allowing human civilization to thrive

Though the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has varied through ice ages and astroid impacts,over the past 8,000 years the stable climate we know took shape,allowing human civilization to thrive.But about 200 years ago,we began digging up that old carbon that had been stored in the soil.These fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas are made from the buried remains of plants and animals that died long before humans evolved.The energy stored inside them was able to power our factories, cars and power plants.