[MCN] I have the pdf: History of coal economics: 16th-21st centuries

[Lance Olsen]

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"In societies earlier than the one that arose in 
western Europe in medieval times mining was 
looked on with disfavor. It was often regarded as 
robbery, even as a kind of rape."
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I have the pdf

Scientific American November 1977
An Early Energy Crisis and Its Consequences
Summary. In the 16th century Britain ran out of 
wood and resorted to coal. The adoption of the 
new fuel set in motion a chain of events that 
culminated some two centuries later in the 
Industrial Revolution.

John U. Nef

Excerpts

"The conversion to a new kind of fuel might have 
had less effect on the British economy if Britain 
had been poorly, or even only moderately, endowed 
with coal. Before the end of the 17th century, 
however, it had become clear that Britain 
possessed enormous coal reserves. Š This trove of 
energy resources began to exert a pull in the 
direction of a quantity production that had not 
been equaled in previous history."

"The new dignity attached to mining was reserved 
for metallic ores. It did not extend to coal. The 
medieval craftsmen who needed fuel wanted their 
work to be beautiful, whether it was for their 
church or for rich laymen. The unpleasant smoke 
and fumes of coal therefore limited the market 
for it. There was little incentive before the 
mid-16th century to dig deep into the soil in 
search of this dirty fuel as long as wood was 
available, and there seemed to be an abundance of 
that."

"In spite of the smoke and fumes of coal and in 
spite of a widespread distaste for it, by the 
time of the civil war in the 1640's Londoners 
were dependent on the coastwise shipment of coal 
to keep warm. In 1651 the anonymous author of 
News from Newcastle wrote verses in praise of the 
new fuel. "England's a per-; feet World! Has 
Indies too! I Correct your Maps; New-castle is 
Peru! ... I Let th' naughty Spaniard triumph, 
'til 'tis told I Our sooty mineral purifies his 
gold."

Even earlier, as is made clear by William 
Harrison's Description of Britain (1577) and by a 
petition London brewŠ"

"In the 1920's and 1930's most students of the 
coming of industrialism (myself included) 
accepted the explanations of Karl Marx, Sir 
William Ashley, Max Weber, Henri Hauser and 
others. The works of these scholars suggested 
that the advent of capitalism and of the 
"capitalist spirit" was the main factor leading 
to the overwhelming increase in the output of 
goods and services in the 19th century. I now 
think that an even more important factor was a 
growing faith in the multiplication of output.

"Late in the 16th century a new attention came to 
be focused on concepts of quantity. "

"The idea of rates of growth introduced during 
the Elizabethan age brought a fresh precision to 
economic studies."

"The exploitation of the earth's resources has 
often violated the bounds of good taste. To make 
the most of these resources calls not only for 
ingenuity but also for restraint. At present 
man's dependence on fossil fuels is as 
problematic as his dependence on wood was some 
400 years ago"

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"We are living on the surface of this planet Š 
and with its climate and atmosphere. It has 
always been the task of mankind to find the right 
answer to the problem these conditions set us, 
and even today we cannot think that we have found 
a sufficient answer." p. 131

The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler, by 
Heinz L. and Rowena R. Ansbacher.  1956. Basic 
Books
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  "We illustrate how forest harvesting has 
substantially increased the frequency of the 
largest floods in all study sites regardless of 
record length and this also runs counter to the 
prevailing wisdom in hydrological science."

Green, K. C., and Y. Alila (2012), A paradigm 
shift in understanding and quantifying the 
effects of forest harvesting on floods in snow 
environments, Water Resources Research, 48, 
W10503, doi:10.1029/2012WR012449.
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