Imagine digging into the ground…
Pulling out what looks like dark soil…
Then burning it to heat your home.
That was peat.
Peat formed over thousands of years from partly decayed plants in wetlands.
People cut it from the ground, dried it and used it as fuel.
For centuries, this was an important source of energy.
But there was a consequence.
Removing enormous amounts of peat changed the landscape.
In some places, the ground sank lower.
Water became harder to control.
Lakes expanded.
Entire landscapes were transformed.
So long before coal, oil and electricity, people were already changing their environment to meet their energy needs.
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