I read once that the only economic "resource" that could be compared to petroleum in the history of the world was enslaved African Americans in the antebellum South. It made me realize both the enormity of the institution of slavery and the challenge of fighting climate change.

April 09, 2026 - 16:41 UTC

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Arguably history since the abolition of slavery has been a long attempt to replicate the plantation economy. (SO many early attempts just involved plugging in other bodies at minimal wages, like Indian indenture in British colonies!)
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Let's ask call center workers in the Philippines what they think about this issue
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Still happening. Gotta have slavery in the system somewhere or capitalism collapses
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I mean, sharecropping was the immediate result in the reconstructed south
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One key element of this argument is the recognition that the Industrial Revolution began primarily in one industry: textile manufacturing.

The wool it began with has its own horror story, but things really kicked into gear with… cotton.
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I think often about the antebellum period and climate change side-by-side bc they have that common cycle of some crisis erupts, a band-aid gets thrown on, attention shifts elsewhere, then crisis, band-aid, etc., until the crisis becomes inescapable and I wonder when it will be the 1850s/1860s for us
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I remember hearing once that Galen, the Roman physician, invented a small primitive steam engine that really was only ever used as a curiosity at parties because human slavery labor was so cheap and ubiquitous. They just didn't have a need for and so lacked the mindset to see the potential of it.
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Yes! I had a U.S. History professor bring this up in class approximately 23 years ago.

Side note - she also mentioned (in a different moment) that we should keep our eyes on China.
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