Carbon Emissions Began in the UK
Could he see where it would end?
Turner, arguably the greatest artist Britain has ever known, painted the scene above. A steam tug tows a wind-powered warship to its grave. The sun sets. It’s not optimistic. Maybe not pessimistic either, yet the artist knows something has changed. Wind power is no longer an option. It’s 1838.
Coal fires the tug, coal fires an Industrial Revolution, coal abets empire building. The rest is a history we now recognise.
What did Turner feel as he painted that? Loss or gain?
What can Elizabeth Gaskell have felt as she wrote Mary Barton? Probably bleak. Reading the book recently, knowing of my father’s Lancashire roots amidst mill towns, I felt humbled by the pain caused to so many as so few grew enormously rich.
Disgusting scenes of poverty juxtaposed with perfumed wealth. The foul stench of carbon emissions choking the workers who starved at the expense of others growing rich. How much has really changed? Perhaps it’s easier to breathe when you’re high up in business. You can’t see the fumes down on the street.
And James Watt: His eureka moment that further helped bring coal from the ground. How does history now view him?
Three figures from English history. Welcome to the Industrial Revolution.
Spawned in Britain. Now global. And still raging.
Image Source:
Take a closer look at the painting here. An incredible use of colours.
You’re right. Britain was the home of the industrial revolution and this is to blame for the massive change the world saw. Without it though we couldn’t be writing this on computers and would be sat with a flickering candle with a hungry belly.
But what goes around comes around and we’ll revert back to that once all the coal, gas and oil is gone or just too expensive.
I think perhaps the Industrial Revolution marked an opportunity, like the twinkle in the eye of a parent marks a great-grandchild in some distant future.
For thousands of years, all of our species cooked over open fires alone. This caused pollution that we’re only now studying and understanding. Like many other species, we hunted other species; sometimes to extinction.
Today, we can cook foods in minutes with a microwave, which uses a little electricity. The emissions costs have actually improved. Who would have thought 15,000 years ago, when we were nomads and herdspeople, that some of our species would grow to be vegetarians and vegans?
Just wanted to play the devil’s advocate a bit. In case anyone’s interested, there’s an interesting book I read recently that argues rather convincingly that things are in fact getting better. I reviewed it not so long ago:
Where We Stand: A surprising look at the real state of our planet
[...] Charnley reflected on the rise of the industrial revolution in the UK and its implications for the world and [...]