Fossil Fuels

For millions and millions of years, I was taking a long, long nap deep under the ground. I was made from tiny little plants and sleepy sea creatures that lived long before people or even dinosaurs. I was like a secret treasure, a special battery holding old sunshine, just waiting deep inside the earth. Sometimes I am sparkly black rocks. Sometimes I am gooey, dark puddles. And sometimes I am invisible air that can make a little flame dance and wiggle. I was a secret sleeping under your feet. Who am I?

I am Fossil Fuels. A long, long time ago, some clever people woke me up. Around the 4th century BCE in a place called China, they found a puff of my invisible air, called natural gas. They used it to make their water warm and bubbly. So much later, in a place called England during the 13th century, people found my shiny black rocks. They called my rocks coal. They used my coal to build warm fires and keep their homes toasty warm during chilly winters. Then, starting in the 1700s, people learned I could do amazing things. I helped start a busy time called the Industrial Revolution. I made steam engines go chug-chug-chug. I made big factories whir and hum. I even made the very first electric lights glow bright like little stars.

Today, I am still helping. I make cars go vroom and airplanes soar high in the clouds. I send electricity to your house so you can watch your favorite cartoons and keep your yummy snacks cold in the refrigerator. I gave people so much energy to build big cities, create fun toys, and explore the whole wide world. Now, I am inspiring people to have even bigger and brighter ideas. They are learning from me to find new, clean ways to power our world. They are using the amazing strength of the sun and the whoosh of the wind. I helped show everyone how important energy is, and now you can be the clever inventors who light up the future.