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Some people think that carbon and sustainable development are not compatible. This textbook shows that carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and bio-carbon from biomass are our best allies in the energy transition, towards greater sustainability. We pose the problem of the decarbonation (or decarbonization) of our economy by looking at ways to reduce our dependence on fossil carbon (coal, petroleum, natural gas, bitumen, carbonaceous shales, lignite, peat). The urgent goal is to curb the exponential increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Figures 1.1 and 1.2) that is directly related to our consumption of fossil carbon for our energy and materials The goal of the Paris agreement (United Nations COP 21, Dec. 12, 2015) of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees (compared to the pre-industrial era, before 1800) is becoming increasingly unattainable (Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), report of Aug. 6, 2021). On Aug. 9, 2021 Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, declared that coal needs to be consigned to history to limit global warming. CO₂ has an important social cost…

This paper presents the results concerning total number of cells capable of growth and multiplication (direct viable count) in marine microcosms supplemented with gasoline and gasoline-enriched marine populations. The direct viable count is further discussed in correlation with the BOD₅ of these samples in the attempt to take into account the intensity of biological oxygen consumption together with the number of active growing microorganisms. The linear correlation between the number of cells capable of growth and multiplication (direct viable count) and BOD₅ in the five microcosms is good (r= 0.96). Up to our best knowledge this is the first attempt to simultaneously measure these two parameters in marine microcosms polluted with hydrocarbons (gasoline).