Around 400 million years ago water plants began to conquer the land surface. They learned to accomplish the photosynthesis also on land. Further mutations, natural selection, plant development and nature succession of plant societies followed. Then the first forests had appeared during the Carbon Era circa 300 – 360 million years ago, e.g. with tree ferns, club mosses, big horsetail plants, first conifers, giant dragonflies and other insects, first reptiles, etc. The climate had been warm-wet, and at the end dry. Huge quantities of carbon dioxide had been sequestered and produced living biomass of which the dead leftovers accumulated in sinks, swamps and moors. Over time other sediments had layered above them, while the history of mother earth went on. Stone coal had been created. Millions of years after those events, Humanity began to burn fossil fuels like coal, crude-oil and natural gas in increasing amounts. That enabled the industrial era and our modern time. So – in fact – today we are burning the residues of the biomass of the first forests like the stone coal of the Carbon Era. Since decades we have cleaner technologies available, contributing to a possible better environment quality. For further information and facts here some links, e.g.: