#coal forest fossil

[uk-fossils]

British Carboniferous Fossil Plants & Leaves – Coal Measures UK, Authentic Paleozoic Specimen

An outstanding collection piece featuring authentic British Carboniferous Fossil Plants and Leaves from the classic Coal Measures deposits of the Carboniferous Period, approximately 310–320 million years ago. These fossils were formed in the lush, swampy forests that once dominated prehistoric Britain, now preserved as detailed impressions in shale or siltstone.

The fossil assemblage typically includes various species of ferns (Neuropteris, Alethopteris), seed ferns (Pecopteris), lycopsids (Lepidodendron, Sigillaria), and horsetails (Calamites), representing the dominant vegetation of the time.

Fossil Type: Fossilised Plant Impressions (Leaves, Stems, and Fronds)

Geological Age: Carboniferous – Pennsylvanian Subperiod (Westphalian Stage)

Formation: Coal Measures (Upper Carboniferous)

Depositional Environment: These plants grew in lowland tropical wetlands and coal-forming swamps. Rapid burial by sediment in oxygen-poor environments led to remarkable preservation of delicate plant structures in fine-grained muds and silts.

Morphological Features:

Detailed vein and frond impressions

Often preserved as flat carbon films or positive/negative moulds

Fronds may show branching patterns and midrib structures

Notable:

Fossils from the iconic British Coal Measures

Includes representatives of extinct tree-sized club mosses and seed ferns

Excellent for educational use, fossil collectors, and display

Actual specimen photographed – scale rule = 1cm per square

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and are supplied with a Certificate of Authenticity. The photo displays the exact specimen offered. Please refer to the image for full dimensions.

This fossilised record of ancient forest life offers an incredible window into Earth’s prehistoric ecosystems. A classic and educational specimen from the Carboniferous coal-forming landscapes of the UK.

[reasonsforhope]

"Winning what’s been called the ‘Green Nobel’ an Indian environmental activist has been recognized for saving a 657 square-mile forest from 21 coal mines.

From the New Delhi train station to high-end hotels to the poorest communities, virtually no one in India is free from periodic blackouts. As part of the Modi regime’s push for a developed and economically dominant India, power generation of every sort is being installed in huge quantities.

GNN has reported this drive has included some of the world’s largest solar energy projects, but it also involves coal. India is one of the largest consumers of coal for electricity generation, and Hasdeo Aranya forests, known as the “Lungs of Chhattisgarh,” are known to harbor large deposits.

The state government had been investigating 21 proposed coal mining blocks across 445,000 acres of biodiverse forests that provide crucial natural resources to the area’s 15,000 indigenous Adivasi people.

Along with the Adivasi, tigers, elephants, sloth bears, leopards, and wolves, along with dozens of endemic bird and reptile species call this forest home. It’s one of India’s largest intact arboreal habitats, but 5.6 billion metric tons of mineable coal threatened to destroy it all.

Enter Alok Shukla, founder of the Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee, which began a decade ago advocating for the protection of Hasdeo through a variety of media and protest campaigns, including sit-ins, tree-hugging campaigns, advocating for couples to write #savehasdeo on their wedding invitations, and publishing a variety of other social media content.

Shukla also took his message directly to the legislature, reminding them through news media coverage of their obligations to India’s constitution which enshrines protection for tribal people and the environments they require to continue their traditional livelihoods.

Beginning with a proposal to create a single protected area called Lemru elephant reserve within Hasdeo that would protect elephant migration corridors and cancel three of the 21 mining proposals, Shukla and the Adivasi began a 160-mile protest march down a national highway towards the Chhattisgarh state capital of Raipur.

They hadn’t even crossed the halfway mark when news reached them that not only was the elephant reserve idea unanimously agreed upon, but every existing coal mining proposal had been rejected by the state legislature, and all existing licenses would be canceled.

“We had no expectations, but the legislative assembly voted unanimously that all of the coal mines of Hasdeo should be canceled, and the forest should be saved,” Shukla says in recollection to the Goldman Prize media channel.

“That was a very important moment and happy moment for all of us.”

Shukla shares the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize with 5 other winners, from Brazil, the US, South Africa, Australia, and Spain."

-via Good News Network, May 20, 2024. Video via Goldman Environmental Prize, April 29, 2024.

[justafewberries]

What impact would Panemian temperatures have on the coal industry?

okay this is an exciting development so thank you for asking! the model i used for this gumdrops and global warming post actually has us moving AWAY from coal entirely by 2300.

Now, I used this article here, which says:

Roughly by 2300 we may burn up most of the easily available fossil fuel sources.

And we know this to be similar but not completely the case in Panem, as the mines are deeper over the years, but they're still burning coal across Panem. We know they have an energy district, so we can assume they have some clean/renewable energy sources, but d12 is still mining and shipping off coal, so they still use it somewhere.

So the continued use of fossil fuels would make temperatures even higher. To make it worse, the ocean is a carbon sink. From what I know about carbon sinks (not much, shockingly), if the ecosystems are unable to adapt to the rising temperatures, and the sea-level rises rapidly, it reduces the ability to contain carbon. This is counter-intuitive, as you'd think more ocean = more space, but according to William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science's study, this isn't the case! The more rapidly the ocean rises, the worse it gets.

Their results show that carbon storage more than doubles when the rate of sea-level rise increases from 2 to 5 mm/yr, and continues to increase at rise rates of up to 10 mm/yr. Past this “tipping point,” carbon storage begins to decline as marsh replaces forest and the seaward edge of the marsh suffers more rapid erosion.

Meaning the carbon would have nowhere to go. It would be even hotter than the model predicts.

Granted I haven't crunched the numbers on how quickly the sea level rose in thg, but it seems pretty rapid to erode so much land in less than 300 years, if it is 2300.

Now, as I mentioned, they do have a energy district, leading me to believe they have green energy in some regard, and none of our protagonists seem especially interested in the infrastructure and utilities of Panem, so we can't know for sure, but with the described lights and energy strain the Capitol would put on the grid alone, I am inclined to believe coal is what powers the districts, and solar/green energy is what powers the Capitol.

We know the Victor's Village has consistent power from SOTR, at least, in D3, but D3 would need electricity for their production anyway. So some districts are more reliant on energy than others. D12 is still mining, proving there is some need for coal somewhere, and Rue asks if Katniss gets all the coal she wants in the first book, so she at least knows what coal is, but this wouldn't stand up to strict scrutiny in court. she may just know what coal is, and not have to use it. still, it's the best we have.

I don't think the Capitol is concerned about the ecosystem as much as it's concerned about its own lights, so I don't think rising temperatures would affect the coal economy in a way we think. If anything, the drying up of coal would raise prices more than any ecological measures they might take.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

If the dinosaurs never went extinct then would there still be fossil fuels?

- dinosaurs didn’t go extinct, birds are dinosaurs

- fossil fuels come from fossil plants and marine invertebrates. Dinosaurs are not the source of fossil fuels.

- fossilisation happens regardless of whether or not a species goes extinct, there are fossils of living species. It’s just something that happens to dead organisms in the right conditions

- fossil fuels amass when there’s just giant quantities of dead organic material, like in the Carboniferous Coal Forests. So yeah, they were always going to exist in a world where life does so well.

[acti-veg]

Animal farming ranks alongside fossil fuel production as one of the two most destructive industries on Earth. It’s not just the vast greenhouse gas emissions and the water and air pollution it causes. Even more important is the amount of land it requires. Land use is a crucial environmental metric, because every hectare we occupy is a hectare that cannot support wild ecosystems.

Wild ecosystems are crucial for the survival of most species on Earth, and of Earth systems themselves: for example, the rainforest and cerrado of South America help to regulate weather systems. The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed above all by cattle ranching, whose expansion is driven in part by the foodie fad for “grass-fed” beef. The cerrado is being trashed primarily by soy farming to produce feed for pigs and chickens.

Feeding ourselves with animal products is a fantastically profligate and inefficient way of using land, swallowing at least four times as much as all the other food we grow while providing just 17% of our calories. More than any other factor, it drives the destruction of forests, wetlands, savannas, rivers and other habitats. Weaning ourselves off these products is as important as weaning ourselves off oil, gas and coal.

Governments seeking to ban alternatives to animal products have scarcely sought to disguise their motivation: protectionism. Several politicians and officials have openly admitted that they’re trying to defend established industries – meat and dairy – against competition. In every other sector they claim to favour “free markets”, and protectionism attracts major penalties. In this sector, it is enforced by legislation.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

In 1979, when President Jimmy Carter famously unveiled 32 solar panels on the White House roof, he remarked, “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”

Despite his reputation as an often ineffective president, he had an enormous effect on the environment as an advocate for clean energy, protecting lands and regulating toxic chemicals.

Jimmy Carter was an early adopter of clean energy in an effort to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil following the oil crisis that preceded his presidency. Four years before Carter took office, the member nations of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries placed an oil embargo on the U.S. and several other western nations in response to their support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. As a result, the price of oil rose by more than 300%, while American dependence on foreign oil was simultaneously rising. 

After Carter took office, he responded by creating the U.S. Department of Energy. One of Carter’s major goals for the agency was to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels by pushing for the domestic production of energy. While this push wasn’t perfect — part of his solution for the complex crisis included propping up domestic coal power — it was also a first-of-its-kind endorsement for clean energy, championing sustainable sources like solar and nuclear. “No one can embargo the sun,” Carter once said. “No cartel controls the sun. Its energy will not run out. It will not pollute our air or poison our waters. The sun’s power needs only to be collected, stored and used.”

In 1979, a second oil crisis hit, this time spurred by the decline in oil trade in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Carter responded by laying out plans to expand renewable energy sources and made a pledge that 20% of American energy would be produced by renewable sources by 2000, but was voted out of office before many of these plans could come to fruition. 

Carter also protected far more land than any U.S. president in history. In 1978, he advocated for the National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA,) which aimed to protect vast amounts of Alaskan wilderness from commercial use and destruction. After the bill failed due to a last-minute filibuster, Carter used executive authority to protect more than 56 million acres of Alaskan wilderness, designating those lands as National Monuments. This action alone would more than double the size of the National Park system.

In December of 1980, roughly six weeks before Carter left office, ANILCA was debated again in Congress, and passed. Upon Carter’s signature, the law became the most expansive federal protection of American lands in history, granting protection to more than 157 million acres of Alaskan wilderness, which included further protections for much of the land Carter had protected two years prior. Of those 157 million acres, it also designated nearly ten million acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System, more than nine million acres to the Wilderness Preservation System, and more than three million acres to the National Forest System.

[u-winoneoneone]

The Earth is heating up faster than ever—here’s why we should.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it’s happening right now, affecting our weather, ecosystems, and daily lives. Rising global temperatures, stronger typhoons, and unpredictable seasons are just some of the signs that our planet is in trouble. But what’s causing this crisis, and what can we do to slow it down?

In this blog, we’ll break down the causes, effects, and possible solutions to climate change. Whether it’s reducing carbon emissions, protecting forests, or simply making small eco-friendly choices, every action counts. Because at the end of the day, we only have one Earth—and it’s up to us to protect it.

Causes of Climate Change

Climate change isn’t just happening on its own—human activities are the main reason our planet is heating up at an alarming rate. Here are the biggest contributors:

1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) for electricity, transportation, and industry releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat, creating a "greenhouse effect" that warms the Earth. The more we burn, the hotter it gets.

2. Deforestation

Trees absorb CO₂, helping to balance the Earth's climate. But large-scale deforestation—especially for agriculture, logging, and urban expansion—means fewer trees to absorb greenhouse gases. This leads to higher CO₂ levels in the atmosphere, worsening global warming.

3. Industrial Pollution

Factories and industries release harmful pollutants into the air and water. From toxic chemicals to excessive CO₂ emissions, industrial activities significantly contribute to climate change. The demand for mass production only fuels this problem further.

4. Agriculture & Livestock

Believe it or not, farming plays a major role in climate change. Large-scale agriculture, especially cattle farming, releases methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than CO₂. Overuse of fertilizers also releases nitrous oxide, another powerful contributor to global warming.

5. Waste & Overconsumption

Landfills full of plastic, food waste, and non-biodegradable materials produce methane as waste decomposes. Meanwhile, the constant demand for new products leads to more energy consumption, pollution, and resource depletion.

Effects of Climate Change

Climate change isn’t just a problem for the future—it’s already affecting the world in ways we can see and feel. From extreme weather to rising sea levels, here’s how the planet is changing:

1. Rising Global Temperatures

The Earth’s average temperature has been increasing over the past century, leading to more intense heatwaves. Hotter temperatures don’t just make summers unbearable—they also dry up water sources, damage crops, and increase the risk of wildfires.

2. More Extreme Weather

Stronger typhoons, longer droughts, and heavier rainfall are all linked to climate change. Warmer ocean temperatures fuel more powerful storms, leading to devastating floods and destruction. Countries like the Philippines, which are prone to typhoons, are especially vulnerable.

3. Melting Ice & Rising Sea Levels

As global temperatures rise, glaciers and ice caps are melting at alarming rates. This causes sea levels to rise, threatening coastal communities with flooding and land loss. Low-lying areas may eventually become uninhabitable.

4. Disruptions to Ecosystems & Wildlife

Many animals struggle to adapt to changing temperatures, leading to habitat loss and species extinction. Coral reefs are bleaching due to warmer ocean temperatures, affecting marine life and the people who depend on them for food and livelihood.

5. Food & Water Shortages

Extreme weather and rising temperatures affect agriculture, making it harder to grow crops. Droughts dry up water sources, while floods destroy farmland. This can lead to higher food prices and shortages, affecting millions of people worldwide.

6. Health Risks

Climate change increases the spread of diseases as warmer temperatures allow bacteria, viruses, and mosquitoes to thrive. Pollution from burning fossil fuels also causes respiratory problems like asthma and lung disease.

Why Should We Care?

Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a crisis that affects everyone, from the air we breathe to the food we eat. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. Here’s why we should all be paying attention:

1. It Directly Affects Our Lives

Rising temperatures and extreme weather aren’t just headlines—they impact our daily lives. Stronger typhoons, heatwaves, and food shortages will continue to worsen if we don’t act. Countries like the Philippines, which are highly vulnerable to natural disasters, will suffer the most.

2. The Future is at Risk

If climate change continues unchecked, future generations will inherit a planet that���s nearly impossible to live in—one with scarce resources, frequent disasters, and irreversible damage. Acting now means protecting our future.

3. It’s an Economic Disaster Waiting to Happen

Climate-related disasters destroy homes, businesses, and infrastructure, costing billions in damages. Agricultural losses due to droughts and floods also lead to economic instability, making life harder for everyone, especially in developing countries.

4. It’s Not Just About Nature—It’s About People

Rising sea levels threaten to displace millions, turning entire communities into climate refugees. Poorer populations, who contribute the least to climate change, are the ones who suffer the most. This is a human crisis, not just an environmental one.5. We Can Still Make a DifferenceThe good news? It’s not too late. Scientists say that if we take action now—by reducing emissions, protecting forests, and shifting to renewable energy—we can slow down climate change and lessen its worst effects. Every effort counts, no matter how small.

What Can We Do?

Climate change may feel like an overwhelming problem, but the truth is, we all have the power to make a difference. From individual choices to government action, here’s how we can help slow down climate change:

1. Reduce Carbon Emissions

Walk, bike, or use public transportation instead of cars when possible. Save electricity—turn off lights, unplug devices, and switch to energy-efficient appliances. Support clean energy sources like solar and wind power.

2. Cut Down on Waste

Reduce, reuse, and recycle to minimize waste in landfills.Say no to single-use plastics���bring your own reusable bags, bottles, and containers.Compost food waste to reduce methane emissions from landfills.

3. Protect Forests & Green Spaces

Support tree-planting initiatives and conservation projects.Avoid products linked to deforestation, like unsustainable palm oil.If possible, plant trees or care for a small garden—it helps absorb CO₂.

4. Make Sustainable Food Choices

Eat more plant-based meals—meat production is a major source of greenhouse gases.Buy locally grown food to cut down on carbon emissions from transportation.Avoid food waste by planning meals and storing food properly.

5. Support Climate Action & Policies

Stay informed about climate issues and vote for leaders who prioritize environmental protection.Support businesses that practice sustainability and ethical production.Participate in clean-up drives, climate strikes, or awareness campaigns.

6. Spread Awareness

Talk about climate change with friends and family—education is key!Share information on social media to encourage more people to take action.Lead by example—small lifestyle changes can inspire others to do the same.

Conclusion

Climate change is real, it’s happening now, and it affects all of us. From rising temperatures to extreme weather and food shortages, the consequences are undeniable. But while the problem is big, so is our ability to make a difference.By making small changes in our daily lives—reducing waste, conserving energy, and supporting sustainable choices—we can help slow down climate change. More importantly, by raising awareness and pushing for stronger environmental policies, we can create lasting change for future generations.The Earth is our only home, and protecting it isn’t just an option—it’s a responsibility. The time to act is now.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Conservationists on Wednesday sued the Trump administration over its attempts to boost the oil industry by rolling back green policies.

Filed by the environmental non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, the litigation focuses on Trump’s day-one “unleashing American energy” executive order. In an effort to boost already booming US energy production, the emergency declaration directed federal agencies to identify all policies and regulations that “unduly” burden fuel producers and create “action plans” to weaken or remove them.

The lawsuit seeks information about the development of these action plans from four federal agencies: the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.

Since the executive order was passed, the administration has announced plans to eliminate scores of other green policies. Last week, for instance, it emerged that the EPA plans to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluting companies to collect and report their greenhouse gas emissions, ProPublica reported.

The legal challenge follows a February request for information filed by the advocacy group under the Freedom of Information Act (Foia), for which officials have not yet provided any records.

“Given the substantial implications for air and water, wildlife and nature, climate, public lands, and the environment generally through the development of energy resources,” the lawsuit says, “the Center is deeply interested in, and affected by, how the action plans implementing the Executive Order could harm, undermine, or negate the Center’s longstanding efforts to protect the environment.”

The lawsuit comes as federal agencies have slashed protections for public lands, approved air pollution permits for fossil fuel-processing facilities without environmental reviews, and gutted slews of green policies and spending plans while firing thousands of civil servants.

It also follows record donations to Trump’s presidential campaign from oil, gas and coal companies, sparking concerns of corruption. In a June meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump infamously asked fossil fuel bosses for $1bn in campaign contributions, while vowing to unravel dozens of Biden-era environmental policies.

“It seems obvious that polluters and other special interests are completely in the driver’s seat and probably ghost-writing all of Trump’s pro-fossil fuel directives,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Why else would Trump officials be so defiant about illegally keeping the public in the dark?”

The EPA declined to comment on the pending litigation. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Foia was an important tool for environmentalists during Trump’s first term. A request filed by the Sierra Club led to the former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s resignation, and records obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity led to an investigation by the inspector general of then interior secretary David Bernhardt.

[elbiotipo]

in the face of things like the floods in Brazil, how do you have ANY hope that the biosphere won’t be completely and utterly destroyed? I’m at my wit’s end. It seems like we’ve passed the point of no return. There isn’t any hope

how do you keep motivated

The biosphere won't ever be completely and utterly destroyed. Unless an asteroid impact boils the oceans away, that's just hyperbole.

And the FIRST thing you need to stop doing about climate change right now is hyperbole, because 1) that's the new strategy of "let's keep things as they are" people, "climate change is irreversible and we're all doomed so why do anything" and 2) it makes people to think you don't know what you're talking about and you're just a pointless doomer so they don't even listen. I'm a biologist, but you also should know what biosphere is, you know our biosphere has passed through several mass extinctions and has survived. Use the right terms.

What do I mean by this, am I being a condescending pedant? No, well maybe a little and I apologize, but my point is, it means that to talk about climate change, you need to know what's at risk. It's not "the Earth will warm 2°C and EVERYTHING WILL DIE", it's NOT. Global warming in such a short timescale means the disruption of global climate and weather in unpredictable ways which leads to natural catastrophes such as these. It means the disruption of ecosystems and agroecosystems because of this, in ways that we don't fully understand because it involves many factors. At the very worst case scenario, it means crop failures with all that implies, and we've already seen this with droughts, but even then, it would require adaptation and food distribution, just as today. There is a lot more to climate change, but what's important here is that it doesn't mean that we will all catch fire or drown when the average temperature reaches a certain degree. There is not such thing as a "point of no return".

What can we do about this? First of all, assist those who are inmediatly affected by these natural disasters. Second of all, recognize that these things will increase and start building up measures against it; change land use and preserve forests and wetlands so that floods have natural sinks, build defenses and canals in cities, reforest and protect land affected by drought, every place will have to adapt in a different way. Third, and this is already happening, transition away from fossils and aim at decarbonization, not only stop emissions but actually reverse them.

I say this is already happening because as of right now, solar and wind energy is at its cheapest ever and coal plants aren't being built nearly anywhere anymore. This transition is going through very rough times as the fossil fuel industries are very powerful, and this is why governments need to be pressured by popular action to complete it once and for all. But the results are already there. The worst case scenario of a 4°C warming planet, which would have meant crop failures and total melting of the ice caps, is increasingly far away, we are NO longer in the business as usual scenario. Are we there yet? No. Is a warming over 1.5°C inevitable? Most probably yes. Will this cause disasters and will require a tremendous effort to fight back? Definitevely. But every effort counts. Every coal plant that closes, every hectare of forest preserved, every time people choose nature over profit, every effort counts towards keeping us away from catastrophe.

Do you efffort then! Go get educated instead of dooming, learn what a biosphere is! And a biosphere isn't a small thing, you won't save it alone. It will take the efforts of millions of people to protect it. Millions of people who are already hard at work. Educate yourself and join them!

[flowerishness]

Equisetum telmateia subsp. braunii (giant horsetail)

Strange things are going on - on the other side of the tracks.

In the spring, horsetails produce these alien spore cones, technically called a strobilus. Horsetails are very ancient plants, the earliest ones go back to the Devonian, 380 million years ago. Land plants had just invented roots, leaves and seeds at this time and horsetails were right there at the beginning: Act 1, Scene 1. Equisetum telmateia has been accurately described as a 'living fossil'.

Horsetails have an interesting connection with the energy industry. In the Carboniferous period horsetails grew a hundred feet tall (30m) and those swamp forests produced over 90% of the world's coal deposits. As luck would have it, just as I was taking these photos, a CN freight train rumbled by with a hundred tanker cars of petroleum heading south. Of course oil is another type of fossil from Earth's ancient past. That's why they call it a fossil fuel.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

what kinds of creatures do you think lived in the mountains and glacial biomes of the Carboniferous period?

I don't think, from the top of my head, that we have any extensive fossil record of such biomes from the carboniferous. We don't even understand much about the terrestrial ecosystems beyond the coal forests.

I think we have some stuff from polar regions but especially mountains are a horrible place if you want to be preserved as a fossil. Mountains are places where erosion happens, not deposition.

[uk-fossils]

British Carboniferous Fossil Plants & Leaves – Coal Measures UK, Authentic Paleozoic Specimen

An outstanding collection piece featuring authentic British Carboniferous Fossil Plants and Leaves from the classic Coal Measures deposits of the Carboniferous Period, approximately 310–320 million years ago. These fossils were formed in the lush, swampy forests that once dominated prehistoric Britain, now preserved as detailed impressions in shale or siltstone.

The fossil assemblage typically includes various species of ferns (Neuropteris, Alethopteris), seed ferns (Pecopteris), lycopsids (Lepidodendron, Sigillaria), and horsetails (Calamites), representing the dominant vegetation of the time.

Fossil Type: Fossilised Plant Impressions (Leaves, Stems, and Fronds)

Geological Age: Carboniferous – Pennsylvanian Subperiod (Westphalian Stage)

Formation: Coal Measures (Upper Carboniferous)

Depositional Environment: These plants grew in lowland tropical wetlands and coal-forming swamps. Rapid burial by sediment in oxygen-poor environments led to remarkable preservation of delicate plant structures in fine-grained muds and silts.

Morphological Features:

Detailed vein and frond impressions

Often preserved as flat carbon films or positive/negative moulds

Fronds may show branching patterns and midrib structures

Notable:

Fossils from the iconic British Coal Measures

Includes representatives of extinct tree-sized club mosses and seed ferns

Excellent for educational use, fossil collectors, and display

Actual specimen photographed – scale rule = 1cm per square

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and are supplied with a Certificate of Authenticity. The photo displays the exact specimen offered. Please refer to the image for full dimensions.

This fossilised record of ancient forest life offers an incredible window into Earth’s prehistoric ecosystems. A classic and educational specimen from the Carboniferous coal-forming landscapes of the UK.

[reasonsforhope]

Masterpost: Reasons I firmly believe we will beat climate change

Posts are in reverse chronological order (by post date, not article date), mostly taken from my "climate change" tag, which I went through all the way back to the literal beginning of my blog. Will update periodically.

Especially big deal articles/posts are in bold.

Big picture:

Mature trees offer hope in world of rising emissions (x)

Spying from space: How satellites can help identify and rein in a potent climate pollutant (x)

Good news: Tiny urban green spaces can cool cities and save lives (x)

Conservation and economic development go hand in hand, more often than expected (x)

The exponential growth of solar power will change the world (x)

Sun Machines: Solar, an energy that gets cheaper and cheaper, is going to be huge (x)

Wealthy nations finally deliver promised climate aid, as calls for more equitable funding for poor countries grow (x)

For Earth Day 2024, experts are spreading optimism – not doom. Here's why. (x)

Opinion: I’m a Climate Scientist. I’m Not Screaming Into the Void Anymore. (x)

The World’s Forests Are Doing Much Better Than We Think (x)

‘Staggering�� green growth gives hope for 1.5C, says global energy chief (x)

Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View (x)

Young Forests Capture Carbon Quicker than Previously Thought (x)

Yes, climate change can be beaten by 2050. Here's how. (x)

Soil improvements could keep planet within 1.5C heating target, research shows (x)

The global treaty to save the ozone layer has also slowed Arctic ice melt (x)

The doomers are wrong about humanity’s future — and its past (x)

Scientists Find Methane is Actually Offsetting 30% of its Own Heating Effect on Planet (x)

Are debt-for-climate swaps finally taking off? (x)

High seas treaty: historic deal to protect international waters finally reached at UN (x)

How Could Positive ‘Tipping Points’ Accelerate Climate Action? (x)

Specific examples:

Environmental Campaigners Celebrate As Labour Ends Tory Ban On New Onshore Wind Projects (x)

Private firms are driving a revolution in solar power in Africa (x)

How the small Pacific island nation of Vanuatu drastically cut plastic pollution (x)

Rewilding sites have seen 400% increase in jobs since 2008, research finds [Scotland] (x)

The American Climate Corps take flight, with most jobs based in the West (x)

Waste Heat Generated from Electronics to Warm Finnish City in Winter Thanks to Groundbreaking Thermal Energy Project (x)

Climate protection is now a human right — and lawsuits will follow [European Union] (x)

A new EU ecocide law ‘marks the end of impunity for environmental criminals’ (x)

Solar hits a renewable energy milestone not seen since WWII [United States] (x)

These are the climate grannies. They’ll do whatever it takes to protect their grandchildren. [United States and Native American Nations] (x)

Century of Tree Planting Stalls the Warming Effects in the Eastern United States, Says Study (x)

Chart: Wind and solar are closing in on fossil fuels in the EU (x)

UK use of gas and coal for electricity at lowest since 1957, figures show (x)

Countries That Generate 100% Renewable Energy Electricity (x)

Indigenous advocacy leads to largest dam removal project in US history [United States and Native American Nations] (x)

India’s clean energy transition is rapidly underway, benefiting the entire world (x)

China is set to shatter its wind and solar target five years early, new report finds (x)

‘Game changing’: spate of US lawsuits calls big oil to account for climate crisis (x)

Largest-ever data set collection shows how coral reefs can survive climate change (x)

The Biggest Climate Bill of Your Life - But What Does It DO? [United States] (x)

Good Climate News: Headline Roundup April 1st through April 15th, 2023 (x)

How agroforestry can restore degraded lands and provide income in the Amazon (x) [Brazil]

Loss of Climate-Crucial Mangrove Forests Has Slowed to Near-Negligable Amount Worldwide, Report Hails (x)

Agroecology schools help communities restore degraded land in Guatemala (x)

Climate adaptation:

Solar-powered generators pull clean drinking water 'from thin air,' aiding communities in need: 'It transforms lives' (x)

‘Sponge’ Cities Combat Urban Flooding by Letting Nature Do the Work [China] (x)

Indian Engineers Tackle Water Shortages with Star Wars Tech in Kerala (x)

A green roof or rooftop solar? You can combine them in a biosolar roof — boosting both biodiversity and power output (x)

Global death tolls from natural disasters have actually plummeted over the last century (x)

Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be (x)

This city turns sewage into drinking water in 24 hours. The concept is catching on [Namibia] (x)

Plants teach their offspring how to adapt to climate change, scientists find (x)

Resurrecting Climate-Resilient Rice in India (x)

Edit 1/12/25: Yes, I know a bunch of the links disappeared. I'll try to fix that when I get the chance. In the meantime, read all the other stuff!!

Other Masterposts:

Going carbon negative and how we're going to fix global heating (x)

[0rph3u5]

The rocks in the Joggins Fossil Cliffs were formed during the Carboniferous Period, also known as the Age of Coal (coal contains the carbon from ancient plants, which gives this period its name). Huge, soggy swamps covered much of the land at the time, and primitive trees and ferns grew in thick, steamy forests.

[mixotrophics]

time layers

tree rings tree-time / dendrochronology. Look at a cut log, look at its rings. growth in trees occurs near the bark, while the deeper-in core layers are preserved rings of past growth.

The seasons / environment affect the growth rate of the tree , creating generally a visual difference between spring / summer+autumn ring growth in temperate regions, hence 1 ring = 1 seasonal cycle. Generally, spring is associated with less-dense, rapid growth, while summer (sometimes into autumn) growth is denser.

width of rings can also be used more finely, wider rings = more growth that year, so probably better conditions... overlapping ring-dates between trees can lead to a long, multi-tree chronology for the area.

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ice cores layers are built by annual snow, compacted into ice underneath the layers forming above. Ice traps atmosphere , how we can know the rough % oxygen/carbon dioxide/etc of past atmosphere circumstances. Heat doesn't flow well through ice, so even past temperatures can be trapped in large sheets.

dust and marine salt-ions can be trapped within, giving further depth to past ecologies.

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lake cores mud at the bottom of the lake builds up in undisturbed layers, trapping things that land in the lake and sink.

Trapped pollen can be observed under a microscope & can identify what plant it is from, helping the understanding of how plants spread ; such techniques have been used to find out when some crops were domesticated & cultivated (1).

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sedimentary & metamorphic rocks an iconic time-layering. sediment builds up in layers, compresses under the weight of the layers above and becomes stone. Traps things in there, and they may become coal, fossils, etc. Other things are trapped: the ripples in sediment formed by waves, so that we may know past sand-beaches.

with enough time, these layers become distorted by geological processes, becoming Wiggly (should they move downwards), getting turned non-horizontal, getting weathered (should they be exposed to air/water/etc), so on.

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scutes scutes: plates of a tortoise/turtle's carapace. They grow more quickly in warm seasons than cold ones, forming a ring much like a tree's, even mirroring that same seasonality. elderly animals may have worn-down scutes so particularly-old animals are difficult to age exactly (2).

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otoliths inner-ear-bones. in fish, the large otoliths also form rings with age, so fish-ages can be counted. Again, they are seasonal, growing faster in the summer and slower in the winter.

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stromatolites bacterial fossils / fortresses. on the sea-floor, bacteria can grow into a mat, which is sticky... sand and such gets stuck, forming a layer, and the bacteria then migrates to the top of that layer. repeat. sometimes, more than sediment is stuck : microfossils, for example (3).

stromatolites used to be commonplace, but they do not form without enough of a bacterial mat: in modern times, the mat struggles to form under grazing pressure from things such as snails, shrimp, and so on. Modern stromatolites -- their mats formed of different bacteria than the ancient ones -- can be found in places too harsh for their predators to inhabit.

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baleen whale baleen, the filter-teeth they have, grows in a sturdy sheet. The filter-bristles are formed by the rubbing of baleen-on-baleen, breaking the sheet's ends apart. To compensate for continual wear, the baleen grows.

hormones, which can indicate stress, pregnancy, etc , and isotopes, which indicate different water conditions and therefore different locations / food, are stored in the baleen (4). while the growth/wearing means it is not a complete record of a whale's life, it is still an invaluable and rich slice.

.

sources:

Åkesson, C. M., McMichael, C. N. H., Bush, M. B., Late-Holocene maize cultivation, fire, and forest change at Lake Ayauch, Amazonian Ecuador, Sage Journal

Attenborough, D., Life in Cold Blood

Microbal Mats

Holland, J. S., A whale's baleen bristles reveal the story of its life, Smithsonian Magazine

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if you know others, feel free to add :]

[psychotrenny]

People who are against both fossil fuels and nuclear really need to read up on their early modern history. Even at a bare minimum subsistence level humans need energy for cooking and (in a great deal of the world) heating and if you want to support a certain level of population (I.e. a level that most of the world passed by 1900 and and the rest by 2000) in most of the world you're gonna need the products of industry to produce sufficient food (like have fun doing earthworks on heavy soil without metal tools). By 1800 much of Western Europe and Eastern Asia (especially the more densely populated parts like like England and France in the former and Shandong and the Yangzi delta in the latter) were facing severe ecological stress due to the high wood demand for both household and industrial uses(even while they imported large amounts of it from less dense areas like the Baltic coast, North America and South East Asia). This loss of forest lead to a range of issues like soil erosion, rising water tables, increased flood damage and even localised climate change (many people believe that the "European Monsoons" of the late 18/early 19th century were the result of deforestation while forest loss is used to explain north Chinese rainfall patterns to this day).

Southern China was only barely able to stabilise the situation through developments in cooking/hating fuel use efficiency and the use of a range of alternative fuels like dung and crop residues (and maintaining this level of crop and livestock production required yet more imports like beancake fertiliser from Manchuria) while the situation in the North continued to deteriorate into the 20th century. Meanwhile forest cover and soil health in Europe only began to recover when use of coal both fully displaced wood as an an energy source and allowed the development of other technologies to reduce the level of land clearance necessary to support society. That's not to say this solution was perfect of course (I'm sure we all know what effects this use of coal has had on the global climate, while part of the return to forest in Europe was the result of Europeans importing land intensive commodities from other parts of the world; essentially exporting the forest clearance) and we are in desperate need of an alternative, but when deciding on which alternative you need to reckon with this. Flat out "de-industrialisation" is not only an intensely cruel solution in human terms but simply isn't environmentally viable either. Wind, water and biofuel could barely support a planet of 1 billion people how well do you think it'll fare with almost 8 billion. And if you think modern renewable technologies can make up the difference you're gonna need the number to back that up; good vibes is no substitute for the quantity of kilojoules humans needs to survive