we have all been here before

the Carboniferrous laid beds of coal
re-engineering our whole atmosphere
if we're not gonna pay this fearsome toll
what's in the ground will have to be left there
two hundred years, we've burned our capital
trajectory we never could sustain
miscalculating not just a little
we've earned ourselves a planet wracked with pain
a greenhouse planet favors spores and seeds
but not so much the birds and fish and beasts
our evolution posits basic needs
of which a drier climate is the least
turn back the clock! what's left is no surprise
a world that's ruled by giant dragonflies