when i learned about fossil fuels, my mom said that they come from the ground, from plants and animals that lived a long, long time ago, kind of like dinosaurs but not exactly. she gave me advice to not scorn the former ways people used energy but to think about how we can reactivate those ideas in a friendlier way. it's like playing a furtive game of finding treasure, but the treasure is learning how to use what the earth gives us without hurting it.