[ceejayoz]

"Peatlands are under threat by commercial peat harvesting" is right there in the intro. The article indicates we've already wiped out half, and that's with coal/oil available as the better option.

The question isn't "is there stuff to burn", it's "is there enough to burn to bootstrap a self-sustaining industrial economy". Our industrial revolution took place in a time where oil bubbled to the surface in Texas, coal could be dug up from rich surface seams with a shovel, and copper as pure crystals.