Fewer than 200 years ago, burning wood, which has a 50 percent carbon content, was the primary energy source for heating and cooking. The unearthing of buried fossil fuel, with its 75 percent carbon content, unleashed a new era of powerful and concentrated energy—enough to ignite and fuel a global industrial revolution. Horses were replaced by fossil-fueled cars and trains. Coal replaced wood for steam power, and oil and coal drove turbines to produce unlimited…