Der Mythos vom kochenden Frosch und Klimawandel

What does “fossile Brennstoffe” mean in German?

The clip asks how the planet warmed so much, then answers in one line: “Fast alles, was das moderne Leben ausmacht, benötigt fossile Brennstoffe” — almost everything in modern life needs fossil fuels. “Brennstoff” is fuel, literally a thing you burn (brennen = to burn). So “fossile Brennstoffe” are the fuels dug from the ground — coal, oil, gas. Burning them releases the CO2 that traps heat. Once you know the word, the whole climate explanation opens up.

In the clip: “Fast alles, was das moderne Leben ausmacht, benötigt fossile Brennstoffe.” — “Almost everything that makes up modern life needs fossil fuels.” The very next line names them: “Kohle, Öl und Gas” (coal, oil and gas). Two parts to remember: “fossil” looks like English “fossil,” and “Brennstoff” = “Brenn-” (burn) + “Stoff” (material/stuff), so a fuel is literally “burn-stuff.” More examples: “Wir müssen von fossilen Brennstoffen wegkommen” (We have to move away from fossil fuels). “Erneuerbare Energie ersetzt fossile Brennstoffe” (Renewable energy replaces fossil fuels). Note the ending changes depending on the sentence: “fossile Brennstoffe” on its own, but “von fossilen Brennstoffen” after “von.” The plural fits here because there are several — coal, oil, and gas — not one single fuel.