Depositional Environment: Low-lying equatorial swamp and floodplain environments where dense lycopod forests flourished. These environments formed the organic-rich layers that eventually transformed into coal seams.

Morphology & Features:

Stigmaria is characterised by a cylindrical, branching root structure with spirally arranged rootlet scars, forming the distinctive pitted pattern seen on the fossil’s surface

The preserved features show clear detail of the rootlet attachment points that supported anchorage in soft, waterlogged substrates

Typically preserved in grey shale or siltstone, reflecting anoxic burial conditions ideal for fossilisation

Provides key insights into the rooting systems of Carboniferous lycopod trees, the dominant flora of ancient coal-forming forests

Notability: Stigmaria fossils are among the most iconic plant fossils of the Carboniferous. Their distinct morphology and association with Lepidodendron and Sigillaria make them critical to understanding the ecology and evolution of the Earth’s earliest forested ecosystems. This specimen, from the historically significant coalfields near Musselburgh, represents a rare and regionally important find.

Additional Details:

All our fossils are 100% genuine specimens

Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Photo shows the exact fossil for sale

Scale cube = 1cm – please refer to photos for precise sizing

Whether for education, research, or private display, this specimen offers a tangible connection to the lush primeval landscapes that once covered prehistoric Scotland. A perfect addition to any fossil or palaeobotanical collection.

[cowchildren]

Parent Advent says no to fossil fuels

[caraghfettes]

My results came in for my graded unit! and as my lecturer said I've passed with a "good A pass"! So I thought I'd get more descriptive with my work. This was my graded unit and the work in progress/development for it, using my part time job as inspiration; working in a phone shop and coming across customer banter and hearing "this belongs in a museum" on the daily I took it literal and created my very own fossil phone using 3D materials such as foam, clay and experimenting with plaster and even silicone molds! Before the final marking took place my piece was even framed and hung in the college halls (not to brag too much.. but it was the first one in my class to be displayed 😁) very happy with how it turned out and the mark I received for it!

[claashpumpkins]

Swirly close ups 😵‍💫

[reasonsforhope]

"The Hague made international headlines for being the first city in the world to approve legislation prohibiting marketing of fossil fuel-related products and services. This major ruling, issued earlier this month, seeks to limit the promotion of items with a high carbon footprint, such as gasoline, diesel, aviation, and cruise ships. The ban, which goes into effect at the start of next year, will affect both government and privately funded advertisements, including those on billboards and bus shelters throughout the Dutch metropolis.

This groundbreaking legislation establishes an important precedent in the global fight against climate change. Other cities have attempted to limit the reach of high-carbon items through council ordinances or voluntary agreements with advertising operators, but The Hague’s prohibition is the first that is legally binding. It is a major step forward for cities around the world that want to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change head-on.

A response to global calls for action

The prohibition comes after UN Secretary-General António Guterres called earlier this year for countries and media outlets to take tougher action to combat fossil fuel advertising, citing parallels with existing tobacco advertising bans. Guterres stressed that, as with the tobacco industry in the past, fossil fuel businesses are contributing to a worldwide public health crisis—in this case, climate change. Governments can help change public behavior and prevent the normalization of high-carbon lifestyles by limiting their capacity to market.

Several cities have already made tiny moves in this direction. Edinburgh, for example, approved a council vote in May prohibiting fossil fuel-related ads in city-owned venues. The Scottish capital also prohibits enterprises that sell these products from sponsoring events or developing partnerships. However, unlike The Hague’s legislation, Edinburgh’s ban is voluntary and only applies to council spaces.

A legally binding first

The Hague’s new law is significant since it is legally binding. The restriction affects not only specific items, such as gasoline, diesel, and fossil fuel-powered vehicles but also businesses such as aviation and cruise ships. However, the rule exempts fossil fuel firms’ political advertising or efforts supporting a generic brand, allowing these businesses to keep prominence...

The impact of advertising on behavior

Advertising’s impact on consumer behavior is well-documented, and many experts say that fossil fuel marketing undercut climate legislation by encouraging unsustainable behavior. Thijs Bouman, an associate professor of environmental psychology at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, stated that “fossil fuel advertising normalizes the use of high-carbon products and services, making it more difficult to change consumer habits.” ...

Catalyzing change worldwide

The Hague’s move may have repercussions beyond its borders, spurring similar actions in other cities around the globe. Cities such as Toronto, Canada, and Graz, Austria, are already launching campaigns to outlaw advertising for fossil fuels. In the Netherlands, both Amsterdam and Haarlem have outlawed marketing for climate-damaging products like beef, but these measures have yet to become legislation.

Sleegers believes that The Hague’s move will act as a spur for other towns to follow suit. “More cities have a wish to implement the fossil ad ban through ordinance, but they were all waiting for some other city to go first. The Hague is this city,” she said, predicting that more local governments will now feel empowered to act...

As the world grapples with the rising costs of climate change, The Hague’s pioneering move provides a potential model for other cities looking to minimize their carbon footprints. With cities like Toronto and Amsterdam keeping a careful eye on things, this legislation has the potential to start a global campaign to prohibit fossil fuel advertising. 

More cities may follow suit in the coming years, hastening the transition to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable future."

-via The Optimist Daily, September 26, 2024

[probablyasocialecologist]

The ruling from Lord Ericht to suspend the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects was announced today (30 January) following court proceedings late last year brought by NGOs Greenpeace UK and Uplift. Greenpeace had challenged both projects while Uplift focused its attentions on Rosebank. Lord Ericht ruled that the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) and then-Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng acted unlawfully when approving Jackdaw in early 2022 because insufficient information had been provided in the environmental impact assessments considering downstream emissions – those produced when the oil and gas produced is finally used. Lord Ericht reached the same conclusion regarding the OGA and then-Energy and Net-Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho’s approval of Rosebank in mid-2023. Both approvals were justified on the grounds of job creation and energy security, despite the fact that oil and gas are globally traded commodities, limiting the UK’s ability to reserve production for itself. Around 80% of North Sea oil production is for export. Extracting fossil fuels from the Rosebank oil field project, being developed by Equinor, and the Jackdaw project, being developed by Shell Group subsidiary BG International, will now be banned unless either developer can present updated environmental impact assessments. Ministers should assess whether the figures could be compatible with legally binding carbon budgets. The final opinion documents state: “The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers.   The factors advanced by Shell, Equinor and Ithaca in respect of their private interest do not justify the departure on equitable grounds from the normal remedy of reduction of an unlawful decision.”

30th January 2025

[reality-detective]

The Green New Deal/Climate Crisis Scam 🤔

[mindblowingscience]

New analysis of ancient bones and fossils found in a Highland cave has revealed them to be "fishier than the average bear" and could even suggest polar bears once roamed Scotland. Advancements in the chemical study of bones and teeth have enabled experts at the University of Aberdeen and National Museums Scotland to reevaluate fossils collected at the Inchnadamph "Bone Caves" in Sutherland. Analysis of samples uncovered evidence of fish in the diet of animals that, until now, had been identified as brown bears.

Continue Reading.

[tensaiproductionz]

I know I have really no right to mention this as I’m not solely in the Chainsaw Man universe, but I just realized something that I wasn’t sure would connect.

The original invention for a chainsaw had nothing to do with wood or violence - but I had everything to do with trying to help someone give birth.

Around the late 17th century, Scottish doctors by the name of John Aitken and James Jeffray, created an item that was to be used in symphysiotomy, which was to widening of the pubic symphysis. What this means is that it was suppose to force open the canal opening/cut it open because babies had often had trouble being able to get out of the birthing canal due to their heads. This instrument was a prototype that was a hand cranked chainsaw with a chain like from a watch, specifically for this medical purpose, and would be later made into a more refined version of a chainsaw by orthopedist Bernhard Hein in 1830s. It wasn’t until 1883 when the chainsaw would be used for the purpose of only for board cutting, with later inventions going to what we know as straight wood cutting as time passed.

Yet another thing I’ve noticed is that when Pochita/Chainsaw man actually eat someone, they disappear from existence - does not matter if you’re a devil or a mortal or a concept - you are erased from memory, history, and from the face of the planet. The funny thing about life is that you cannot stop life from being born - every generation before and after will continue on until the end of days - yet because of that it has put pressure on living beings to adapt or die in the process. Many species have died and have been forgotten about from this, and while there are the rare skeletons and impressions left in dirt or rock, to show they existed, they cannot tell the story of how they got there, and the way they died. Nature will take and often bury those that came before us, along with the history and knowledge they once had. It would be appropo to assume that even certain concepts and ideas have been lost and forgotten to time and history, and there’s no way to be able to get them back even if we have books, documents, fossils, etc that we could look at and judge an estimate. Life, even if it’s abundant and constant, has always taken and removed metaphorical ideas and objects, and made us unable to remember them unless we actively try to preserve their history, or try to seek them out.

So it made me think of the idea of Pochita - and maybe another devil - had fused together to create an entity that both erases but also allows life to flourish. Why they refer to him as mainly Chainsaw man because he is neither the former or the latter anymore - they had created a new entity, and that’s what is present as of right now. Heck, even the organ scarf I’ve seen him have makes me think of an umbilical cord - something that often happens to babies while they’re still in the womb - and desperate to get affection like a baby that lost its mother cause the dude just wanted a hug.

Idk, maybe I’m bullshitting and maybe this theory doesn’t come out as true, but it’s a pattern I’ve noticed, and was curious if someone else thought it up.

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwback Thursday: The Father of Geology

This is James Hutton, a Scottish geologist from the 18th century and he is credited as the father of modern geology. He used to go on walks around his home and became fascinated with the rocks of the area. He developed many theories but it was a long time before he told anyone his ideas because he was " one of those who are much more delighted with the contemplation of truth, than with the praise of having discovered it."

Here's part of a dissertation he wrote:

The solid parts of the present land appear in general, to have been composed of the productions of the sea, and of other materials similar to those now found upon the shores. Hence we find reason to conclude:

1st, That the land on which we rest is not simple and original, but that it is a composition, and had been formed by the operation of second causes. 2nd, That before the present land was made, there had subsisted a world composed of sea and land, in which were tides and currents, with such operations at the bottom of the sea as now take place. And,

Lastly, That while the present land was forming at the bottom of the ocean, the former land maintained plants and animals; at least the sea was then inhabited by animals, in a similar manner as it is at present. Hence we are led to conclude, that the greater part of our land, if not the whole had been produced by operations natural to this globe; but that in order to make this land a permanent body, resisting the operations of the waters, two things had been required; 1st, The consolidation of masses formed by collections of loose or incoherent materials;

2ndly, The elevation of those consolidated masses from the bottom of the sea, the place where they were collected, to the stations in which they now remain above the level of the ocean.

Siccar Point, one of the places Hutton studied and developed his hypotheses.

In simplified terms, Hutton reasoned that there must have been innumerable cycles, each involving deposition on the seabed, uplift with tilting and erosion then undersea again for further layers to be deposited and that this was due to the same geological forces operating in the past as the very slow geological forces seen operating at the present day, the thicknesses of exposed rock layers implied to him enormous stretches of time.

Tune in tomorrow to learn about the most prominent life in the Ordovician seas. Fossilize you later!

[scotianostra]

Prof Joseph Black chemist, researcher, teacher, first to identify carbon dioxide, was born on April 16th 1728.

Born in Bordeaux to an Irish father and a Scottish mother, Joseph Black spent his working life in Scotland. He is considered one of the world’s most eminent chemists and one of the founding fathers of the science of chemistry.

Black was a modest man and an excellent teacher. His meticulous research techniques were an inspiration to others in his day and have remained so today. Joseph was educated at home by his mother up until he was 12 when he was sent to live with relatives in Belfast and attend school there.

Four years later he went to Glasgow University to study medicine. Scottish doctor and chemist Dr William Cullen, (yes the same guy from my earlier post) was beginning a new course of lectures in chemistry at this time. Black became Cullen’s laboratory assistant. Chemistry was a passion for Black, alongside his medical education, which he completed in Edinburgh in 1754.

Black was always a meticulous chemist, keeping careful note of all his results and measurements. It was this which led to his discovery of carbon dioxide. He intended to pursue this study further. However from 1756 he became occupied with duties associated with his new appointment as Professor of Chemistry at Glasgow University.

Black met James Watt at Glasgow, University and they became friends and collaborators. Watt the skilled engineer investigating the efficiency of steam engines produced model engines for Black to use in his lectures on the properties of heat.

As well as Watt, another close friend of Black was James Hutton. Hutton left his collection of fossils to Black upon his death in 1797. Both men were Fellows of the newly founded Royal Society of Edinburgh. They were also members of the Oyster Club, a group of intellectuals who met regularly in Edinburgh. In 1766, Black moved back to Edinburgh to become Professor of Chemistry. He was known as an excellent teacher who inspired a number of his students to pursue careers in chemistry.

He was also widely respected both as a scientist and a physician. Several medical works of the late 18th century contain dedications to him. Black was called upon as a consultant to give his expert opinion in many different areas. Although Black appears to have had many friends, he never married. He died in 1799, quietly in his chair, holding a cup of milk. Black’s obituary was written by the philosopher Adam Ferguson.

Black has a rather impressive grave in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities have named their chemistry buildings after him.

[etym-a-day]

blithering, adj.

First attested in the 1880s as the present participle of the verb blither, this word is now a fossil word, attested in Modern English usage only in the phrase blithering idiot, in which it has been consistently attested since its earliest documentation.

The verb blither from which it comes is first attested in 1868 and is a variant of the Scottish and Northern English dialects' word blether (first attested in the 1520s), both variants meaning "to talk nonsense". In other dialects of English, this same word was blather (also first attested in the 1520s), a form of the word which has survived into Modern English usage, even if somewhat rarely in the present time.

The verb blather (again, blether in certain Northern dialects) is likely from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse blaðra, meaning "to mutter, to gossip", which itself is either imitative, or from Proto-Germanic *blodram, "something inflated" (from which we get Modern English bladder), which in turn is from Proto-Indo-European *bhle-, "to blow", which is itself almost certainly imitative in origin.

[cognitivejustice]

Positive environmental stories from October 2024

MOAR!

[officiallordvetinari]

Below are 10 Wikipedia featured articles. Links and descriptions are below the cut.

The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), also known as a Mississippi paddlefish, spoon-billed cat, or spoonbill, is a species of ray-finned fish. It is the last living species of paddlefish (Polyodontidae). This family is most closely related to the sturgeons; together they make up the order Acipenseriformes, which are one of the most primitive living groups of ray-finned fish. Fossil records of other paddlefish species date back 125 million years to the Early Cretaceous, with records of Polyodon extending back 65 million years to the early Paleocene. The American paddlefish is a smooth-skinned freshwater fish with an almost entirely cartilaginous skeleton and a paddle-shaped rostrum (snout), which extends nearly one-third its body length. It has been referred to as a freshwater shark because of its heterocercal tail or caudal fin resembling that of sharks, though it is not closely related. The American paddlefish is a highly derived fish because it has evolved specialised adaptations such as filter feeding. Its rostrum and cranium are covered with tens of thousands of sensory receptors for locating swarms of zooplankton, its primary food source.

The fauna of Scotland is generally typical of the northwest European part of the Palearctic realm, although several of the country's larger mammals were hunted to extinction in historic times and human activity has also led to various species of wildlife being introduced. Scotland's diverse temperate environments support 62 species of wild mammals, including a population of wild cats, important numbers of grey and harbour seals and the most northerly colony of bottlenose dolphins in the world. Many populations of moorland birds, including the black and red grouse, live here, and the country has internationally significant nesting grounds for seabirds such as the northern gannet. The Scottish crossbill is the only endemic vertebrate species in the UK. Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world; it is estimated that the total number of Scottish marine species exceeds 40,000. The Darwin Mounds are an important area of deep sea cold water coral reefs discovered in 1998. Only six amphibians and four land reptiles are native to Scotland, but many species of invertebrates live there that are otherwise rare in the United Kingdom.

Several attempts at a Franco-Mongol alliance against the Islamic caliphates, their common enemy, were made by various leaders among the Frankish Crusaders and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Such an alliance might have seemed an obvious choice: the Mongols were already sympathetic to Christianity, given the presence of many influential Nestorian Christians in the Mongol court. The Franks—Western Europeans, and those in the Levantine Crusader states—were open to the idea of support from the East, in part owing to the long-running legend of the mythical Prester John, an Eastern king in an Eastern kingdom who many believed would one day come to the assistance of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. The Franks and Mongols also shared a common enemy in the Muslims. However, despite many messages, gifts, and emissaries over the course of several decades, the often-proposed alliance never came to fruition.

The Free State of Galveston (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Galveston Island) was a satirical name given to the coastal city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas during the early-to-mid-20th century. Today, the term is sometimes used to describe the culture and history of that era. During the Roaring Twenties, Galveston Island emerged as a popular resort town, attracting celebrities from around the country. Gambling, illegal liquor, and other vice-oriented businesses were a major part of tourism. The "Free State" moniker embodied a belief held by many locals that Galveston was beyond what they perceived were repressive mores and laws of Texas and the United States. In one of the more famous examples of this, a state committee, investigating gambling at the fabled Balinese Room, was told by the local sheriff that he had not raided the establishment because it was a "private club" and because he was not a "member".

The Kylfings (Old Norse Kylfingar; Estonian Kalevid; Hungarian Kölpények; Old East Slavic Колбяги, Kolbiagi; Byzantine Greek Κουλπίγγοι, Koulpingoi; Arabic al-Kilabiyya) were a people of uncertain origin active in Northern Europe during the Viking Age, roughly from the late ninth century to the early twelfth century. They could be found in areas of Lapland, Russia, and the Byzantine Empire that were frequented by Scandinavian traders, raiders and mercenaries. Scholars differ on whether the Kylfings were ethnically Finnic or Norse. Also disputed is their geographic origin, with Denmark, Sweden and the Eastern Baltic all put forward as candidates. Whether the name Kylfing denotes a particular tribal, socio-political, or economic grouping is also a matter of much debate.

Mosasaurus (/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; "lizard of the Meuse River") is the type genus (defining example) of the mosasaurs, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils of Mosasaurus were found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city of Maastricht in the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780 was famously nicknamed the "great animal of Maastricht". In 1808, naturalist Georges Cuvier concluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities to monitor lizards but otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas of extinction.

Several organisms are capable of rolling locomotion. However, true wheels and propellers—despite their utility in human vehicles—do not play a significant role in the movement of living things (with the exception of certain flagella, which work like corkscrews). Biologists have offered several explanations for the apparent absence of biological wheels, and wheeled creatures have appeared often in speculative fiction.

The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then rapidly during the Industrial Revolution in Wales until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in northwest Wales. These sites included the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the Dinorwic Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries, and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather than quarried. Penrhyn and Dinorwig were the two largest slate quarries in the world, and the Oakeley mine at Blaenau Ffestiniog was the largest slate mine in the world.

The social history of viruses describes the influence of viruses and viral infections on human history. Epidemics caused by viruses began when human behaviour changed during the Neolithic period, around 12,000 years ago, when humans developed more densely populated agricultural communities. This allowed viruses to spread rapidly and subsequently to become endemic. Viruses of plants and livestock also increased, and as humans became dependent on agriculture and farming, diseases such as potyviruses of potatoes and rinderpest of cattle had devastating consequences.

The High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of King Alexander III in 1286, which was an indirect cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence. At the close of the ninth century, various competing kingdoms occupied the territory of modern Scotland. Scandinavian influence was dominant in the northern and western islands, Brythonic culture in the southwest, the Anglo-Saxon or English Kingdom of Northumbria in the southeast and the Pictish and Gaelic Kingdom of Alba in the east, north of the River Forth. By the tenth and eleventh centuries, northern Great Britain was increasingly dominated by Gaelic culture, and by the Gaelic regal lordship of Alba, known in Latin as either Albania or Scotia, and in English as "Scotland".

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

One Morning This Sadness Will Fossilize

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/lETLMc4 by windriderr A firework was an explosion, and a carefully timed one at that. Gunpowder caught with a flash, gases shoving down from the flame with a shockwave that sent the colourful paper-plastic rocket soaring high into the sky, a manmade imitation of a star that burned twice as bright. A second spark sent it burning outwards, the fiery trail giving way to a spring dandelion of colour and light. Strontium red, Barium green, Copper blue. Objectively, something beautiful. Objectivity, however, has little sway in the realm of perception. - Or: It's new years' eve. Jon is left with a little too much time to think. Words: 1606, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen, M/M Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Georgie Barker, (mentioned) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Asexual Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Aromantic Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Aroace Jon truthing again I'm afraid, I wouldn't call this projection but there might be some if you squint, ahem anyway new years' amirite?, having fun yet Jon? Huh??? Are you????, Hurt No Comfort, don't worry about that tag it's fine everything's fine shhhhhhhhhh, Set in Episodes 159-160 | Scottish Safehouse Period (The Magnus Archives), this kind of accidentally turned into an analysis of love and also situationships, But don't worry about it, oh yeah there's also gay yearning we love some gay yearning in this house, don't worry about the other tags, trust me. look into my eyes, are these the eyes of someone who would hurt you, (yes), I'd say no beta we kayak like tim but tragically I do have a beta so, yes beta we explode like tim read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/lETLMc4

[probablyasocialecologist]

Campaigners say the destruction of the Earth’s atmosphere through the extraction of fossil fuels for profit is an act of criminality. As in all bureaucratic crimes, there is in the fossil fuel industry a diffusion of responsibility, but this does not lessen the personal responsibility. It seems likely that the criminality of knowingly extracting fossil fuels will at some point be formally established. This illustrates the importance of the work of a number of climate change cases being brought to court around the world. This lies at the heart of the #ExxonKnew campaign and the case against RWE in a court in Germany, as well as in the work of the Scottish barrister Polly Higgins to realise an ecocide law.

If criminality is established, there will be a necessity to determine at what point ‘people knew they were involved in an ecological crime’, and either actively or passively ignored this reality. Perhaps that point will be 1988 when the World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere was held in Toronto. Or 1990 when the Global Warming Report, edited by Leggett, was published. Perhaps it will be 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. Or 1995 at the first COP in Berlin. Or 1997 at the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. Or 2015 at the Paris Agreement. Or at the moment when the principle of criminality is established.

James Marriott and Terry Macalister, Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation