How fossil fuel burning nearly wiped out life on Earth – 250m years ago

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. From a climate point of view, we'd have been worse off; they'd have used coal

which is more compact to carry than wood. Either would have been bad, ecologically. Coal was what they used a few decades later for the railways. Whether 'cars' could have taken off in the 18th century is doubtful, though; for independent vehicles, you need them to be reliable, and technology wasn't. On a train, you can have an expert ride along with the engine, but that's only feasible when there's a lot of cargo going with each expert.