2 10 34 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d622e95e2b1007c4c9be61d5cda06fcf.JPG 166fd91f80494ebd11804a519ee76631 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 2: Fallout Shelter Sign Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Collections https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/c4d64cfc7c010abfbd3cbfc33b463775.jpg 91394355eaddbc4f69ebf88835617c48 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 1: Little Boy Bomb Subject The topic of the resource This is an image of the Little Boy bomb that was used on Hiroshima being loaded onto a B-29 Enola Gay Bomber. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Originals from National Archives "Little Boy and Fat Man." Atomic Heritage Foundation. July 23, 2014. Accessed November 06, 2017. https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/little-boy-and-fat-man Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living in a World of Our Own Making Subject The topic of the resource <a href="http://www.igbp.net/images/18.950c2fa1495db7081ebd1/1421396650502/GreatAcceleration2015igbpsrclowres.jpg" title="IGBP - The Great Acceleration Dashboard" target="_blank">The Great Acceleration</a> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4721/40562555551_972c132773_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource The Anthropocene means “The Age of Humans,” but what does it mean to live in a world of our own making? Humanity has flourished in past two centuries. Two thirds of every person ever born lived between 1945 and today. Scientists call this era of expanding population, economic development, and environmental impact the “Great Acceleration.” People are now more numerous and powerful than ever before. Mining moves more rocks and soils than all of the worlds rivers combined. Artificial fertilizers have doubled the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils. Plastics can now be found on mountain tops and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Paradoxically, many of the most profound changes to global environments pass virtually unnoticed. Nuclear fallout, for instance, is invisible to the naked eye, but radioactive evidence of cold war weapons tests remains in soils around the world. Until recently, lead was one of the most common materials in industrial use. It was used to seal our foods, paint our homes, and power our cars. Lead is toxic, especially for children. Although invisible, lead is now in our soils, in our cities, and even in our blood. By contrast, concrete is virtually everywhere, yet we rarely think about it. We drive on it, work in it, and the foundations of this very museum are built using it. More than half of the concrete ever produced was manufactured between 1995-2015. Concrete requires enormous energy to mine, transport, and produce. These consequences are as invisible to us as the material is abundant. As you finish your journey through the exhibit, consider how many other “invisible” materials influence our lives and connect us to the global environment. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nuclear Fallout Sign Subject The topic of the resource The nuclear age began in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945 with a mushroom cloud of radioactive gases. The U.S. performed hundreds of nuclear bomb tests in the American Desert and Southern Pacific during the 1950s and 1960s. The radioactive fallout from these nuclear tests and the threat of nuclear war produced fear in America. FS2 fallout shelter signs remain as material evidence of this fear. Nuclear fears influenced environmentalism world-wide. In 1989, on the anniversary of the first atomic bomb, a large Omaha crowd protested at SAC. Today, we can still identify traces of this nuclear past in the earth’s crust. Few changes of the earth can be so directly observed and as a result, many scientists point to nuclear tests as the best starting point for the Anthropocene. Description An account of the resource The American bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan on August 1945 inaugurated the nuclear age. Few historical transitions have such a clear beginning, and the consequences of that moment reverberate today (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/61" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). Fear of nuclear devastation and resulting radioactive fallout produced a culture of apocalyptic fear during the Cold War, and although nuclear annihilation no longer holds saw over our collective consciousness, nuclear power continues to be a factor in our globalized 21st century. Scientists continued to test nuclear weapons after 1945, to observe the consequences of nuclear detonations as well as the longer lasting effects of nuclear fallout. As a result of these tests, fear shifted from the apocalypse to more insidious threats. New invisible pollutants that were capable of not only impacting their health, but of irreversibly damaging the biosphere assumed center stage. This fear was a significant influence on the development of modern American environmentalism and the rising public influence of ecological sciences. Growing scientific awareness of global environmental change, the Anthropocene itself, were direct consequences of these historical changes. <br /><br />This FS2 fallout shelter sign is an object that reveals much about the Anthropocene. It is a ten by fourteen-inch sign composed of galvanized steel (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/59" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). During 1962, the Department of Defense produced one million of these FS2 signs. (Civil Defense Museum) They can be found inside public fallout shelter facilities. The distribution of these signs was an important component of the National Fallout Shelter Program. The U.S. Department of Defense developed the National Fallout Shelter Program in an attempt to improve the dilemma of national security in the event of a nuclear attack. Later nuclear testing would demonstrate the inadequate ability to withstand an atomic bomb detonation or to effectively prevent radiation exposure. Interior signs had to be posted in a position of good visibility to the public and placed in such a way as to avoid vandalism. (Dept of Defense, 1977) FS1 signs were also developed to be posted on the exterior of fallout shelter facilities, these signs were slightly larger at fourteen by twenty inches and were made of the same galvanized steel. FS2 signs were emblazoned with the Civil Defense fallout shelter trefoil and adhesive tape displayed the capacity of the shelter and indicated their starting point. The civil defense fallout shelter symbol was designed to be readily identifiable from a long distance and visibly different than the radiation hazard symbol. Civil defense fallout shelter symbols represented safety while the older radiation symbol represented hazard (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/60" title="Figure 3" target="_self">Figure 3</a>). (ORAU) Public fear of nuclear attack stemmed not only from the thought of an initial blast that could vaporize an entire city but also from the notion of the invisible particles of radioactive fallout. FS2 signs were public representations of that fear. <br /><br />A blinding flash of light followed by a towering mushroom cloud of radioactive gases signaled the first atomic bomb detonation in the desert of New Mexico on July 16, 1945. (Worster, 1977) The beginning of the nuclear age began with this detonation, while unconscious of the detrimental effects, nuclear states would persist with nuclear testing for decades. Previous technological developments such as railroads had already generated controversy regarding the effects on the environment, but the scale of a nuclear bomb’s impact produced a new, more resounding challenge. Could humanity be trusted with such power? The fear of rendering the earth a radioactive wasteland invoked fear in the public as well as in many of the primary developers of the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer, a leading Los Alamos scientist, was shaken to his core and questioned his humanity. (Fiege, 2012) Oppenheimer later reflected on this experience by reiterating a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, “now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” (Atomic Archive) As the United States continued testing in American deserts, scientists confirmed the catastrophic destruction of explosions, as well as radionuclide drift. For the vast majority of Americans, including “downwinders” living in the path of airborne radioactive particulates, recognition of this second threat emerged very slowly. <br /><br />Among the first public intellectual to sound the alarm about the effects of radiation was Barry Commoner. Government scientists conducted studies, but were typically reticent to publicize them for reasons of “national security” A significant shift occurred in 1963 when Eugene P. Odum presented several claims about the ecological effects of nuclear war in the closing of the Ecological Society of America’s Symposium. Odum claimed that the removal of biomass from the soil as a result of coniferous and deciduous tree species’ sensitivity to ionizing radiation would likely result in an increase in nutrient loss from several ecosystems. Grover and Harwell used atmospheric tests to provide evidence of the limited plausibility for plant recovery following a nuclear war (Grover and Harwell, 1985). Reestablishment of several larger plant species would be dependent on seed banks, as well as the acute and chronic stresses acting on the particular environment (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/63" title="Figure 4" target="_self">Figure 4</a>). Lakes, estuaries, and tropical forests are among the environments that experience change in temperature, sunlight reduction, precipitation reduction, less significantly fallout radiation, and increased UV-B from ozone depletion as a result of nuclear bomb detonation. Grover and Harwell conclude that a nuclear war imposes the same environmental effects that alternative forms of man’s exploitation of nature can impose, but the scale is drastically larger. Reestablishment of several larger plant species would be dependent on seed banks, as well as the acute and chronic stresses acting on the particular environment. Lakes, estuaries, and tropical forests are among the environments that experience change in temperature, sunlight reduction, precipitation reduction, fallout radiation (small effect), and increased UV-B from ozone depletion as a result of nuclear bomb detonation. Grover and Harwell conclude that a nuclear war imposes the same environmental effects that alternative forms of man’s exploitation of nature can impose, but the scale is drastically larger. The ecological consequences of nuclear war must be of higher concern than our global security. (Grover and Harwell, 1985) Scientific evidence of fallout pollution inspired a public fear; ecological studies of the consequences of nuclear warfare made the public realize that ecological mindfulness of “invisible pollutants” was necessary to avoid environmental devastation. <br /><br />It was perhaps no coincidence that fear of invisible pollutants and the rise of ecological thinking arose in the 1960s. Nuclear fallout wasn’t the first invisible pollutant that had persistently found its way into food chains and impacted human health. In 1962, Rachel Carson published her blockbuster expose about the effects of pesticide use, called Silent Spring. In this book, she demonstrated how dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) moved through food webs, polluting the environment and threatening public health. Exposure to fallout played into similar fears. In the years following the Hiroshima detonation, many survivors developed leukemia. (Carson, 2015) The development of cancer can arise from diverse exposure to mutagens, but indelible evidence of Leukemia development just two years after the Japan nuclear attack demonstrates the extent of radiation-induced health detriments that arise from nuclear bomb detonations. (K1 Project)<br /><br />As scientists, particularly ecologists, uncovered more of the human and environmental consequences of fallout, public sentiment shifted. Collaboration between scientists and major publications was necessary to overcome public apathy. Scientists began drawing information on the ecological impact of nuclear explosions from test sites in the American desert and the South Pacific. Reader’s Digest began to publish doomsday articles in the late 1940s, these publications had titles like “What the Atom Bomb Would Do to Us” and “What the Atomic Bomb Really Did.” (Egan, 2009) These articles presented scientific findings in the context of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima, even though other more lethal bombs had subsequently been developed and tested. In 1947, Reader’s Digest collaborated with credible scientists to describe a realistic hypothetical nuclear bomb attack in the heart of major American cities with the publication of “Mist of Death Over New York.” They began by describing the violent deaths of those in the explosive zone. What resonated more with the public was the description of those who managed to escape the blast but were struck with radiation sickness and eventually died from the exposure to the gamma rays. The public began to understand the health repercussions that would result from fallout exposure, which included sterility, birth rate decline, and limited access to essential resources. From that understanding arose a great public fear about said repercussions. Politically active scientists had become an instrument of peace with the increase in the scale of hazards. (Egan, 2009) Politicized fear had become a potent agent for change, one that could push the public to demand environmental sustainability. <br /><br />Fallout shelters represent this transition. Fallout shelters were not built to withstand the impact of a nuclear explosion; they were made to prevent exposure to radioactive fallout. The Department of Defense issued twenty-five million booklets on the construction parameters for fallout shelters. (Berrien, Schulman and Amarel, 1963) Private fallout shelters were not common; among people that had the financial means to build a fallout shelter, only a small percentage built them. Failure to build private fallout shelters wasn’t due to their lack of protection, but due to the attitude that the “government should place a greater emphasis on efforts to secure the peace through diplomacy.” (Berrien, Schulman and Amarel, 1963) In an attempt to encourage the public to build private fallout shelters, The Science News-Letter described the construction of fallout shelters as dual purpose rooms in the lower level of a home. Several scientists studied the effectiveness of fallout shelters to provide a safe environment in the event of a nuclear attack while performing nuclear bomb testing at the Nevada site. The Federal Department of Defense Administration conducted Operation Plumbbob; after testing several fallout shelters in the event of a nuclear bomb, the examiners concluded that fallout shelters were not always effective at preventing the respiratory hazard caused by dust leakage. (White, Wetherbe and Goldzien, 1957) Initially, the government promoted fallout shelters as a temporary solution to the impending war. Nevertheless, as the public became more aware of the ineffectiveness and lack of the feasibility of fallout shelters, they demanded social change. <br /><br />Omaha, and Nebraska in general, have had an interesting history with regards to the threat of nuclear fallout, and thus are major players in the fight against nuclear weapons. During the Cold War, Omaha and its surrounding areas were strategic targets for nuclear attack due to military installations such as the Offutt military base, which houses the Strategic Air Command (SAC) for the United States. Additionally, SAC began construction of Atlas Missile Complexes in the areas surrounding Omaha and Lincoln in 1959. (Neb Educational Telecommunications) These developments prompted organizations such as the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) to organize protests at SAC to denounce the use of nuclear weapons and encourage resistance against the sites’ construction (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/62" title="Figure 5" target="_self">Figure 5</a>). Through acts of civil disobedience, protesters would attempt to stall the construction however they could, by blocking trucks, for instance.&nbsp;(Neb Educational Telecommunications) There was also a major campaign to encourage civilians to resist the construction: suggesting that the people can refuse to work on the construction, scientists can refuse to create such weapons, unions can strike against military projects, and church members can use their faith as a means to limit their involvement in these military projects.&nbsp;(Neb Educational Telecommunications) Nebraskans feared that cities like Omaha and Lincoln would become targets if nuclear war was to break out, and the resulting fallout would devastate human health and the environment for generations. In a letter to President Eisenhower in 1959, A.J. Muste of the CNVA argued: <br /><br />"Man did not create the land. It was given to him as a heritage to use for the production of food and clothing and shelter, and that he might enjoy its beauty. Men are now preparing destruction, which can hardly be called war in the old sense at all, which may actually wipe out vegetation and poison the soil." (Nebraska Historical Society)<br /><br />In this small way, Omaha took part in a much larger social movement intended to call attention to this new, catastrophic threat. <br /><br />Human nuclear activity has changed the world in ways unlike any other time in recorded history. The mass proliferation of particles in the atmosphere from nuclear weapons has changed the world in ways that are only possible through human action, which is why the nuclear age is the epitome of the Anthropocene. With the onset of the nuclear age we started a new epoch, the Anthropocene, where the evidence of our profound impact is indelible. The proliferation of radioactive particles from nuclear bomb detonations serves as the best candidate for the golden spike of the Anthropocene. We have observed cycles of elevated carbon dioxide, elevated animal extinctions, and changing levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil during several time periods. (Carrington, 2016) Yet, in no other time have we observed the presence of ionizing radioactive particles in the atmosphere and the associated environmental and health consequences. We live in an age where our actions have lasting consequences. The Anthropocene is only possible with the rise of the environmentalist movement; it is only after reflecting on the interconnectivity between man and the environment that we can begin to define the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jesus Perez Wade Peyou Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Berrien, F. K., Carol Schulman, and Marianne Amarel. "The Fallout-Shelter Owners: A Study of Attitude Formation." The Public Opinion Quarterly 27, no. 2 (1963): 206-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2746915. Boyer, Paul . By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age. University of North Carolina Press, 1994. Carrington, Damian. "The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age." The Guardian. August 29, 2016. Accessed December 10, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. London: Penguin Books, in association with Hamish Hamilton, 2015. "Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Sign." Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Sign (ca. 1960s). May 24, 2011. Accessed November 08, 2017. https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/civildefense/sheltersign.htm. Egan, Michael. Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival: The Remaking of American Environmentalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009. "Fallout Shelters' "Lived-in" Look." The Science News-Letter 80, no. 16 (1961): 258-59. doi:10.2307/3943848. Fiege, Mark. The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 2012. Frame , P. "Radiation Warning Symbol (Trefoil)." Origin of the Radiation Warning Sign (Trefoil). Accessed November 07, 2017. http://www.orau.org/ptp/articlesstories/radwarnsymbstory.htm. Glass, Bentley. "The Biology of Nuclear War." The American Biology Teacher 24, no. 6 (1962): 407-25. doi:10.2307/4440018. Grover, Herbert D., and Mark A. Harwell. "Biological Effects of Nuclear War II: Impact on the Biosphere." BioScience 35, no. 9 (1985): 576-83. doi:10.2307/1309966. Interactive Media Group - Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. NebraskaStudies.Org. Accessed December 10, 2017. http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebr skastudies.org%2F0900%2Fstories%2F0901_0126.html. "J. Robert Oppenheimer "Now I am become death..."." J. Robert Oppenheimer | Media Gallery. Accessed December 10, 2017. http://www.atomicarchive.com/Movies/Movie8.shtml. "Little Boy and Fat Man." Atomic Heritage Foundation. July 23, 2014. Accessed November 06, 2017. https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/little-boy-and-fat-man. Muste, Abraham. Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 1920-1967. Nebraska Historical Society. Accessed November 4, 2017. http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/media/0904_0704letter.pdf. Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. “Missiles on Land and Sea: Protests against Nuclear War.” Nebraska Studies 1950-1974. 2001. Accessed November 4, 2017. http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0900/stories/0901_0126.html. Prăvălie, Remus. "Nuclear Weapons Tests and Environmental Consequences: A Global Perspective." Ambio. October 2014. Accessed October 10, 2017. "Standard Fallout Shelter Signs ." Fallout Shelter Sign Page. Accessed October 08, 2017. http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/signs/. United Press International. “208 Detained in Nuclear Protest At Air Force Base Near Omaha. “ The New York Times. August 8, 1983. Accessed November 4, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/08/us/208-detained-in-nuclear-protest-at-air-force-base-near-omaha.html. United States of America. Defense Civil Preparedness Agency. Department of Defense . October 1977. Accessed November 3, 2017. http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/signs/CPG1-19A.pdf. United States of America. “EPA Facts About Strontium-90.” Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed November 4, 2017. https://semspub.epa.gov/work/HQ/175430.pdf. United States of America. The Internal Environment of Underground Structures Subjected to Nuclear Blast: Operation Plumbbob, Project 33.5. By C. S. White, M. B. Wetherbe, and V. C. Goldizen. Albuquerque, NM, NM: Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 1957. Woodwell, G. M. Ecological Effects of Nuclear War . Vol. 917. (1963): Brookhaven National Laboratory. Worster, Donald. Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas . Cambridge University Press, 1977. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The Durham Museum Fallout Shelter Invisible Pollutants Mead NE Nuclear Bombs Nuclear Testing Protest Radiation https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/b2a60ae98af11960e5ddb5e4eb5a3a5a.JPG 571e79a5860c782d16980ae853e6863b https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/5209f4b2e0866671cfd3166531f676e8.JPG 2e662b3ac695dd56ab3aa20292b3fbb4 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/9f7cdc385f33b4557cec1ab086057669.jpg da2a739cbeff74cc719b21755fba1b2e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 1: Map of the state of Nebraska showing the lands of the Burlington & Missouri Riv. R.R. Co. in Nebraska, 1876 Description An account of the resource The shading on this 1876 map of Omaha details the land owned by the Burlington Railroad company at this time. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress Subject The topic of the resource A map indicating in shading the land owned by the Burlington by 1876. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1876 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/11f71a754a2826ba5bf76873abcd3205.jpg 8822b1d4ce3e6a5c6389c2d09a37ab1c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 2: Burlington Railroad Advertisements Description An account of the resource A set of advertisements released by the Burlington Railroad encouraging land acquisition around the railroads in Nebraska. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Courtesy of Olmanson, E. D. (n.d.). Promotion and Transformation of Landscapes along the CB&Q Railroad. Retrieved October, 2017, from http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/railroad/settlement-promotion-burlington-railroad https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/2c411bb552774d376e1a31e3b1b5d496.jpg 4187ca525b6a7f3a10978f1e4e6c6d0e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Graph 1: U.S Census Bureau Record of Nebraska Population Values, 1800 to 2000 Description An account of the resource The data displayed above helps illustrate the growth in Nebraska's citizen population from the 1800 to 2000. Notice the dramatic increase in population from 1860 to 1900s' which parallels the arrival and growth of the Burlington. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/dad605073741991d04ec917651789c65.jpg 8ae28fddcbb5b7cf7ac12fa5ea788446 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 5. Description An account of the resource The Burlington Railroad introduced Vista Domes to customers as new way to consume nature and the beauty of the West. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Olmanson, E. D. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Retrieved October, 2017, from http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/railroad/settlement-promotion-burlington-railroad https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/c9b07a5666a83584d00895bb0ae86b48.jpg f9a5cb82971419d90b60d3501916c7cd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 6. Description An account of the resource This man can be seen casually leaning against a rail with a Burlington Route Timetable in his breast pocket. This photograph was taken in 1909 by Louis Bostwick. At this point in time the Burlington was a household name, and many owned the timetables, as it was the most efficient means to traveling long distances at the time. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive https://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15426coll1/id/26607/rec/10 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Commercial use or distribution of the image is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder. Please contact The Durham Museum for permission to use the digital image. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conquering Time and Space Subject The topic of the resource <div>Industrial Revolutions <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4704/39667361775_2e3264c4bf_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~24266~880086:-Birdseye-view-Great-Plains-#" title="Bird Eye View - Rumsey" target="_blank">Detail(Birdseye view Great Plains)Knight, Leonard &amp; Co.,Engravers and Printers, Chicago. (1890) David Rumsey.com <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> </a></div> Description An account of the resource Industrial revolutions fundamentally transformed the world’s social and economic order. Beginning in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, European empires expanded industrialization into a global phenomenon that created spectacular wealth and unprecedent power for western countries, but also led to new social conflict and increased the gap between rich and poor. Industrialization also led to profound changes in the global environment. Advances in transportation and telecommunications expanded the reach of industrial powers. The railroad and the telegraph allowed people to tap distant natural resources more quickly and efficiently than ever before. Contemporaries praised this “annihilation of time and space” and Omaha was central to this story. The first transcontinental telegraph began in Omaha and was completed in 1861. In 1863, the Union Pacific chose Omaha as the eastern terminus for the transcontinental railroad. By 1867, the United States had built the world’s largest railroad network, business leaders communicated from coast to coast, and Omaha stood at the center. As railroads and the telegraph shrank time and space, cities expanded. Streetcars promoted urban growth and the rise of the first suburbs. The objects in this section show rail and the telegraph reshaped environments during this era of industrialization. As you move through this section of the exhibit, consider how transportation and telecommunication connects Omaha to the wider world and to global environments today. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Burlington Railroad Timetable Subject The topic of the resource Railroads shrunk space and time during the nineteenth century. Before the growth of railroad networks, a trip from Chicago to Omaha took 5 days. By the twentieth century, railroads companies like the Burlington cut that time down to 8 hours. This was an important transition because railroads opened up new markets, new resources, and new environments to places like Omaha. As networks of railroads expanded, they created unified timetables which regulated time. This timetable, printed during the twilight of this railroad age, is symbol of this global transition. By the mid-twentieth century, railroads like the Burlington connected Omaha to the rest of America by encouraging economic growth and ecotourism. Description An account of the resource The railroad timetable annihilated time and space. It was America’s first-time keeper, and changed how people around the world considered travel. As intricate networks of railroads stretched across countries around the world, they introduced an era where distances were easily conquerable. People and goods were transported to the far reaches of countries. More importantly, the railroads brought with them timetables. The condensed pamphlets of arrivals and departures established a means of organizing time across the expanses the railroads covered. As railroads expanded the timetables were a means to unify how the country experienced time. <br /><br />Time is precious, and prior to the timetable there was no unified way of managing it. Towns prior to the railroad were limited in the amount of resources they had and had their own “temporal identities”. For example, London ran 4 minutes ahead of Reading, and 7 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Cirencester, and a whole 15 minutes ahead of Bridgewater. (Schivelbusch, 1941) This system of localized time fared well prior to railroad due to the lack of travel and the long travel time between them. The main methods of transport in the 1800s were by boat through rivers and canals, or by carriage. These methods were not the most trust worthy and limited growth of cities to what they in their radius for the most part. The most striking issues was how slow and unreliable these methods of transport were. A fifteen-minute difference in time was not important if the time to travel to the area was measured in days. When railroads were introduced, traffic between cities increased and transit time shrunk. Railroad became an important mode of transport of goods and people. Resources once inaccessible to some towns were now easily shipped. Likewise, smaller towns grew into large cities by exporting their abundant good to other locations and gaining capital. A time difference between cities was longer plausible as it would mean confusion and inefficiency for the railroad and those who invested in it. Thus, the railroads implemented their own times and created timetables with them. Initially the time chosen was up to company, for example in 1871 the Central Pacific Railroad specified their timetable operated on Sacramento time, where its headquarters resided. (White, 2011) This allowed passengers to manage their time around a specific line, however it became inefficient when more than one train had to be taken. Having more than one time in a town also became inconvenient. In 1883, the United States officially standardized railroad time amongst all operating railroad companies, and people and businesses began to informally use it as a standard. (White, 2011) Timetables were a game changer for businesses and individuals alike. <br /><br />Omaha’s history can be traced back to railroads. Though the Union Pacific Headquarters currently resides in Omaha, the Burlington was more involved with the cities growth. The Union Pacific Railroad cut through Nebraska, pursuing a transcontinental railroad which passed through the country more so than branching to connect cities with one another. Though initially hesitant to expand to Nebraska, by 1868 The Burlington company saw it as a business opportunity after Charles Elliott Perkin, who would later become President of the Burlington Railroad, gave it a glowing review. (Kinbacher and Thomas, 2008) The Burlington Railroad acted on the 1864 Pacific Railroad Act which authorized the construction of a trunk line passing though territory south of the Platte River to intersect with the Union Pacific transcontinental route at or near the 100th meridian. (Kinbacher and Thomas, 2008) By 1872, a whopping 2,400,000 acres of land in Nebraska was granted to the Burlington Railroad by the U.S government to begin building railroad (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/67" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). (Overton, 1976)<br /><br />Thus, the Burlington Railroad threw open the doors to the West and ushered in a new wave of settlers. Initially upon receiving its land grants the Burlington launched an effort to sell it to prospective settlers. By successfully selling land around the area they use to build railroads up the Burlington increases the value of the railroad land they acquired. The Burlington was also granted more land due to its success in advertising the Midwest. (Overton, 1976) The Burlington created programs based on credit to sell the land around the railroads, and the area was advertised in the East though various exhibits, pamphlets, and maps. (O'Neil, 1956) A colonizing campaign was created and lured in potential settlers with special such as reduced prices for settlement (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/99" title="figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). In addition, the Burlington shipped in resources required to build the city, and to jump start farming, while advertising Nebraska’s potential at agricultural fairs in both the US and England. (Fisher, 1931) Despite being in competition with Union Pacific, overall the Burlington sold more land to potential settlers and investors. (Kawashima, 2010)<br /><br />These early promotional efforts were extremely effective and in time Nebraska became a well settled agricultural area. In 1872 alone, farmers shipped a quarter million bushels of wheat through across Burlington rail, and they were of such quality that the price easily paid for the cost of transportation. (Jones, 1957) The growth of the Burlington route, in a very real sense, both mirrored and prompted the growth of Nebraska, and Omaha. The growth of the city can be seen in census data. Though correlation does not mean causation, it is clear the growth of population in Nebraska coincided with the arrival of the Burlington Railroad (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/66" title="Graph 1" target="_self">Graph 1</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/101" title="Figure 3">Figure 3</a>). <br /><br />By the 1900s, the Burlington its veered away from cargo and shifting its focus to passenger transportation. (Dorin, 1976) This was a response to the booming Second Industrial Revolution which came with a new-found interest in leaving the cities to experience nature. The Burlington made began to advertise the new concept of ecotourism to cater to the new American desire to explore the West. Improvements in the 1930s to its passenger service increased revenue and provided an economic boost to the Omaha after the depression. (Overton, 1941) The Burlington advertised Omaha as a gateway to West and promoted their line as a comfortable, exciting mode of travel for tourists. The Burlington released new trains such as the Exposition Flyer in 1939 which traveled for decades due to their popularity as a scenic draw (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/68" title="Figure 4" target="_self">Figure 4</a>). This inspired the Burlington to create more trains to cater to a new generation of ecotourists. (Retzinger, 1998) The emphasis on passenger rail services increased into the 1940s.Their Zephyr line, which ran from 1935 to 1960 featured air conditioning, vista domes, and in cabin luxuries (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/73" title="Figure 5" target="_self">Figure 5</a>). The Burlington Railroad aimed to make travel West easy and compelling. <br /><br />The growth of Omaha and Lincoln was undeniable, and correlated strongly with the establishment of the railroad. Atack et al. (2010), found a strong correlation between the expansion of railroads and the growth of cities. The Burlington Railroad created a network that connected almost everywhere in North America. Railroads even connected to seaports, which allowed for overseas transportation of commodities. (Milner, 1994) Atack et al. (2010) concluded that while the expansion of railroads did not have a significant enough correlation with population increase in the Midwest to be considered a cause of population growth, it was the most important factor behind urbanization in the Midwest. They cite three reasons as to why this is the case. First, railroads reduced the costs of transportation of goods, which led to increased trade. Second, they caused Midwestern wealth to increase which led to greater demand for industrial products. Lastly, they created “feeder lines”, which are connections between cities and towns, which encouraged people to settle into areas before railroads were constructed in those areas . <br /><br />In his book <em>Nature’s Metropolis</em>, William Cronon (1991) discusses how trains helped to urbanize Chicago. He states that distance was not as important a factor as time and cost in transportation. Because trains can travel much faster than many other modes of transportation, they greatly increased transportation of goods between Chicago and the surrounding rural areas. He states that many people were eager to use this new form of transportation because of its great speed. Interestingly, he states that many inhabitants of Chicago at the time believed that railroads had become “assimilated” to the natural landscape of the area . Railways also helped build many other Western cities (Milner, II et al. 1994). Railroads also advanced agriculture through their transportation speed. For a while, Texas Longhorn cattle were plagued by a tick-borne disease known as Texas fever. The ticks thrived in Texas, but could not survive the colder winters of the North. Because of this, the cattle were sometimes held in shipped north to be fattened up until they had become of Texas fever. A man named Joseph McCoy was noted for taking advantage of this situation using the railroad systems. He, along with many others, established cattle towns, such as Abilene, Kansas, where he could supply Texas Cattle to the Kansas Pacific railroad. Shipping of beef became an important industry for trains, especially when refrigerated train cars made shipment much more efficient, as it kept the beef fresher for longer. Gustavus Swift pioneered the use of refrigerated railroad cars and began to sell beef from Chicago in New York. <br /><br />Other agricultural products were shipped via trains, and railroad companies often encouraged farming near the railroad lines by providing economic incentives and some forms of compensation during periods of economic stress. Many of them encouraged dry-farming, which, as its name suggests, is farming pioneered by Hardy Webster Campbell that is productive in the dry environments of the northern Great Plains, in order to ensure that more farmers settled in. There were some people who accused railroad companies of exploiting the farmers. According to Milner, II et al. 1994, “along the rail system, farms sprang up like winter wheat in a Kansas spring.” As a result of the mass transportation of agricultural products brought about by trains, new opportunities opened up in industrial, urbanized areas, such as food processing plants and similar areas. (Milner, 1994)<br /><br />In addition to facilitating urbanization, trains later also made it easier for city-dwellers to commodify nature in another way. By moving people to different parts of the country faster, they allowed people to consume distant environments through tourism (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/74" title="Figure 6" target="_self">Figure 6</a>). During the twentieth century, the western United States became a popular tourist destination, mainly because it contained much truer wilderness than the East due to less human disturbance. National parks were often advertised by railroads to promote tourism. Often the trains would take hundreds of tourists to one spot, and the tourists would then reach the parks on horseback. Tourism became more popular in the 1920s thanks to Hollywood, although cars began to gain more popularity in this era, so it is unclear whether the 1920s was a prosperous era for the railroad industry or not. Union Pacific opened a ski resort in Sun Valley, Idaho in the 1936, which gained more popularity after World War II. Railroads also made exploitation of game animals much more efficient. Bison, for example, suffered from the westward expansion of railroads, by allowing hunters to transport their bison kills to the markets much more easily than before . This was furthered by the invention of refrigerated cars. Railroad companies even hired bison hunters to provide meat to their workers as well as fill their freight cars with numerous possible commodities. “Buffalo Bill” actually claimed to have killed 4,280 bison for Union Pacific. Railroads transported not only hunters’ quarries more efficiently, but also transported the hunters themselves to their quarries more efficiently and quickly than before. Bison were even shot for sport from the windows of trains. (Dolin, 2003). It is said that the railroads, along with the telegraph, were the most important contributors to the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/72" title="Figure 7" target="_self">Figure 7</a>). (Burke, 2017) After World War II, other modes of transportation, such as cars and airplanes slowly became more popular, leading to the gradual decline of railroad tourism. (Milner, 1994)<br /><br />Omaha and its relationship with the Burlington railroad serves as a powerful example of the urbanizing power of railways and their impacts. The surrounding environment is both drained filled in with the human footprint, and thus its ecological changes become apparent. Trains drastically changed how people and businesses viewed transportation across vast distances. The Burlington timetable is a testament to how humans eliminated time as a constraining factor in the consumption and exploitation of new, distant, environments. Areas which were otherwise inaccessible without significant travel and hardship became easily accessible. Railroads facilitated the exploitation of nature by both bringing people to nature and bringing nature to people. They moved people seeking to urbanize to their cities, urban tourists to their scenic wilderness, and hunters to their quarry. In addition, they moved all kinds of natural resources from rural and wild areas into cities. This became the key to more urbanization and spreading of cities. More and more products of the area were shipped out and in demand, and more resources to fulfill that demand were shipped in. Resources included people who were ready to work, in addition to materials. The possibility for capital growth and success was increased significantly when railways were introduced to bring regions together to exchange resources. The ease of export also meant increased capital gains for those invested in the area and a drive utilize the earth for short term gain over long term upkeep. This sort of development lead to the ideas of Eugene Odum who observed cities as parasitic. This parasitic nature is only made possible by railways which act like extensive capillaries carrying capital, resources, and people one area to the next. This idea is further exemplified by the fact that many rural westerners felt that they were essentially a colony of the eastern urban elite, who drained the resources of the rural western United States for their own benefit. They often referred to the western United States as a “plundered province”. There were also many economic policies which favored easterners over westerners, such as tariffs. This led to some resentment of the East, whom the West often scapegoated for its problems, although, as noted before, sometimes rightfully so. (Milner, 1994) This situation prevails today, not just here in Omaha, but all over the world. The railroad, despite having given away to cars as the most popular means of transport, is still important for import of resources over long distance. The Burlington railroad left its footprint in Omaha, its headquarters taken over by KMTV still exist today. The crisscrossing of railroads correlated to the influx of people and capital which resulted in Omaha’s growth as a city. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Brennan Devika Prasanth Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Atack, Jeremy, Fred Bateman, Michael Haines, and Robert A. Margo. “Did Railroads Induce or Follow Economic Growth: Urbanization and Population Growth in the American Midwest, 1850-1860.” Social Science History 34.2 (2010): 171-197. JSTOR. Web. 17 Oct. 2017. Bostwick- Forhardt Collection, 1850-1964, compiled by The The Durham Museum (Omaha, Durham Museum Photo Archive, 2017 ). Burk, Theodore. Conservation Biology Lecture. 2017. Personal Communication. Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and Great West. New York: W·W·NORTON & COMPANY, 1991. ebook. Dolin, Eric Jay. Smithsonian Book of National Wildlife Refuges. Old Saybrook: Konecky & Konecky, 2003. Print. Fisher, Chas. E. "The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company." The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, No 24 (1931): 4-43. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/43516939>. Jones, C. Clyde. "The Burlington Railroad and Agricultural Policy in the 1920's." Agricultural History, Vol. 31, No. 4 (1957): 67-74. Kawashima, Yasuhide. “Farmers, Ranchers, and the Railroad: The Evolution of Fence Law in the Great Plains, 1865-1900.” Great Plains Quarterly 30.1 .2010.: 21-35. JSTOR. Web. 7 Oct. 2017. Kinbacher, Kurt E. and William G. Thomas III. "Shaping Nebraska An Analysis Of Railroad And Land Sales, 1870-1880." Great Plains Quarterly 2008. <http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2374&context=greatplainsquarterl>. Loomis, Bill. Photograph. “Slaughtered to extinction: Passenger pigeons in Michigan.” The Detroit News. MediaNews, 31 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2017. Milner, II, Clyde A., Carol A. O’Connor, Martha A. Sandweiss, eds.. The Oxford History of the American West. New York: Oxford University P., 1994. Print. Olmanson, E. D. (n.d.). Promotion and Transformation of Landscapes along the CB&Q Railroad. Retrieved October, 2017, from http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/railroad/settlement-promotion-burlington-railroad Overton, Richard C. Burlington West: A Colonization History of the Burlington Railroad. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941. Retzinger, Jean P.. “Framing the Tourist Gaze: Railway Journeys Across Nebraska, 1866-1906.” Great Plains Quarterly 18.3 1998: 213-226. JSTOR. Web. 6 Oct. 2017. Schivelbusch, W., Railroad Space and Railroad Time. In The Railway Journey : The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century. 1941. (pp. 33-44). Berkeley: University of California Press. The California Zephyr. (n.d.). Retrieved December, 2017, from http://calzephyr.railfan.net/expoflyer.html White, R. Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. 2011. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Burlington Extinction Railroad Second Industrial Revolution Tourism Transportation Westward Expansion https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/75eeb048dfbfdf4e378015dcda67469d.JPG ce35f033e92a2f2412c42553a6b401d2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 1: 1797 Carolus III, Spanish silver Reales Description An account of the resource The foundation upon which capitalism and the Anthropocene grew. In the 17th century alone, more than two million per year were produced and shipped from European sources to the East. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Image courtesy of Durham Museum https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/f16b4dcef754dffb6a2e735b98ac65b0.JPG 563f021b3105238145bd944e7a9ae34c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 2: 1792 Carolus III, Spanish silver Reales Description An account of the resource The foundation upon which capitalism and the Anthropocene grew. In the 17th century alone, more than two million per year were produced and shipped from European sources to the East. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Image courtesy of Durham Museum https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/9087ebfda6b3cbc69f2e5a854677359e.jpg be398599d87175db14e735019dad80d2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 4: 1866 Omaha, Nebraska Land Survey Map Description An account of the resource Note the several large properties around city limits in Byron Reed’s possession (circled in orange). At this time the Civil War had just concluded, and work on the Union Pacific railroad was accelerating, resulting in much of Reed’s land quickly becoming urbanized. Reed also owns a number of plots within the city in 1866, however, ownership of these lots is not pictured in the graphic. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived From the collections of Omaha Public Library https://cdm16747.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16747coll4/id/1408/rec/17 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Davis, Oscar F. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Omaha Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1866 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Consumer Revolutions Subject The topic of the resource Global Capitalism <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4758/39538672694_da9d00eca7_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> Butter-Nut Coffee Advertisement, Durham Photo Archive</span> Description An account of the resource Globalization has brought the world to our doorstep. Expanding networks of trade bring goods from every corner of the world to our homes in Omaha. Although many of us associate globalization with the very recent past, those connections have a long history. This section of the exhibit takes us from the early history of globalization to the present and shows how our consumer decisions transformed economic and environmental relationships around the world. The first era of globalization dawned in the late sixteenth century when the Spanish Empire created the first global currency. The Spanish used gold and silver mined by indigenous peoples in Bolivia to trade for goods in China. Silver coins greased the wheels of early globalization and connected American mines, to tea fields in China, to the markets of Europe. Expanding wealth and power eventually opened up foreign landscapes to American use as well. By the nineteenth century, consumer networks allowed families in Omaha to consume tropical goods like coffee. Today, multinational corporations like ConAgra dominate food production. They use resources from every type of environment and ship their products globally. Consumer revolutions accelerated after the Second World War. Home appliances like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines promised convenience and an increased quality of life, but new technologies sometimes produced unexpected environmental consequences. These objects remind us that modern consumerism was part of a long history of globalization that transformed global environments. Many of us still use objects like these on a daily basis. As you look through this section, ask yourself how many goods you have used or consumed today are connected in some way to foreign landscapes. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Spanish Silver Reales Subject The topic of the resource Birthed from Spanish mined “New World “silver, the Spanish Reales coins became the first global currency. The coins united 16th century economies across the world by providing a universal system of value. Soon, businessmen oceans apart could trade with confidence, opening ports from Shanghai to Peru. Yet, the Reales’ effects were not confined to trade alone. Global currency allowed exponential business growth, shifting the human-nature relationship. Instead of seeing value in nature itself, nature became worth what it could produce for the economy. Natural areas were only valuable because they could be either mined, farmed, or logged. And so, few ecosystems have remained unaffected by humans. But, human society has begun to realize the danger of this mindset and is turning to a more sustainable coexistence with nature. Description An account of the resource Upon first glance at Bryon Reed’s Spanish Reales, it may be tempting to assign little significance to these silver coins. They are relatively small, light, and devoid of ostentatious ornamentation. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/75" title="Figure 1">Figure 1</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/76" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figure 2</a>) They are perhaps one of a billion other coins that share their name. It would certainly seem that, attributing events as monumental as the rise of globalization and the beginning of the Anthropocene, an age of dramatic human influence on the earth systems, to such inconsequential objects would be absurd. Likewise, connecting these coins of the Spanish empire to the history of Omaha, Nebraska, a gateway city to the American west seems unreasonable at best. We argue, however, that these coins have a very consequential story to tell, one that connects continents and spans hundreds of years. It was no coincidence that these Spanish coins found their way to Omaha, a city thousands of miles from where they were mined and processed. <br /><br />The story of these coins is one of two parallel historical developments. First, the story of globalization and the silver trade. Founded in the 16th century, the silver trade birthed the globalization of expansive production frontiers, where the exploitation of cheap nature fueled capital accumulation. A second, parallel story tells the history of the United States frontier in the nineteenth century. That historical moment brought these coins to Omaha, itself a product of a new, American commodity frontier, this time in land. The real estate mogul Byron Reed connects these narratives. The story of these silver coins begins in 1492 with the Spanish kingdom’s expansion into the New World. Prior to this date, global communities displayed a pattern of relatively even development, characterized by similar forms of production, urbanization, large scale movements, social structures and economic development (J. Blaut, 1992). Often feudal in nature, the economic organization of these communities seem a far cry from those of the modern world system (J. Blaut, 1976). On the other side of 1492, the opposite quickly became true. While subsistence and survival characterized mankind’s exploitative relationship with nature prior to the Spanish’s conquest, an insatiable thirst for capital has fueled subsequent and increasingly expansive interactions with our environment (J. Moore, 2010). Commodity frontiers, areas where cheap land and labor lent themselves to capital accumulation, quickly became coveted resources. The silver frontier of Bolivia, appropriated shortly after the Spanish discovery of the New World, holds a unique spot in history as one of the first and most influential commodity frontiers the world has ever seen (J. Moore, 2007). <br /><br />Prior to the Spanish 1545 conquest of Potosi, the indigenous inhabitants primarily practiced an agricultural way of life, similar in character to their European counterparts (J. Moore, 2010 and R. Barragán, 2017). More significant to the Spanish was the indigenous mining activities at Cerro Rico, “the rich mountain of silver.” A geological anomaly, the mountain, whose slopes rose above the small community of Potosi, quickly became the greatest single source of silver in global history (O. S. Arce-Burgoa and R. Goldfarb, 2009). Native Bolivians extracted silver prior to the Spanish conquest, however, with the Incan kings representing the primary source of demand, the ore’s market remained relatively small, effectively regulating its environmental impact (R. Barragán, 2017). The Spanish invasion of the city profoundly altered Potosi’s relationship with its environment and thrust it into the center of a developing world system. <br /><br />Feeding an insatiable imperialistic drive while also propping up the failing home economy, the Spanish saw Cerro Rico as their key to continued colonial expansion (J. Moore, 2010 and E. Galeano, 1973). Upon Spanish invasion, Potosi became a swirling hub of activity, not unlike the later boomtowns on the American western frontier. However, instead of agricultural expansion and real estate, an unquenchable Spanish thirst for silver drove Potosi’s expansion. At first profit margins were ample. Massive amounts of silver was mined, refined and converted to silver currency, like the Spanish Reales, before being packed on Spanish Galleons to be shipped across the world. By 1560 the quality of ore began to decline (J. Moore, 2010), yet Spanish pressure to produce ever increasing amounts of silver still persisted. The consequences were catastrophic for native people and the landscape. Forests became merely fuel, natives only a useful source of labor, and the soils served only as a means to supply the energy necessary to sustain the labor (J. Moore, 2010 and&nbsp;R. Barragán, 2017). Collectively they became cogs in a machine, simply a means to an end. The lifeblood of Potosi, its people and its land were commodified and exploited in the name of silver production. With over 60% of the world’s sixteenth century silver output attributed to Potosi (D. O. Flynn and A. Giraldez, 1995), it is hard to argue that this system was not fantastically successful for the Spanish. However, the ecological and human tolls were as devastating as they were obvious. As one early 17th century Spanish observer of Cerro Rico noted, “because the work done on the mountain, there is no sign that it had ever had a forest, when it was discovered it was fully covered with trees… On this mountain, there was also a great amount of hunting…There were also deer, and today not even weeds grow on the mountain, not even in the most fertile soils where trees could have grown (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/77" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figure 3</a>) (J. Moore, 2010).” Shattered in succession, the forests, fields and ecosystems in all of modern day Bolivia suffered with Cerro Rico, as the height of the Spanish silver frontier necessitated expansive, unsustainable agriculture and a 200 mile ring of deforestation centered on Potosi. Eventually, the rich veins of Cerro Rico dried to a trickle and the Spanish moved on to the new silver frontiers of colonial Mexico. The silver of Potosi, however, paved the way for a new global epoch, the Anthropocene (A.&nbsp;<span>Jorgenson and E. Kick, 2003)</span>.<br /><br />Understanding the subsequent rise of the Anthropocene, in the face of mass silver production requires a shift of focus from Bolivia, to China. China was the largest, wealthiest civilization of the early modern period. Yet, to the Spanish, it was also frustratingly difficult to trade with (D. O. Flynn and A. Giraldez, 2002). Focused on self-sufficiency, the Chinese viewed western products as wholly unnecessary to their continued success. However, silver’s rapid emergence onto the global stage in the 16th and 17th century quickly dismantled these constraints to globalization. In China, an unstable 16th century economy, plagued by extreme hyperinflation of paper money, led to a drastic “silveration” movement of the state (D. O. Flynn and A. Giraldez, 2002 and W. Schell, 2001). At precisely the moment that Potosi opened its veins to Spanish mining, silver became the most highly sought commodity in China, effectively terminating the Chinese boycott of European trade (D. O. Flynn and A. Giraldez, 2002).<br /><br />While silver was opening the ports of China to European trade, it was simultaneously expanding Europe’s once limited commodity frontiers. Before silver’s rise, the lack of a physically backed, universally acknowledged system of value had hindered long distance, expansive resource extraction. However, silver’s arrival onto the scene solved these problems (J. Moore, 2010). Providing investors and borrowers alike the financial security necessary to facilitate extended resource commodification, silver ushered in a new era of vast ecological resource use (J. Moore, 2010). Suddenly, colonial powers began to view their available land and labor as forms of cheap nature to be exploited for the accumulation of wealth. Modeled after the Potosi silver frontier, Europeans took a hold of this new mindset, and in applying it to their iron, timber, agriculture industries, began to fundamentally alter their surrounding environments (J. Moore, 2017). Consequently, an explosive extension of environmental commodification ensued, engulfing nature on a global scale, and devouring 19th century Omaha and the United States western front in its wake. <br /><br />Exploring the spread of production oriented industry to <br />Omaha is essential to understanding the linkage between the “gateway city to the west,” Byron Reed, and the 16th century silver trade from which the early pioneer’s silver Reales originated. Born in East Darien, New York, in 1829, and later forced to move west with his parents in 1842 (Western Heritage Museum: Byron Reed Exhibit Pamphlet<i>,</i>&nbsp;1985), Byron Reed was emblematic of the mid-19th century American western frontier pioneer. Filled with a passion for adventure and excitement, he made his way through his early twenties working in the telegraph industry and later as a Civil War reporter, a job which nearly cost him his life (Omaha Sunday World-Herald,&nbsp;June 7, 1891). Consequently, and perhaps wisely, he left the reporting business, and moved to Omaha, Nebraska in March of 1856. <br /><br />Omaha in 1856 was a small town, with a population just over 200 people. However, with the growing river trade industry of the time, the community’s location on the Missouri river, lent to the town an immense potential for growth. Sensing an opportunity, Reed, chose to settle down and began to acquire land, which he then sold through his business, The Bryon Reed Real Estate Company, the first of its kind in town (Bryon Reed Company Inc: The Story of Omaha,&nbsp;1956). Subsequently, officials recruited him to survey much of the city, and soon he became known as Omaha’s authority on land transfers. A few short years later the city would boom upon, not the increasing growth of river trade, but instead the back of Lincoln’s 1862 Pacific Railway Act. The proclamation placed Omaha as the central hub of this new ribbon of steel, and with the rail line’s construction in 1863 (J. Brown, 2012), it solidified the city as, “the gateway city to the west.” Soon after, Omaha became the heart from which these wealth conveying railroads flowed. With the completion of these early railroad lines, including the Union Pacific, Burlington and Quincy, and the Chicago-Rock Island and Pacific, subsequent immigration quickly amplified, spurred by news of early pioneers’ successes and cheap government subsidized land (X. Duran, 2013). Consequently, urbanization trailed closely in its wake, abetting the rampant commodification of the western frontier and the rise of real estate industry. <br /><br />Fighting for a premium position upon the 19th century world stage, the United States engaged in increasingly expansive trade policies and practices in order to compete with strengthening global competition (A. Menard, 2011). The Pacific Railway Act of 1862, a component of this political platform, was seen as an essential element to the United States success, with its railroads serving as the cornerstone linkages in expanding American trade (W. Webb, 1931 and X. Duran, 2013) . However, the rail lines quickly became more than a means to traverse the vast expanses of the Midwest. Previously unexploited, the tall grass prairies of the American western front, overflowing with rich natural resources, epitomized cheap nature worthy of great exploitation. Access though, had long been problematic, limiting the tremendous potential for capital accumulation (R. Billington, 1974). The expansion of these nineteenth century railroads, however, essentially resolved the access problems, simultaneously pulling the American economy and millions of settlers westward into a new frontier. Consequently, the resources necessary to extract the riches of prairie ecosystems were suddenly at the very fingertips of the early migrating farmers, igniting an agricultural boom. The once virgin Midwestern soils were busted, fertilized, cultivated, and commodified, with exceptional wealth materializing at the expense of nature. Skyrocketing land values in the late 19th century Midwest exemplify this sudden explosion of capital potential, with railroad centered lands of the Nebraska and Kansas territories exhibiting average price increases of $3.10 per acre upon railroad completion, representing a 24% rise in value (C. S. Decker and D. T. Flynn, 2007).<br /><br />As a result of these changes, Omaha’s industry and population exploded, and Reed, who had amassed a good deal of land around and outside the city prior to the railroads’ arrival (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/86" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figure 4</a>), quickly became a wealthy man. Whether selling urban property, or rural agriculture, the once virgin and untouched land which Reed dealt became fundamentally altered and commodified in the wake of the new frontiers arrival. Simultaneously, Reed became an actor and benefactor of the capitally driven western commodity frontier. Not unlike the many other 1850’s and 1860’s American western migrants who saw their fortunes soar with the development of the western frontier (J. Stewart, 2006), Reed was soon worth over an estimated two million dollars. Buoyed by his sudden wealth, he continued to collect land throughout his life, affirmed by the large number of city plots, the additions, and more than 350 acres of farmland he possessed at the time of his death (M. Brown, 1989 and&nbsp;Omaha Sunday World-Herald,&nbsp;June 7, 1891). However, his collection interests expanded beyond land alone. Fascinated by coins, Reed accumulated one of the finest coin collections in the world, in the middle of which sat the Spanish silver Reales, the very piece of history responsible for producing the capitalistic, commodifying, anthropogenic age that made Reed’s collection possible. <br /><br />While time has muddied the waters between Byron Reed’s Spanish silver and the new human epoch, the Anthropocene, exploring the era’s roots in capitalism and the commodity system crystallizes the distorted relationships. An exemplary western front migrant, Reed built both his reputation and his fortune off this new 19th century commodity frontier. However, while railroads and agriculture, rather than imperialistic lust and mining, characterized the front, its ties to Potosi silver, remain indisputable. Appropriated in the 16th century, Spanish mining of Cerro Rico, the silver mountain, simultaneously became the model, and the agent of change in ushering in a new economic era. Upon this mountain’s rich and mighty slopes, a mindset of production orientation was born, spreading the Spanish silver Reales and paving the way for globalization and intensive nature commodification. Thus, despite their superficial differences, the American western frontier, which delivered Bryon Reed his fortune and his Spanish Reales, fundamentally mirrored its silver 16th century counterpart, both being driven by an insatiable appetite for capital accumulation at the expense of commodified nature. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ian Reuter Dakota Wagner Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Blaut, James M. On the Significance of 1492. Political Geography, 11, no. 4 (1992): 355-385. doi: 10.1016/0962-6298(92)90003-C. Blaut, James M. Where was Capitalism Born? Antipode, 8 no. 2 (1976): 1-11. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.1976.tb00633.x Moore, Jason W. "‘Amsterdam is Standing on Norway’ Part I: The Alchemy of Capital, Empire and Nature in the Diaspora of Silver, 1545–1648." Journal Of Agrarian Change 10, no. 1 (2010): 33-68. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). Moore, Jason. “Silver, Ecology, and the Origins of the Modern World, 1450-1640.” In Rethinking Environmental History: World-System History and Global Environmental Change, edited by Hornborg, Alf, J. R. McNeill, and Juan Martínez-Alier 123-142. Plymouth: AltaMira Press: 2007. Moore, Jason W. “’This lofty mountain of silver could conquer the whole world.’ Potosi and the political ecology of underdevelopment, 1545-1800.” Journal of Philosophical Economics, 4 no. 1 (2010): 58-103. https://jpe.ro/?id=b1&cuprins=ascuns. a. “In the first two decades after Spain’s enclosure of Potosí, the ores were rich indeed. Soon, however, ore quality declined sharply. By the late 1560’s, the yield on Potosí ore fell 98 percent from two decades earlier.” b. “Declining yield implied rising fuel inputs, the major production cost for smelter.” Ore refinement consequently became a major sink of fuel and labor, exacerbated by the “transition to mercury amalgamation… because it reduced per unit fuel costs…it enabled such a large increase in output over so short a time, the consequence was more, not less deforestation” c. “Construction and fuel needs devoured the forests around Potosí, driving successive expansions of the timber hinterland. By 1714, Potosí, was drawing timber from Paraguay” Barragán, Rossana. "Working Silver for the World: Mining Labor and Popular Economy in Colonial Potosí." Hispanic American Historical Review 97, no. 2 (2017): 193-222. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2017). a. “Until Spanish 1575 reforms in labor, indigenous population carried out the extraction at their own cost and largely for their own benefit… in contrast the forced labor system ‘mita’ established afterwards, lacked the principle of protections found in slavery systems, instead the Potosí system had no safeguards against overexploitation” Galeano, Eduardo. Open veins of Latin America: five centuries of the pillage of a continent. Carlton North, Vic.: Scribe Publications, 1973. Moore, Jason W. “The Capitalocene, Part I: On the Nature and Origins of our Ecological Crisis.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44 no. 4, 2017: 594-630. http://www.tandfonline.com/. a. Moore identifies four forms of “cheap nature” implicit in the rise of expansive capitalistic commodification which he defines as “labor-power, food, energy, and raw materials.” O. Flynn, Dennis, and Arturo Giraldez. Born with a “Silver Spoon”: The Origin of World Trade in 1571. Journal of World History, 6 no. 2 (1995): 201-222. http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/journals.aspx. Jorgenson, Andrew K., and Edward L. Kick L. “Introduction: Globalization and the Environment.” Journal of World-Systems Research, 9 no. 2 (2003): 195-203. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2003.243. O. Flynn, Dennis, and Arturo Giraldez. "Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century*." Journal Of World History 13, no. 2 (2002): 391. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2017). a. “In the early 16th century the gold/silver ratio in China stood at 1:6, while in contrast the gold/silver ratio hovered around 1:12 in Europe.” b. “Within two years of Spain’s 1865 establishment of a port in the Philippines, which linked Chinese demand for silver directly to its major producer, China ended its prohibition on overseas trade.” Schell Jr., William. "Silver Symbiosis: ReOrienting Mexican Economic History." Hispanic American Historical Review 81, no. 1 (2001): 89. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 5, 2017). Moore, Jason W. "‘Amsterdam is Standing on Norway’ Part II: The Global North Atlantic in the Ecological Revolution of the Long Seventeenth Century." Journal Of Agrarian Change 10, no. 2 (2010): 188-227. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). Menard, Andrew. "Striking a Line through the Great American Desert." Journal Of American Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 267-280. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). Webb, Walter P. The Great Plain. London: Penguin Publishing Group, 1931. Duran, Xavier. "The First U.S. Transcontinental Railroad: Expected Profits and Government Intervention." Journal Of Economic History 73, no. 1 (2013): 177-200. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). Billington, Ray A. Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier., 4th edition: New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1974. Decker, Christopher S., and David T. Flynn. "The Railroad's Impact on Land Values in the Upper Great Plains at the Closing of the Frontier." Historical Methods 40, no. 1 (2007): 28-38. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). Brown, Jeff. "Uniting the States: The First Transcontinental Railroad." Civil Engineering (08857024) 82, no. 7/8 (2012): 40-42. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). a. Signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on July 1, 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act launched the construction of a 1,776 mile long railroad from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Work began on the eastern side of the railroad in Omaha, Nebraska in December 1863. Six years later, on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, the final spike was driven into the railroad marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Western Heritage Museum. Byron Reed Exhibit Pamphlet. Omaha: 1985. “Byron Reed Passes Away.” Omaha Sunday World-Herald (Omaha), June 7, 1891, 5. a. Identified as an informant for a Union newspaper while behind Confederate lines in Kansas, Reed was lucky to evade capture, which could have come with dire consequences. Bryon Reed Company, Inc. The Story of Omaha. Omaha: 1956. Stewart, James I. "Migration to the Agricultural Frontier and Wealth Accumulation, 1860–1870." Explorations In Economic History 43, no. 4 (2006): 547-577. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2017). a. “Frontier migrants accumulated wealth at rates that were high and in excess of those in non-frontier areas…. increasing their wealth eightfold over the decade or twice as much as those who did not migrate.” Brown, Marion M. “Byron Reed the Man Behind the Treasure.” Sunday World-Herald Magazine of the Midlands. (Omaha), April 2, 1989. Arce-Burgoa, Osvaldo R. and Richard J. Goldfarb. “Metallogeny of Bolivia.” Society of Economic Geologists Newsletter, No. 79 (2009).http://www.dim.uchile.cl/~lsaavedr/archivos/joseline/pdf/Metallogeny%20of%20Bolivia.pdf a. “The Cerro Rico de Potosi polymetallic vein deposit, mined since the mid-1500s, is the world’s largest silver deposit. It has yielded 60,000 tons of silver making Bolivia the largest silver producer in the world for more than two centuries.” Shahriari, Sara. “Bolivia: Struggling to save the mountain that eats men.” Aljazeera America. May 8th, 2014. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/8/struggling-to-savethemountainthateatsmen.html. “Spain Spanish Colonial Reales.” Coin Quest. Accessed November 6th, 2017. http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=2334. “Maps.” Omaha Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission. Accessed November 6th, 2017. https://landmark.cityofomaha.org/maps. Relation A related resource <strong>Further Reading:</strong> <br /><br />1) Jason Moore: <a href="https://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=2892" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“This lofty mountain of silver could conquer the whole world.: Potosi and the political ecology of underdevelopment, 1545-1800.<br /></a><br />2) <a href="http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15426coll8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Durham; Byron Reed Items</a><br /><br />3) <a href="http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/living/durham-museums-byron-reed-collection-a-rare-peek-at-omahas-treasure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryon Reed Collection<br /><br /><br /></a> Agriculture Byron Reed Commodity Frontier Currency Deforestation Globalization Mining Production Real Estate Silver Spanish Colonialism https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/bb0c7469df2650d90a32598e76921f82.JPG ee096f975bcdaf7221277308634efa72 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 1: Lithic Tools Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Collections https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/82bb5e80b5d9a4baff82531b61d72a1d.JPG dd654f3de94759e9b54a8926dd3911cd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Figure 2: Lithic Tools Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Collections Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Taming the Landscape Subject The topic of the resource The Early Anthropocene<br /><br /> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4740/38752446300_776a102fdd_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource When did people begin to take control of the global environment? Humans have shaped their local environments for hundreds of thousands of years. As populations increased, their impacts expanded. Two changes greatly accelerated human influence on a global scale: the movement of hunting societies and the development of agriculture. By the end of the last ice age, humans had migrated across much of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Whenever humans appeared, a wave of extinctions followed. In the Americas, large animals such as the Mastodon and Giant Beaver went extinct shortly after the arrival of people. Although scientists debate the origin of these mass extinctions (changing climate likely played a role), hunting was a significant factor. The development of agriculture played an even more important role in global environmental change. People began domesticating plants and animals around the world roughly 12,000 years ago. The stone (“lithic”) tools in our exhibit speak to this dramatic change. Agriculture often required clearing forested lands, irrigating, or fertilizing landscapes to make them suitable for crops. These changes were the foundation for settlement and later the rise of complex civilizations all over the world. Agriculture and hunting continue to reshape environments on a global scale today. The bison in this exhibit represents the consequences of modern overhunting and the single-wheel hoe represents our continued reliance on agriculture. These objects remind us that “taming the landscape” revolutionized societies, but they also produced global environmental consequences. They connect us to a deep past and symbolize a transformation that continues to shape the modern world. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lithic Tools Subject The topic of the resource Stone tools are among the most important evidence of early changes humans made to the earth system. Early humans (8000 BC – 1000 BC) used stone tools, like this mortar and scraper, to process food, hides, and other materials. These tools embody the “Neolithic Revolution,” which was the global shift in human culture from hunting and gathering to farming. Farming required humans to become more sedentary. This led to longer and more sustained interactions with the environment. The environmental (and social) impacts of this were profound. Early humans used tools like these to process and use natural resources in new ways. Their perception of the environment transitioned to one of consumption and extraction. This is due to larger settlements and more intensive interactions with the environment. Instead of living with the environment, they lived on it. Description An account of the resource Agriculture is a fundamental aspect of modern society. 90 million acres are dedicated to corn alone, the most productive mono crop (calories/acre), which accounts for one of the largest uses of land in the United States. (Capehart, 2017) No matter if you are the farmer in the tractor plowing the fields, or the consumer buying produce in the grocery store, agriculture pervades your life. Modern agriculture provides the caloric needs in order for humans to undergo their lives unburdened by these basic primal needs. Thousands of years ago, agriculture did not exist and providing suitable food resource for these basic needs was a fight for survival. Stone tools aided humans in obtaining these crucial resources. Stone tools are a technology that has changed human’s relationship with the environment. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/79" title="Lithic1">Figure 1</a>) They allow humans to manipulate and process resources that would otherwise be less useful. The Durham Museum’s lithic tools are a window into transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the more sedentary lifestyle of a farmer. The use of these tools aided in the reshaping of human lives and their environments. Relating these tools to the anthropocene provides some contextual evidence as to how these tools, and more importantly, the role that agriculture played in the transition to a new epoch. Sustained interactions of the earth through agriculture have fundamentally impacted human relationships with the environment, which poses anthropogenic impacts through developing technology, changes in societal and cultural structure and subsequent ties to Omaha. <br /><br />The context of these particular stone tools has been lost in time. This is unfortunately the case with many similar artifacts in museums around the world. Once removed from the ground, archaeological evidence loses its context, and by consequence much of its history. The possibilities are practically endless for the history of these stone tools. The only provenance known regarding these tools is The Durham Museum acquired them from the Joslyn Museum in 1965. Even without this context what we can understand is the purpose and story surrounding these stone tools, which in turn, links us, and links Omaha, to profound change in the earth system. <br /><br />The availability of ground stone and the ease of manipulation of these rocks into tools make ground stone tool some of the most ubiquitous artifacts in human history. Almost every civilization or group of humans used ground stone tools at one point in time. Although sources of ground stone were static, early humans were nomadic and would often disperse these tools across the landscape. For example, the Western Comanche tribe traded extensively with the French in the 1700’s. Native American trade centers were the norm during these times and were critical in the exchange of technology. (Hämäläinen, 1998) These more modern trading systems are indicative of the trade systems of the past. In context of chipped stone tools, rigorous analysis of particular stone a tool is made of, one can predict the site in which it came from. One can then track the dispersion of stone tools across landscapes from the Folsom, Davis, Cody, and Clovis sites. (Irwin and Wromington, 1970) Paleo-Indians created these tools anywhere where ground stone is/was abundant. If these tools were discovered in the Midwest, the approximate source of stone used to construct these tool would have been the Rocky Mountains. Similar tools have been unearthed by archaeologists and their classification offer insights into their use and environmental implications. <br /><br />The tool which resembles a bowl is called a mortar, which would have been used to process and store plants and other food materials by crushing them with another rock called a pestle. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/80" title="Lithic2">Figure 2</a>) People also used these tools to process and store paints and dyes. The other tool could have been used as a scraper in which the edge would have been used to soften hides or to clean meat off of animal hides while seemingly primitive, these basic tools remain in widespread use today. The modern mortar and pestle, for instance, is often used in the kitchen to process certain food items. The first lesson these tools offer is that the history of technology (which cannot be divorced from narratives of the Anthropocene) is as much the history of modification as it is radical innovation. <br /><br />Stone tools transcend the divide between ancient humans nomadic subsistence strategies and later agricultural sedentism. Paleo-Indians brought stone tools with them when they settled North America. “To colonize the Americas, modern humans had to learn to subsist in the extreme environments of the Siberian Arctic.” (Goebel, Waters, and O'Rourke, 2008) These modern humans were the first to colonize the Americas by crossing the ice bridge of Beringia approximately 15,000 years ago. According to Barton et al, these Paleo-Indians were characterized as mobile hunter-gatherers that used high-quality stones, like chert and obsidian, which were highly curated and had multiple functions. (Barton, 2004) The main purpose of these tools was to aid in the hunting and processing of animals, such as the woolly mammoth, giant ground sloth, or the mastodon, in order to obtain better utility of these resources. <br /><br />Paleo-Indian cultures, for instance, are even named after the locations where these stone tools were first discovered, the most famous being Clovis and Folsom. Although the popular Clovis and Folsom assemblages are not notable in the Nebraskan soil layers, two nearby dig sites have led to evidence of Paleo-Indian activities. According to Holen and May, the La Sena and Shaffert mammoth sites, both located in Frontier County, Nebraska, have fossil evidence of mammoth bones that were processed by humans by breaking them open in order to obtain the bone marrow of the mammoth. (Holen and May, 2002) The descendants of the early Paleo-Indians, Native Americans, continued to use this stone tool technology to obtain and process food for thousands of years to come. In fact, the keystone species of the Great Plains, the bison, is attributed as a key to survival of the Paleo-Indians of the plains as early as 11,000 years ago, and often associated to the mainstay of the more modern Native Americans in Nebraska and the Great Plains. (Hofman and Graham, 1998) “The Lakota and Cheyenne, for instance, are described as relying heavily on bison meat for food and living a nomadic lifestyle in tune with the movements of the Bison. More sedentary farming societies, such as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Pawnee, Oto, and Kansa, incorporated seasonal long-distance bison hunts into their annual subsistence." (Ritterbusch, 2002) Stone tools were crucial in aiding early Native Americans in utilizing large mammals, such as the bison, as a vital resource. They used the stone technology, like the scrapper, to make the resources already available to them, more fruitful. Respectively, lithic tools are an important piece of technology used by the Paleo-Indians and later used by more local Native American tribes in the Great Plains that was key to the survival of these peoples. <br /><br />Hunter-gatherer cultures used lithic technology to hunt more efficiently and process the animals they were using as a food source. However, not all lithic technology was used in the hunting and processing of animals, and in fact, lithic technology is often associated with sedentism and the rise of agriculture. Early humans were nomadic due to the nature of their food source. They would follow their food in the form of herds of mastodons, woolly mammoths, and even bison across the land. The stone tools they used were often cumbersome and difficult to travel with. In order to move more effectively with their food, they would leave the stone tools at their campsite with the assumption they would create new tools wherever they would live next, or come back to them when the herd moves back to the original campsites. This is why there are large deposits of stone tools left in the earth and not an even distribution of them. (Price and Bar-Yosef, 2011) It was not until domestication of crops, the Neolithic Revolution 10,000 BC, which more sedentary lifestyles became common. Agriculture, incentivized communities to settle in order to tend their fields, this allowed people to keep their stone tools and use them for a longer time and create larger stone tools once too cumbersome and hard to transport. These stone tools aided in the cultivation of crops and processing of the subsequent products, such as the mortar. <br /><br />According to Weisdorf, “The rise of Neolithic agriculture is unquestionably one of the most important events in human cultural history." (Weisdrof, 2005) It is often assumed that farming was much easier and the preferred method of obtaining food for the early humans. In reality, it was labor-intensive and backbreaking work for the same amount of calories compared to hunting. Historical ecologist Jack R. Harlan poses the question the best: “Why farm?”8 There are many proposed answers for this question. Economic historians North and Thomas believe it is as simple as a comparative static model that explicitly considers the influence of property rights and population growth upon a man’s behavior. Smith argues it was a decision born of necessity due to the large-scale extinction of certain mega fauna species approximately 10,000 years ago (itself possible the result of excessive hunting). (Smith, 1975) Many more theories try to illustrate the exact causation of the transition to agriculture. (Weisdrof, 2003; Trigger, 1989; North and Thomas, 1977) Whatever the motivations for its development, agriculture has become a defining component of our society today through the feature of innate sedentism and excess of calories that it provides. <br /><br />Farming has been the most direct and uninterrupted interaction between human beings and their environment. The innate goal of farming is to divert and alter natural resources in order to fulfill human goals of creating a sustainable food source. “Farming is a way of obtaining food that involves the cultivation of plants and the controlled herding of animals." (Harlan, 1992) The new systems of obtaining food were much more than cultivation, herding, or the ensuing domestication of various species. The differences in lifestyles, hunter-gatherer vs. farming, necessitated changes to societal structures. The fundamental difference between the hunter-gatherer and the farmer is the way in which calories are obtained. The hunter-gatherer must be nomadic, whereas the farmer remains sedentary. Cultural and societal structures reflect the differences in these lifestyles. Agriculturalists intensively modified the land around them in order to create a milieu that suits their needs. The basic goal of a farmer is to alter the plant community in order to favor the preference of a few plant species that produce food. This produced, in the best of circumstances, fantastic amounts of energy in the form of food, but it likewise necessitated new relationships with their surroundings, transforming the environment. <br /><br />In the face of these developments and resulting population increases of sedentary societies, nomadic lifestyles slowly waned and a rise of sedentary lifestyle ushered in a new culture. Hunting and gathering has been the way to make a living for hundreds of thousands of years. It was not until recently, geologically speaking, agriculture has taken its roots, and an exponential amount of changes have accompanied it. The sheer amount of changes the past thousands of years necessitates the idea there is a fundamental difference in these two points in time, and this idea is prevalent in early Anthropocene hypothesis thinkers. Early anthropogenic traits have been observed with the presence of cultivated plant remains in archaeological collection sites, in which researchers first noted these changes in radiocarbon-dated soil deposits. Interglacial core samples provide evidence of the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane levels as anomalous in comparison to previous trends. During the Industrial Revolution, 150 years ago, a large spike in these levels is observable. Recent collection of interglacial core samples provide insight that the start of the rising spike in greenhouse gases spanning from 7000-2000 years ago. Rise in carbon dioxide and methane levels display trends that had risen one standard deviation point above previously recorded levels in interglacial core samples. This upward trend strongly suggest that the rising greenhouse gas levels were not naturally, but in fact were the result of developed agricultural fields and livestock accumulation which poses anthropogenic traits. (Ruddiman, 2013) Certini and Scalenghe argue the start of the Anthropocene is, “...the period when human activity acts as a major driving factor in modifying the landscape and the environment." (Certini and Scalenghe, 2011) It is undeniable the Industrial Revolution is a possible golden spike for this new geological epoch, however, there was a large change in the earth system preceding this revolution and therefore the golden spike should be placed prior. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/81" title="Dates">Figure 3</a>)<br /><br />The development and advancement of agriculture promoted the manipulation of the environment and a shift in human diets. That transition is reflected in our stone tools, whether represented by the stone scraper and its connections to the exploitation of mega fauna, or our mortar and pestle, crushing cultivated grains. As human lives became more complex, the impact on the Earth grew even further. The study of environmental history furthers uncovers the impact of agriculture in relation to the anthropocene. “Environmental history examines the evolving relationship between people and nature - it is rooted in place. From this perspective humans exist within nature, not apart from it, and like all animal species, our survival depends upon the health of the habitat in which we live. We both shape and are shaped by the world around us." (Dant, 2016) This has rapidly changed as societies formed and evolved. Similar tools are transformative as their complexity was shaped to suit human needs. The complexity of technology and the shifting of lifestyles exhibit anthropogenic traits as the composition of the earth as the evolving human cultures become more complex and the manipulation of the earth intensifies. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adam Luton Will Norskov Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Capehart, Thomas. “Background”. United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx (accessed December 12, 2017) Hämäläinen, Pekka. "The western Comanche trade center: Rethinking the plains Indian trade system." Western Historical Quarterly 29, no. 4 (1998): 485-513. Irwin, Henry T., and H. Marie Wormington. "Paleo-Indian tool types in the Great Plains." American Antiquity 35, no. 1 (1970): 24-34. Goebel, Ted, Michael R. Waters, and Dennis H. O'rourke. "The late Pleistocene dispersal of modern humans in the Americas." science 319, no. 5869 (2008): 1497-1502. Barton, C. Michael, ed. The settlement of the American continents: a multidisciplinary approach to human biogeography. University of Arizona Press, 2004. Holen, Steven R., and David W. May. "The La Sena and Shaffert Mammoth Sites." In Medicine Creek: Seventy years of archaeological investigations, pp. 20-36. University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, 2002. Hofman, Jack L., and Russell W. Graham. "The Paleo-indian cultures of the Great Plains." Archaeology on the Great Plains(1998): 87-139. Ritterbush, Lauren W. "Drawn by the Bison: Late Prehistoric Native Migration into the Central Plains." Price, T. Douglas, and Ofer Bar-Yosef. "The origins of agriculture: new data, new ideas: an introduction to supplement 4." Current Anthropology 52, no. S4 (2011): S163-S174. Weisdorf, Jacob L. "From foraging to farming: explaining the Neolithic Revolution." Journal of Economic surveys 19, no. 4 (2005): 561-586. Smith, Vernon L. "The primitive hunter culture, Pleistocene extinction, and the rise of agriculture."Journal of Political Economy 83, no. 4 (1975): 727-755. Weisdorf, Jacob L. Stone age economics: The origins of agriculture and the emergence of non-food specialists. No. 03-34. 2003. Trigger, Bruce G. A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge University Press, 1989. North, Douglass C., and Robert Paul Thomas. "The first economic revolution." The Economic History Review 30, no. 2 (1977): 229-241. Harlan, Jack Rodney. Crops and man. No. Ed. 2. American Society of Agronomy, 1992. Ruddiman, William F. “The Anthropocene.” The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science 45, (2013): 45-68. Certini, Giacomo, and Riccardo Scalenghe. "Anthropogenic soils are the golden spikes for the Anthropocene." The Holocene 21, no. 8 (2011): 1269-1274. Dant, Sara. Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West. John Wiley & Sons, 2016. Agriculture Greenhouse Gasses Hunter-Gatherer Lithic Tools Neolithic Revolution https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/57c3b92572055907be2967d0d4e2732d.jpg dced4ac5255b04a61ce0dacdbb29ba31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living in a World of Our Own Making Subject The topic of the resource <a href="http://www.igbp.net/images/18.950c2fa1495db7081ebd1/1421396650502/GreatAcceleration2015igbpsrclowres.jpg" title="IGBP - The Great Acceleration Dashboard" target="_blank">The Great Acceleration</a> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4721/40562555551_972c132773_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource The Anthropocene means “The Age of Humans,” but what does it mean to live in a world of our own making? Humanity has flourished in past two centuries. Two thirds of every person ever born lived between 1945 and today. Scientists call this era of expanding population, economic development, and environmental impact the “Great Acceleration.” People are now more numerous and powerful than ever before. Mining moves more rocks and soils than all of the worlds rivers combined. Artificial fertilizers have doubled the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils. Plastics can now be found on mountain tops and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Paradoxically, many of the most profound changes to global environments pass virtually unnoticed. Nuclear fallout, for instance, is invisible to the naked eye, but radioactive evidence of cold war weapons tests remains in soils around the world. Until recently, lead was one of the most common materials in industrial use. It was used to seal our foods, paint our homes, and power our cars. Lead is toxic, especially for children. Although invisible, lead is now in our soils, in our cities, and even in our blood. By contrast, concrete is virtually everywhere, yet we rarely think about it. We drive on it, work in it, and the foundations of this very museum are built using it. More than half of the concrete ever produced was manufactured between 1995-2015. Concrete requires enormous energy to mine, transport, and produce. These consequences are as invisible to us as the material is abundant. As you finish your journey through the exhibit, consider how many other “invisible” materials influence our lives and connect us to the global environment. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Plastic Cup Subject The topic of the resource Omaha has been home to the College World Series since 1950. This great baseball event brings in thousands of fans from across the world every summer. Consumers buy souvenirs like this cup at high volumes to bring home with them from the event. When reused or recycled, consumer plastics like this cup can drastically decrease waste sent to landfills. If patrons throw this cup away, however, its durability ensures long-lasting environmental impact. Up to 79% of plastic waste is disposed in landfills or the environment. Because of this, plastic pollution has a significant negative impact on the environment. Consumer plastic is now a bedrock material of the Anthropocene. Description An account of the resource Since 1967, the College World Series has drawn countless baseball fans from across the country to the streets of Omaha for two weeks every summer. They arrive as consumers both of baseball and the countless products they use, abandon, or take home as souvenirs. One of these objects is a plastic souvenir cup from the 1988 CWS. This plastic cup is not an extraordinary object, however, it is imperative to look beyond the surface and imagine what this object truly represents: the global use of consumer plastic both in Omaha and worldwide. Consumer plastics have had dramatic effects on the environment on both a local and global scale; however, they have also positively contributed to progress toward a more sustainable society. Our object points to the fact that while plastics can embody negative effects of the Anthropocene, they can also exemplify the positive aspects of humanity’s technological and scientific development. <br /><br />Plastic is a polymer; a substance made up of repeating chemical units. As explained by Andrea Sella, a professor at University College London, “you take a simple organic molecule react it with yourself again and again and again, a little bit like a bicycle chain; you attach one link, and you click on the next one and the next one… almost ad infinitum.” (Knight, 2014) Plastics were not the first manufactured polymer, though. While looking for a cheap substitute for ivory for use in billiards balls, John Wesley Hyatt created the first synthetic polymer in 1869. This scientific innovation was the first of its kind, and importantly did not require the contribution of the products directly extracted from natural resources. (SHI, 2016) Humans now had the complete control of the process for the production of plastic polymers. <br /><br />Hyatt’s substance was an early predecessor today’s durable plastic. The more immediate precursors to modern-day plastics were substances retrospectively known as “proto-plastics”, such as vulcanized rubber produced in the mid-19th century. (Fenichell, 1996) During World War II, shortages in rubber, brass and aluminum incentivized the substitution of plastic, which became favored following the war for many of its newfound uses. Plastic production expanded exponentially during and after the war. (Meikle, 1995) During WWII, production of synthetic plastic within the United States of America increased by 300%. (SHI, 2016) Due to its immense popularity and economic potential, companies began investing in plastic research to produce new types of plastics “for their own sake and worried about finding uses for them later.” (SHI, 2016) The consumerist vision of plastic had begun. <br /><br />Innovations of plastics have drastically changed its properties. Modern plastics are now heat resistant, elastic, and can avoid scratches and cracking. These new updates add unknown chemicals to the polymerization process. New societal fears about potential toxicity and easy disposability of plastics have begun to turn plastics use into a cultural and environmental question. (Mossman, 2008) Plastic’s main ingredient is one of the most precious materials on earth: oil. This sought after commodity price has fluctuated greatly through the years, and has affected the progression of plastic research and societal acceptance. (Swallow, 1951) <br /><br />Plastic “combines the ultimate twentieth-century characteristics - artificiality, disposability, and synthesis - all rolled into one.” (Mossman, 2008) American society now has unlimited access to plastic goods ranging from hula-hoops to lawn furniture. Susan Frienkel describes the United States’ obsession with plastic simply. “In product after product, market after market, plastics challenged traditional materials and won, taking the place of steel in cars, paper and glass in packaging, and wood in furniture.” (Freinkel, 2011) Americans integrated plastic into nearly every aspect of their lives and it is now one of the primary materials in American everyday life. <br /><br />The industrial and consumer growth has had profound environmental implications. Environmentalists describe plastic as “one of the most ubiquitous and long lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet.” (Fischer, 2017) The explosion of plastics usage has largely paralleled the exponential growth referred to by Anthropocene scholars as the Great Acceleration. Plastic became common in the 1940s, and its use has increased exponentially ever since. The amount of plastic created in the first ten years of this century is greater than the amount produced in the prior century. (Fischer, 2017) Additionally, numbers skyrocketed between the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2007, 230 million tons of plastic were produced globally. (Mossman, 2008) Consumer demand propelled its production and disposal of this product into a great hindrance upon the global environment. <br /><br />Plastic’s effect upon the earth system is unprecedented. While people can theoretically reuse it, most plastics are created for single-use product, such as disposable water bottles. This has led to incredible amounts of plastics in landfills and the oceans which will remain there unless otherwise removed by humans. Plastics debris found in oceans has rattled the complete acceptance of plastic within American culture. (Meikle, 1997) Plastic objects are held as having three different ends; recycling or reprocessing, thermal destruction which is often done without energy recovery, or disposal in either “a managed system, such as sanitary landfills, or uncontained in open dumps or in the natural environment.” (Geyer, Jambek and Law, 2017) <br /><br />The image of sea life trapped in plastic has achieved iconic status in environmental critiques of consumerism. Additionally, the negative impact of plastics upon the ocean is not limit to its solidified state. Oil, the primary ingredient of plastic, is always a danger to spilling within some of the world’s major bodies of water. This impending risk has become a reality on numerous occasions, hindering and destroying oceanic life as society knows it. <br /><br />Furthermore, scientists have discovered that chemicals used in plastics production are detrimental to humans when absorbed, often through consumption of foods and beverages in plastic packaging. (Fischer, 2017) Some of the commonly used chemicals are hazardous due to their toxicity, sensitization, ability to corrode the skin and eyes, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity. (Wiberg, 1976) All organisms are susceptible to these effect, not just humans. Due to the great penetration of plastics into everyday life of humankind plastics are a negative component of the everyday life of oceanic, avian, and terrestrial animals. (Wallace, 2016) Due to its shear longevity, the negative implications of plastics within the earth system is significant and perpetual. <br /><br />On the other hand, plastic does have many benefits. According to the American Chemistry Council, which is admittedly the research arm of the plastics industry, it is beneficial to the environment. Its high strength-weight ratio allows for lighter packaging, resulting lower fuel usage during transportation of products. It takes two pounds of plastic to create an 8 gallon container. The same container would require three pounds of aluminum, eight pounds of steel, or 27 pounds of glass. (ACC, 2018) Plastic products can often reused, recycled, or reimagined as containers, rug fibers, composite lumber, or new pipe products. (EPA, 2016) Plastics-to-oil, or PTO, production is a process which has recently begun gaining traction as a way to gain use from plastic in situations where it is not feasible to recycle plastics. PTO facilities first heat plastic to a gaseous state and then distill the gas into liquid fuel for sale or further refinement. (ACC, 2014) Researchers who represent the plastics lobby believe PTO facilities could divert 20% of the 32.5 million tons of plastic that enter US landfills each year and turn it into fuel. <br /><br />Plastic is often superior to its substitutes due to superior efficiency, both in terms of money and energy. While plastic began to be widely during WWII due to shortages in other materials, its use continued postwar because for many uses it was cheaper than the original materials. (Meikle, 1995) Plastic use lowers costs for distributors and retailers, thereby lowering the cost of goods packaged in it. (Belasco and Bronner, 2017) A 2010 study conducted by Plastics Europe, a research arm of a plastics lobby, found that the “substitution of plastic products by other materials wherever possible would need about 57% more energy than currently used in the total life cycle of all plastic products today”- the same amount of energy carried by approximately 205 oil tankers. That action would increase would increase annual greenhouse gas emissions by 124 megatons- about the same as Belgium’s total CO₂ emissions in 2000. This is because plastics are less costly to produce and use in terms of energy used. Only 18% of plastic’s energy demand is linked to the period of time the product is being used for its intended purpose relative to an average of 24% for other materials, largely because of its weight savings in packaging and the resulting lowered transportation energy costs. (Denkstatt GmbH, 2010) This is because of plastic’s relatively high strength to weight ratio not found in other common packaging materials. (Andrady and Neal, 2009) These numbers are easily demonstrated in the figure “Life Cycle Energy Consumption of Plastic Products and Their Potential Substitutes” found in the <a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/635cb95b1b7c07aaea81f84d228c9d6d.jpg">Figure 2</a>. It was estimated that the emissions savings of using plastic products in 2007 rather than its substitutes were 5-9 times the emissions used to produce and dispose of plastic. Furthermore, the negative environmental effects of plastics have often been greatly exaggerated; only 1.3% of an average person’s carbon footprint comes from plastic products whereas recreation and leisure accounts for the largest share of the carbon footprint at 18%. (Andrady and Neal, 2009) It is worth noting again that pretty much all benefits research is done on the behalf of plastics lobbies. <br /><br />One might ponder the significance of plastic cup in a history museum, as one should. Could it be the familiarity of the object that makes you question its importance? For most people, a common plastic cup from the 1988 College World Series may not reveal much history. In fact, the true historical value of theses cups is surprisingly within the plastic of which it was made. It’s undeniable that humans see and use plastics in almost every aspect of our lives yet the importance of plastic is often overlooked because of its commonality. Moreover, the history of plastic illustrates an ongoing, interconnected relationship between humans, objects, and nature. In fact, Omaha is a great example of this interconnected relationship as it harks back to when railways were used as means for transporting goods and commodities between the east and west. Think about where this plastic originated (St. Louis, Missouri), how it was made, how was it brought to Omaha, what resources were needed to make it, how it was disposed, and how has nature become affected as a result. Plastic has evolved throughout history in order to better benefit human use. However, it is important to understand that with all benefits come costs. This cup emphasizes the importance of personal awareness that our actions often have unforeseeable consequences on nature. Organizations like “Recycling Green Team” serve to promote the proper disposal of plastic cups and other recyclable objects at sports events. (NRDC, 2014) Individual efforts and the acceptance of accountability has shown significant improvement in the amount plastic being recycled. However, more is required, as in 2010 41% of the waste collected from the Douglas County landfill could have been recycled instead. (Sierra Club, 2017) Humans undeniably cause damage to nature, yet our current preservation and understanding of our involvement highlights the importance of sustainability in the survival of the human race. <br /><br />Consumer plastic has left an immense footprint upon the foundation of the local and global environment. It has negatively impacted the environment through factory emissions, pollution of oceans, and longevity within landfills. This problem persists today, even with stronger recycling efforts in place. The overproduction of plastics, such as our College World Series collectible cup, is a byproduct of our consumerist society. Though there are many costs associated with the production, distribution, and waste of plastic, there have also been great societal benefits as well. The advancement of humanity’s technological and scientific development has helped countless lives across the world. When used with intention, plastic may help reduce waste created and slow the progression of human induced pollution. Awareness is imperative in this potential change. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Emily Newcomb Duncan Riley Craig Schmerbach Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived American Chemistry Council. Economic Impact of Plastics-To-Oil Facilities in the US. (American Chemistry Council, Oct. 2014). Accessed February 27, 2018. plastics.americanchemistry.com/Product-Groups-and-Stats/Plastics-to-Fuel/Economic-Impact-of-Plastics-to-Oil-Facilities-in-the-United-States-Full-Study.pdf. Andrady, Anthony L., and Mike A. Neal. “Applications and Societal Benefits of Plastics.” Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 364, no 1526 (2009): 1977-1984. Accessed February 27, 2018. Belasco, Warren J. and Simon J. Bronner, ed. “Foodways.” Encyclopedia of American Studies, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017). Accessed February 27, 2018. The Cavanaugh Law Firm, P.C., L.L.O. “Omaha Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Management Study.” The Nebraska Sierra Club. Last modified March 13, 2017. Accessed February 6, 2018.https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/sce-authors/u2978/Sierra%20Club%27s%20%20Omaha%20Metropolitan%20Area%20SWM%20Study%20%20March%2013%20%202017.pdf “Concessions > Reusable Bags and Cups.” National Resources Defence Council, (2014). Accessed March 26, 2018. Denkstatt GmbH. “The Impact of Plastics on Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Europe.” Vienna, Austria. June 2010. Edwards, Bryant. Process and Apparatus For Forming Plastic Cups or the Like. (Nov. 1965). Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. (HarperCollins., 1996). Fischer, Douglas. “The Environmental Toll of Plastics.” Environmental Health News. Last modified October 26, 2017. Accessed February 6, 2018. http://www.ehn.org/plastic-environmental-impact-2501923191.html Freinkel, Susan. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. Geyer, Roland, Jenna R. Jambeck, and Kara Lavender Law. "Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made." Science Advances3, no. 7 (2017). doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700782. "How Our Trash Affects the Whole Planet." Green Living Ideas. March 24, 2016. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://greenlivingideas.com/2015/04/24/how-our-trash-affects-the-whole-planet/. Knight, Laurence. “A Brief History of Plastics, Natural and Synthetic.” BBC News, BBC, 17 May 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27442625. Meikle, Jeffrey L. American Plastic: A Cultural History (Rutgers Univ. Press: 1995). Accessed February 27, 2018. Meikle, Jeffrey L. "Material Doubts: The Consequences of Plastic." Environmental History 2, no. 3 (1997): 278-300. Accessed February 27, 2018. Mossman, Susan, Fantastic Plastic: Product Design + Consumer Culture (Black Dog Publishing: 2008). Accessed February 27, 2018. NRDC. “Guide to Recycling Green Teams at Sports Venues.” National Resources Defense Council, July 2014. “Plastics: Plastics in Packaging and Consumer Products.” American Chemistry Council. Accessed February 6, 2018. https://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Plastics-in-Packaging-and-Consumer-Products/ Regan, Jennifer, Allen Hershkowitz, Darby Hoover, Alice Henly, and James Hands. “Guide to Recycling Green Teams at Sports Venues: A Roadmap to Help Sports Teams and Venues Develop a Successful Recycling Green Team.” National Resources Defence Council, (2014). Accessed March 26, 2018. Science History Institute. “The History and Future of Plastics.” Science History Institute, (Dec. 2016). Accessed February 27, 2018. Swallow, J. C. "The Plastics Industry." Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 99, no. 4843 (1951): 335-81. United States, Congress, EPA. “2016 Recycling Economic Impact Report.” 2016 Recycling Economic Impact Report (Oct. 2016). Accessed February 27, 2018. Wallace, Molly, ed. “Letting plastic have its say; or, Plastic’s tell.” Risk criticism (University of Michigan Press, 2016): 123-153. Accessed February 27, 2018. Wiberg, G. S. “Consumer Hazards of Plastics.” Environmental Health Perspectives 17 (1976): 221-225. Accessed February 27, 2018. Consumer Revolution Consumption Oceans Plastic Pollution Recycling Waste https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/15e6eaaf65eea4df90409ae9e6241696.jpg 3f4fe8024f05c33882d8ebd47d4e2450 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yoke Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/86819fc21f6a501eca0664ac453899f5.jpg 2e551f1ddc8cdd9db431e7fca1453920 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Photograph of the Yoke on display, and its parts labeled: Description An account of the resource Beam: the main body of the yoke, the beam that rests across the neck of the ox. Neck seat: The part that rests directly on the neck of the animal Belly: The lowest point of the yoke, between the two oxen. This is also where the staple and hitch rings hang, and where implements are hooked up. Bow(s): The curved pieces that go around the ox’s neck. The bows rest on the shoulder and provide the ox with something to push against when drawing a load. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/9373f7990463561b7fef385eff50afb3.jpg a40ba585d3020e0837eaa2e18afffbb2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1880 Cultivated Land Description An account of the resource change in the plains over the course over 60 years. The darker a county is, the higher the percentage of cultivated land. 1900 is significantly more cultivated than the 1940 map due to over cultivation and plowing that was corrected in the mid-1920s and 30s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jen Luttrell Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived IPUMS NHGIS. Accessed March 22, 2018. https://www.nhgis.org/ https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/1beef818a804ab2985f792dd52cdd748.jpg 20f8d27b0fc2f4f4008dfb0ebe58356b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1900 Cultivated Land Description An account of the resource Change in the plains over the course over 60 years. The darker a county is, the higher the percentage of cultivated land. 1900 is significantly more cultivated than the 1940 map due to over cultivation and plowing that was corrected in the mid-1920s and 30s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jen Luttrell Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived IPUMS NHGIS. Accessed March 22, 2018. https://www.nhgis.org/ https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/91e3abbc7902424c630b7b7df4ea51aa.jpg 37fb576375890203bfacbd0228959198 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1920 Cultivated Land Description An account of the resource Change in the plains over the course over 60 years. The darker a county is, the higher the percentage of cultivated land. 1900 is significantly more cultivated than the 1940 map due to over cultivation and plowing that was corrected in the mid-1920s and 30s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jen Luttrell Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived IPUMS NHGIS. Accessed March 22, 2018. https://www.nhgis.org/. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/675ea182d9c81d3165b11e535235afa5.jpg bdb18bb5501e0da58b50ce58617fd21e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1940 Cultivated Land Description An account of the resource Change in the plains over the course over 60 years. The darker a county is, the higher the percentage of cultivated land. 1900 is significantly more cultivated than the 1940 map due to over cultivation and plowing that was corrected in the mid-1920s and 30s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jen Luttrell Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived IPUMS NHGIS. Accessed March 22, 2018. https://www.nhgis.org/. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Taming the Landscape Subject The topic of the resource The Early Anthropocene<br /><br /> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4740/38752446300_776a102fdd_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource When did people begin to take control of the global environment? Humans have shaped their local environments for hundreds of thousands of years. As populations increased, their impacts expanded. Two changes greatly accelerated human influence on a global scale: the movement of hunting societies and the development of agriculture. By the end of the last ice age, humans had migrated across much of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Whenever humans appeared, a wave of extinctions followed. In the Americas, large animals such as the Mastodon and Giant Beaver went extinct shortly after the arrival of people. Although scientists debate the origin of these mass extinctions (changing climate likely played a role), hunting was a significant factor. The development of agriculture played an even more important role in global environmental change. People began domesticating plants and animals around the world roughly 12,000 years ago. The stone (“lithic”) tools in our exhibit speak to this dramatic change. Agriculture often required clearing forested lands, irrigating, or fertilizing landscapes to make them suitable for crops. These changes were the foundation for settlement and later the rise of complex civilizations all over the world. Agriculture and hunting continue to reshape environments on a global scale today. The bison in this exhibit represents the consequences of modern overhunting and the single-wheel hoe represents our continued reliance on agriculture. These objects remind us that “taming the landscape” revolutionized societies, but they also produced global environmental consequences. They connect us to a deep past and symbolize a transformation that continues to shape the modern world. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yoke Subject The topic of the resource The Great Plains region was unusable for Euro-American farmers without plows and yokes. Yoked oxen pulled steel plows across the prairie, breaking through the tough sod. Yokes like this, usually made out of hardwood, harness the power of oxen. Between the years of 1880-1940 there was a drastic increase of up to 70% in plowed land through the region. Plowed soil was more likely to lose nutrients and become eroded than prairie soil. During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, the soil turned to black clouds in the wind, furthering erosion. Farming practices have evolved, but grasslands remain under pressure globally. This is one component of the discussion of a new possible era called the Anthropocene. Description An account of the resource “In the 1870s the “boomers” were joined by others with excellent reputations as scientists who proclaimed that plowing up the plains had the effect of increasing rainfall - that rain follows the plow.” (Luebke, 2005) This was the mindset that lead to the settling and plowing of the Great Plains. Over several decades, the region was drastically changed through sodbusting and the long-term effects involved. In this region there was a period of major expansion followed by a period of reduction once farmers realized their error. (Cunfer, 2005) These regional changes are one of many as a result of humans occurring in different places globally. A new era for the planet caused by these human interactions, the Anthropocene, might be at hand do to these global environmental changes. The ox yoke is a tool from ancient times. It is thought they were first used in southern Europe and western Asia. However, it is difficult to determine when and where since the wood they are made of decomposes. But remains of ox horns found in 2900-2600 BCE show indentions thought to be from being tied to a yoke. (Milisauaskas, Sarunus, and Kruk, 1991) A yoke is a wooden bar or frame by which oxen are joined at the heads or necks for accomplishing tasks such as pulling a plow or a wagon. At first, farming was done largely by hand with few specific tools, later advancements made the job easier and more productive. These new farming techniques were not instantly accepted by people around the globe when they first came to be. Field peasants were weary of these new techniques and were slow to adapt to their changing environments. (Moon, 2013) These people had their ways of cultivating land that was passed on through new generations. Over time though these methods weren’t as efficient due to population growth in a changing world. Other places such as the Great Plains in North America, adapted quickly to use the new technology of oxen and plows to cultivate land. First, however, the farmer needed a yoke. The pioneers on the upper plains “had to ‘make everything and had to be as ingenious as shipwrecked soldiers.’" (Nadir, 2015) Because trees were so scarce on the Great Plains, the wood used for yokes, fences, houses, and fuel was practically worth more than a life. Everett Dick, a 19th century Nebraska farmer, stated: In those gun-toting days in Nebraska, if you had something against your neighbor, it was safer to whip out your gun and shoot him than to cut down his trees… Often a killer got away scot-free; but no such subterfuge could be claimed by a tree mutilator. It was the penitentiary for him..." (Dick 1975) The ox yoke on display at the Durham museum is a handmade neck yoke. We suspect it was made around 1880-1900 out of a hardwood. The neck yoke is most popularly used in the United States for several reasons. Neck yokes offer a few advantages such as comfort for the animal on uneven terrain, maneuverability, and are not custom fitted allowing for use on different oxen. Neck yokes are relatively easy to make even for someone new to woodworking, and safer to use for a novice at working with cattle. (Rapp, 2015) An important factor in why the neck yoke was used in the states was they were traditionally used in England, therefore culturally implemented by settlers and their descendants. (Conroy) Yokes have been made with wood, as well as with metal, or a combination of the two. (Rapp, 2015) Three different types of yoke are commonly used with oxen today: the head yoke, the neck yoke, and the withers yoke. Head yokes are custom fitted to the horns of a single animal. Neck yokes are attached around the neck of an oxen, where they push with their neck, chest and shoulders. Withers yokes are attached on the shoulder ridge and so, are commonly used on cattle breeds with humps. The versatility of oxen expands that of simply pulling a cart or plow. Oxen have also been used in the timber industry by being “the ones who skidded [pulled] the fallen trees from the forest”, a job that was dependent on these oxen. (Hribal, 2003) Historically oxen have been used for labor and agriculture over other animals like horses for several reasons. First, oxen are simply cheaper to purchase and easier to maintain. A wooden yoke could also be purchased at a relatively inexpensive price. (Dick, 1975) Oxen also provide better quality manure to fertilize the fields than other farm animals. “He [the ox] not only pulled the plow, harrowed the fields, threshed the grain, and perhaps hauled some of it to the market," the farmer John Moore noted, "all the while providing the manure for the next year’s crop.” The lack of wood meant that yokes from the early years of farming were often manufactured with other farm equipment and brought to the Great Plains, which then became invaluable to the farmers who began to sodbust the plains. Plowing through unbroken prairie could take years if done alone, even longer and more difficult to do without a team of oxen. Yoked oxen were critical for the early pioneers of the Midwest. With the introduction of the yoke to this region people were finally able to make use of the land for farming by breaking through the hard sod. “Breaking prairie sod required a plow weighing [at least] 30 to 50 kg, typically powered by six to eight oxen” and up to 14 oxen were used to sod-bust across the plains. (Rhoads, 2016) According to an Omaha World Herald article written in 1929, one farmer kept his ox team in use till “more than a thousand acres of land were broken,” when the farmer “sold the two oxen…in 1883 and the yoke was stored away.” (OWH, 1929) This is a great example of how important yokes and oxen were to farmers and how they were kept for as long as possible. Farming communities like those surrounding Omaha in the upper Midwest were products of plowing. Prior to the introduction of the plow and the oxen that pulled it, the landscape, according to William Heat-Moon in PrairyErth was “eternal prairie and grass, with occasional groups of trees.” (Heat-Moon, 2001) Pioneers did not have the strength to clear the land on their own. Sod is the tough soil of the Great Plains, it is typically covered in tall grass and was often hard enough that houses could be built out of it. The earliest communities on the Great Plains were the Native Americans who roamed the grasslands in search of food and shelter, they were followed in the early-to-mid 1800s by American settlers and explorers. These new people brought modern farming and work animals to the Great Plains. It was only with the integration of working animals before land was of any use to permanent settlements for farming. Oxen were best suited to handle the rolling landscape and thick prairie grass, the yoke and plow were necessary to make the plains yield to European agriculture. As the maps in the appendix show, there was a dramatic change as a result of the yoked oxen being introduced to the Great Plains. The hardships of the plains made the yoke and plow necessary, and through the hard work of yoked oxen teams, both the plains and the quality of life on them had changed forever. These changes were not just physical to the environment but there were also notable changes to social status of humans as well. Once farmers were able to cultivate the prairie lands it became a massive place for agriculture to occur. “Larger landowners sometimes negotiated a formal contract with sodbusters” to break up the land for them and were in turn paid for their services. (Schob, 1973) This was due to the population of people in the plains becoming so large that people could sell work to landowners who then wouldn’t have to do the hard work of sod-busting on their own farms. All of this changed once the severe environmental impacts made themselves known. Due to the sod-busting that occurred, followed by the cultivation of never-seen-before crops like corn in this region, the Great Plains changed drastically. (Wishart, 2018) There are very few places, if any, today that would look like they did before this sod-busting occurred. There was suddenly new species of plants and animals to compete for the soil and water that native species had had access to. This competition led to the further depletion of topsoil and nutrients as farmers continued to plow more land. Sod busting did more than allow new species into the area, "sod busting, wind and drought combined to strip away friable soils." (Landa and Feller, 2010) With these factors draining soil of its nutrients, more land was needed to be plowed in order for farmers to maintain the amount harvested. The cycle of over plowing and planting worsened the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. This was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and the ability for agriculture of the American prairie. "A widely respected authority on world food problems, George Borgstrom, has ranked the creation of the Dust Bowl as one of the three worst ecological blunders in history." (Worster, 1979) During the drought of the 1930s, topsoil was no longer anchored by the roots of prairie grass turned to dust. This dust was then blown away into huge, blackening clouds by prevailing winds. Droughts had happened before but there had always been prairie grass to hold moisture and soil, now there was nothing to stop the black clouds from covering the plains. This period of drought and major erosion was not exclusively caused by sodbusting but may have been less severe without farmers doing this to the land. After the Dust Bowl period farmers realized that they surpassed the limits of the land that something needed to change in the Great Plains region. “The true period of adaptation was in the transition era, between about 1930 and 1940, when farmers first reached the natural limits of environment, passed them, and were pulled back by nature.” (Cunfer, 2005) This quote from On the Great Plains summarizes how resilient nature is in its ability to recover after such vast ecological damage has occurred. This transition was not originally a choice of farmers but rather it was natures way of showing how its limits had been surpassed. Devastating impacts to the Earth, as seen in the Great Plains with Dust Bowl, are not exclusive to this region. There have been major environmental changes to the globe all caused by humans. These impacts have lead some people to think that it should be deemed the start of a new epoch called the Anthropocene. Human impacts have had on the environment globally is without a doubt drastic. “Through harvesting, deforestation, and conversion of grasslands and wetlands, humans have reduced the stock of global terrestrial plant mass by as much as 45% in the last 2000 years.” (Goudie, 2018) This destruction has exponentially increased over time with the different advancements made. Even today oxen are still widely used. In 1890, there were 1,117,494 oxen reported in the United States census. (Moore, 1961) Even today, there are hundreds of millions of oxen still used on small scale farms. The reasoning for using oxen on many of these small-scale farms is strikingly similar to the past reasoning; it is simply cheaper. Oxen are no longer compared to other working animals, but rather to machinery. Buying a tractor new would be significantly more expensive than buying claves. However, calves require much time, work, and training before they are ready to be yoked for plowing a field. A better comparison might be that of a tractor, costing $15,000, versus a team of grown and well-trained oxen, costing about $1,000 to $2,500. (Collins, 2013) This is still significantly lower in cost than a new tractor which would also require an input of gasoline, maintenance, and other issues that may arise. Oxen on the other hand, will eat the grass where they are kept and provide valuable fertilizer and even after death they have some value in being eaten as meat. (DMO, 2011) Humans have impacted the environment since the introduction of fire. Taking the once endless expanse of tall grass and adjusting the land for Euro-American farming practices, the plains were changed forever with the use of the ox yoke. Just as cultivated land in the Great Plains drastically increased in the 1900’s, human impacts on the environment globally have greatly increased over time. There have been negative impacts followed with periods of recovery for the Great Plains. This is also seen in other regions of the globe where humans have populated the land but with more devastation than recovery. Since the birth of the human race, devastating changes have been made all over the globe; are these impacts enough to constitute a new era, the Anthropocene? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jen Luttrell Abbey Rieber Nicole Shintani Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Collins, Rob. “Small Farming With Oxen - Animals - GRIT Magazine.” Grit, Apr. 2013, https://www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/farming-with-oxen-zm0z13mazgou. Accessed March 25, 2018. Conroy, Drew. "Ox Yokes: Culture, Comfort and Animal Welfare" (PDF). World Association for Transport Animal Welfare and Studies. Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2005. Daily Mail Reporter. “Farmers across America Ditch Tractors for Oxen in Bid to Beat Rising Fuel Prices.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 9 May 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385193/Take-bull-horns-Farmers-America-trade-tractors-oxen-beat-soaring-fuel-prices.html. Accessed March 24, 2018. 3 May 2011. Dick, Everett. "Conquering the Great American Desert: Nebraska. Conquering the Great American Desert: Nebraska." Nebraska State Historical Society Publications (1975). Goudie, Andrew. Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present and Future. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2018. Hribal, Jason. ""Animals Are Part of the Working Class": A Challenge to Labor History." Labor History 44.4 (2003): 435-53. Landa E.R. In a Supporting Role: Soil and the Cinema. In: Landa E., Feller C. (eds) Soil and Culture. Springer, Dordrecht. 2010 Luebke, Frederick C. Nebraska: An Illustrated History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Milisauskas, Sarunus & Janusz Kruk. “Utilization of cattle for traction during the later Neolithic in Southeastern Poland.” Antiquity, Vol. 65, No. 248. September 1991. pp. 562-566 Moon, David. “The Plough that Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia's Grasslands, 1700-1914” Oxford University Press. 2013. Moon, William Least Heat. PrairyErth. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Accessed March 25, 2018.Moore, John H. “The Ox in the Middle Ages.” Agricultural History, vol. 35, no. 2, 1961, pp. 90–93. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3740550 Nadir, Leila C. "Time Out of Place." Cather Studies.10 (2015): 68-96. Accessed March 25, 2018. Pullen, Daniel J. "Ox and Plow in the Early Bronze Age Aegean." American Journal of Archaeology 96, no. 1 (1992): 45-54. doi:10.2307/505757. Rapp, Callene. "The Art of Making an Ox Yoke: Working with Wood Can Be a Challenge, but the Finished Product Is Well worth the Effort." Grit 133, no. 2 (2015): 60. Rhoads, et al. “Historical Changes in Channel Network Extent and Channel Planform in an Intensively Managed Landscape: Natural versus Human-Induced Effects.” Geomorphology, vol. 252, 2016, pp. 17-31. Schob, David E. "Sodbusting on the Upper Midwestern Frontier, 1820-1860." Agricultural History 47, no. 1 (1973): 47-56. "State's Last Ox Yoke." Omaha World Herald, May 26, 1929. Accessed March 16, 2018. Wishart, David. J. "Encyclopedia of the Great Plains." Encyclopedia of the Great Plains | AGRICULTURE. Accessed April 22, 2018. http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ag.001. Worster, Donald. Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/641ef90e4aaf51c6a3bcfc20365e5544.jpg 65ec376ee30ef15bc60c203e79b16a53 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Monkey Wrench Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Permanent Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/6964d1b20d929b6457a8f37e8c418e04.jpg 100f5ae3f7bb429e3184cf4a5039a953 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Map of Omaha City and Environs Description An account of the resource Lithographed map. Hand colored. Shows tracts, block numbers, townships, sections, quarter sections, railroads, roads, owners of large parcels, etc. With Jan. 19, 1885 certification with facsimile signature of Geo. Smith. Oriented with north toward left. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adin Mann Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived David Rumsey Map Collection https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~29081~1130186:Omaha-City-&-environs-?showTipAdvancedSearch=false&showShareIIIFLink=true&showTip=false&helpUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fdoc.lunaimaging.com%2Fdisplay%2FV73D%2FLUNA%2BViewer%23LUNAViewer-LUNAViewer&title=Search+Results%3A+List_No+equal+to+%272719.186%27&fullTextSearchChecked=&dateRangeSearchChecked=&advancedSearchUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fdoc.lunaimaging.com%2Fdisplay%2FV73D%2FSearching%23Searching-Searching&thumbnailViewUrlKey=link.view.search.url# Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1885 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/4544288d8e133e3b674b3000d43312df.png fa8834f000a70555decfb52f5645ea0f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Political Cartoon Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <em>The Creightonian</em> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living in a World of Our Own Making Subject The topic of the resource <a href="http://www.igbp.net/images/18.950c2fa1495db7081ebd1/1421396650502/GreatAcceleration2015igbpsrclowres.jpg" title="IGBP - The Great Acceleration Dashboard" target="_blank">The Great Acceleration</a> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4721/40562555551_972c132773_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource The Anthropocene means “The Age of Humans,” but what does it mean to live in a world of our own making? Humanity has flourished in past two centuries. Two thirds of every person ever born lived between 1945 and today. Scientists call this era of expanding population, economic development, and environmental impact the “Great Acceleration.” People are now more numerous and powerful than ever before. Mining moves more rocks and soils than all of the worlds rivers combined. Artificial fertilizers have doubled the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils. Plastics can now be found on mountain tops and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Paradoxically, many of the most profound changes to global environments pass virtually unnoticed. Nuclear fallout, for instance, is invisible to the naked eye, but radioactive evidence of cold war weapons tests remains in soils around the world. Until recently, lead was one of the most common materials in industrial use. It was used to seal our foods, paint our homes, and power our cars. Lead is toxic, especially for children. Although invisible, lead is now in our soils, in our cities, and even in our blood. By contrast, concrete is virtually everywhere, yet we rarely think about it. We drive on it, work in it, and the foundations of this very museum are built using it. More than half of the concrete ever produced was manufactured between 1995-2015. Concrete requires enormous energy to mine, transport, and produce. These consequences are as invisible to us as the material is abundant. As you finish your journey through the exhibit, consider how many other “invisible” materials influence our lives and connect us to the global environment. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Monkey Wrench Subject The topic of the resource Tools like this twentieth-century monkey wrench tuned machines and shaped environments during the Second Industrial Revolution. Associated with railroading in the nineteenth century, the monkey wrench symbolizes industrial progress. Later in the twentieth century, the monkey wrench became a symbol of environmental resistance to industrial progress. In his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey popularized an ideology of direct action against environmental destruction, which later inspired environmental organization such as Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front. This wave of environmentalism found its way to Omaha and led to the formation of the Quality Environment Council and acts of environmental protest on Creighton University’s campus in the 1970s. The monkey wrench is an important artifact of the Anthropocene, symbolizing both industrialism and environmentalism. Description An account of the resource First created in nineteenth-century England, the monkey wrench is an adjustable tool used in many areas of industry to insert screws and fasten materials together (Geesin 2015). As such, the monkey wrench is a symbol of the innovation, industrialization and in the context of the Anthropocene, the humans on the earth system. Ironically, the monkey wrench symbolizes resistance to these changes as well. Since the publication of American author Edward Abbey’s novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang in 1975, the tool has become a symbol of radical environmentalism as well. This is the paradox of the monkey wrench: a tool created for use in industry and the taming of the natural world by mankind, has also become a totem for those who radically oppose the very same industrial advancement. The monkey wrench, thus tells us two contrasting stories of the Anthropocene. The first, industrial progress and the second, questioning and active resistance to that “progress”. <br /><br />The monkey wrench in the collection of the Durham Museum (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/641ef90e4aaf51c6a3bcfc20365e5544.jpg">Figure 1</a>) bears no distinctive markings or indicators as to when or where it was made. However, it was likely manufactured in the early 20th century due to its similarity to examples from that time (Geesin 2015). Its proximity to Omaha, Nebraska is unsurprising, as similar wrenches were utilized and modified in the Omaha area in the 1920s. The elongated handle and ratchet for size adjustment are common features of period wrenches (Inventions New and Interesting). The development of new and improved versions of the monkey wrench tailored the tool to different areas of industry. By the mid-nineteenth-century, the manufacturing of such wrenches was a thriving and competitive industry on its own (Greeley 1874). <br /><br />Although different iterations of the monkey wrench were in various areas of industry, one of the most common uses was in the construction and maintenance of steam locomotives. The monkey wrench would have been widely employed in Omaha’s many railroad shops. Omaha was and continues to be the headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad from the nineteenth-century (Monkey Wrench). <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/6964d1b20d929b6457a8f37e8c418e04.jpg">Figure 2</a> is a map of Omaha from 1885 depicting the transformational effect that the Union Pacific railroad imparted on the city after only two decades of prevalence. The pink area on the lower-right portion of the map shows the expanse of the Union Pacific Shops. <br /><br />The city grew and developed in the nineteenth-century largely as a result of its relationship with the Union Pacific Railroad. After the railroad construction began in the 1860s, an influx of employment opportunities in Omaha allowed for its growth to surpass its neighbor cities and the city became a gateway to the Western portion of the United States. The project of building the railroad brought thousands of jobs to the Omaha area and this opportunity to make a living working on it saw Omaha’s population increase at an incredible rate (Bristow 2000). By the twentieth-century, Omaha had become a railroad hub and central city of the second industrial revolution in the United States. <br /><br />The growth of Omaha’s railroad industry transformed Omaha and Nebraska with dramatic environmental consequences. In an 1867 book, The Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha, Nebraska, Across the Continent, the Union Pacific Railroad Company outlines the economic opportunities afforded by the construction of the railroad. These opportunities were headlined by the opportunity to expand the areas in which people live westward, bridging the gap between the Eastern and Western United States. In addition, natural resources such as untapped land for farming, mining, hunting and harvesting lumber were held as the most lucrative of opportunities. During this time period, the Union Pacific railroad transported 460,000 tons of freight across the continent each year (The Union Pacific Railroad Company 1867). This industrial expanding of the railroad to the West would manifest itself through an immense impact on the environment of the Great Plains. <br /><br />As the railroad stretched West towards the Rocky Mountains, populations and land usage in the Great Plains region increased at an incredible rate. The further that the railroad stretched, the more settlements were established along it. These settlements enabled the land to be used by the new people in an area where it had been nearly impossible to receive supplies and contact with the East prior to railroad construction (Whitney 1994). <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/23598e7fe45a0b6d110faa984b789628.png">Figure 3</a> shows measured usages of land for raising livestock and crops, as well as the population in the Great Plains region after construction on the Transcontinental Railroad from Omaha began. Once a small number of individuals had begun to populate the Great Plains and begin to tame the land, the success of their agricultural endeavors coupled with the ease of communication with the rest of the country established by the railroad and the transcontinental telegraph brought people seeking prosperity in the region (Hartman 2011). As the region was further developed throughout the decades following the establishment of rural communities, the impact of large-scale agriculture took its toll on the local and global environments. <br /><br />In addition to the establishment of a booming agriculture industry in the Great Plains, the railroad enabled transnational and international trade of hides and furs of animals. One striking example was the systematic destruction and near extinction of the North American Bison. <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/9e930674cc1bd5e8bafcd27de827333a.png">Figure 4</a> demonstrates the marked spike in the number of bison hide exports almost immediately after the beginning of railroad construction from Omaha, along with the consistent rise in cattle population in the Great Plains (Taylor 2011, Bozell 1995). Bison hide exports declined significantly in the late 1870s as the population of bison dwindled in the region, while the cattle population maintained its steady rise through the late 1880s. The hunting of bison to virtual extinction is an example of the devastating damage that the increased accessibility to the Great Plains established by the railroad had on its environment (Taylor 2011). There is a stark increase and subsequent decrease in the number of bison hides exported as the population dwindled in the 1870s (Hartman 2011). <br /><br />As a tool and symbol of industry, the monkey wrench represented the growth of progress and urbanization and taming of their surrounding landscapes. In Omaha and Nebraska, the railroad played an important role in these changes that also resulted in significant environmental consequences, especially in grassland environments. However, this rampant industrialization was no longer accepted uncritically as “progress” by the mid-twentieth-century. “Monkey Wrenching” came to embody active resistance to industrial growth at the expense of the environment. This term entered public discourse upon publication of Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang in 1975. In his novel Abbey tells the fictional story of a group of activists who commit acts of sabotage in the name of environmentalism. The group destroys bridges, billboards and makes plans to destroy a dam. Their activities, called “monkeywrenching,” lauded the destruction of industrial property for the sake of saving the natural world from development (Abbey 1975). <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ffdc6157e4715c6d9d4f9f5d4c332dde.png">Figure 5</a> is an&nbsp; example of illustrations by Robert Crumb from The Monkey Wrench Gang. Abbey’s characters saw industry, government-sponsored or corporate, as a threat and promoted uncompromising resistance. <br /><br />After the release of The Monkey Wrench Gang, the monkey wrench was a widely recognized symbol for radical environmentalism as it had been described in the book. The writing itself became a handbook for those looking to shake up the industrial establishment through acts of monkeywrenching. From the ideology of Edward Abbey sprung a variety of radical environmental groups, most notably the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Earth First! of which Abbey was a member. The actions of destroying machines in an attempt to slow the progress of industry harken back to the attempted Luddite revolution in late 18th century England. Although the Luddites were motivated by the prospect of keeping their own jobs in industry, the consequences of destroying machinery were much the same (Horn 2005). <br /><br />The ideology established by Abbey in the late twentieth-century was one of resistance to industrial development of the environment. This ideology manifested itself in acts of direct and indirect resistance. In the vain of direct resistance, groups such as Earth First! And the ELF, established in 1980 and 1992 respectively, committed acts of sabotage in the United States. Bombings claimed by ELF have targeted ski resorts, animal testing facilities, fishing operations and other sites of humans meddling with the environment. This led to ELF’s listing as the greatest domestic threat in the United States by the FBI in 2001 (Taylor 2008). Earth First! did not claim responsibility for destructive crimes, although some of their members have been personally indicted for various acts of sabotage. In 1983, an editorial in the journal Environmental Ethics personally addressed Edward Abbey and his friends for actively encouraging the destruction of industrial resources, thus endangering the lives of workers. Abbey responded directly, claiming that Earth First! is little more than a disorganized group of environmentalists who come together for acts of civil disobedience in the face of the destruction of nature. He also plainly stated that he believes that the destruction of nature is an act of terrorism (Abbey 1983). Foreman takes matters a step further, openly denying acts of monkeywrenching in Earth First! while directly stating that he believes that such acts are completely morally justified (Foreman 1983). <br /><br />The direct actions of groups such as Earth First! and ELF coupled with a new ideology of environmentalism had a massive impact on the United States throughout the late 20th century. Other citizens intent on protecting the environment practiced indirect resistance to industrial progress. In Omaha, these effects manifested in the creation of the Quality Environment Council (QEC). Established in the 1970s, the Omaha QEC protected the parks and open spaces in Omaha against development. Its original goal was to prevent the construction of a mall in downtown Omaha. They managed to prevent further development within the city in this case, however this simply diverted the same development to the suburbs (Taylor 1973). The QEC also vehemently opposed the release of extremely hot waste water into the Missouri river by the Omaha Public Power District in 1972. They succeeded in the city imposing a required cooling time for all water being disposed of in the river to prevent destruction of the environment within (Omaha World Herald 1972). <br /><br />On the campus of Creighton University, students reacted negatively to the environmental policies of the Nixon administration in the 1970s. Although Nixon was the president who established the Environmental Protection Agency, students at Creighton did not believe that this was enough, given the publication of a study claiming that 73% of all water in the United States is contaminated with industrial byproducts. <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/4544288d8e133e3b674b3000d43312df.png">Figure 6</a> displays a political cartoon published in <em>The Creightonian</em>, the school newspaper. This is an example of civil disobedience within the student population against large companies and government policies. The article published with this cartoon admonishes the industrial domination of nature, providing examples of deforestation, water contamination and animal populations nearing extinction (Meyer 1970). In a further article from The Creightonian, the newspaper announces the beginning of seemingly the first ecology class at the university. With its purpose to study the physical and social implications of the environment and the factors which contribute to damaging it, this certainly shows a shift in the mindset of people in Omaha towards at least some form of environmentalism (Lohr 1972). <br /><br />The monkey wrench, through its contributions to industry primarily through the railroad, has historically been a tool and symbol of industrial progress. The meaning of progress changed over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries, however. By the Green Decades of the 1960s and 1970s, and drawing upon criticisms of corporate and state “development,” the monkey wrench became a symbol of resistance. Direct resistance of the type advocated by Edward Abbey and radical groups such as Earth First! and the ELF, though these strategies found little support in Nebraska or Omaha. In Omaha, indirect resistance was the primary mode of fighting industrial progress for the betterment of the natural environment. The dual symbolism of the monkey wrench, promoting progress and simultaneously symbolizing resistance to it, is a fitting artifact of the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brad MacDonald Hasan Lari Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Abbey, E. “Earth first! And the Monkey Wrench Gang.” Environmental Ethics 5, no.1 (1983): 94-95. https://www.pdcnet.org//pdc/bvdb.nsf Abbey, E. The Monkey Wrench Gang (Salt Lake City: Dream Garden Press, 1975). Bozell, J. “Culture, Environment, and Bison Populations on the Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Central Plains.” Plains Anthropologist. 40, no. 152 (1995): 145-163. Bristow, D. A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha (Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 2000), 152-154. Foreman, D. “More on Earth First! And The Monkey Wrench Gang.” Environmental Ethics. 5, no.1 (1983): 95-96. Geesin, R. Adjustable Spanner: History, Origins and Development to 1970 (Crowood: Antiques & Collectibles, 2015). George M. Smith, Omaha Central. 1885. Lithographed map, 40 x 69 cm. David Rumsey. From: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, www.davidrumsey.com (Accessed April 4, 2018). Greeley, H. The Great Industries of the United States (Hartford: J.B. Burr & Hyde, 1874), 875-876. Gutmann, M. “Beyond Social Science History: Population and Environment in the US Great Plains.” Social Science History, 42, no. 1 (2018). Hartman, M. “Impact of Historical Land-Use Changes on Greenhouse Gas Exchange in the U.S. Great Plains, 1883-2003.” Ecological Applications. 21, no. 4 (2011): 1105-1119. Horn, J. “Machine-breaking in England and France during the Age of Revolution.” Labour 55, (2005): 143-166. “Hot Water Dumping Is Protested,” The Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE), July 19, 1972. "Inventions New and Interesting." Scientific American 127, no. 2 (1922): 117-20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24993964 Lohr, J. “Ecology Course To Study Physical, Social Environment,” The Creightonian (Omaha, NE), October 27, 1972. Meyer, M. “Environment: Student Issue,” The Creightonian (Omaha, NE), January 9, 1970. “Monkey Wrench.” America on the Move, last modified 2018, http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_137 Crumb, Robert. The Monkey Wrench Gang. 1975. Source: JohnShalek.com, 2009, Digital Image. Available from: http://www.joshshalek.com/tag/the-monkey-wrench-gang/ Taylor, Bron. "The Tributaries of Radical Environmentalism." Journal for the Study of Radicalism 2, no. 1 (2008): 27-61. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41887590. Taylor, J. “Leahy: River Critics ‘In A Dream World’,” The Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE), July 25, 1973. Taylor, S. “International Trade and the Virtual Extinction of the North American Bison.” American Economic Association. 101, no. 7 (2011): 3162-3195. Union Pacific Railroad Company, The Union Pacific Railroad from Omaha, Nebraska, Across the Continent (Chicago: Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, 1867), 7. Whitney, G. From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 188-190. Zalasiewicz, J. “Stratigraphy of the Anthropocene.” Philosophical Transitions. 396 (2016): 1036- 1055. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ab256367e5505777f6e0b157a038e1c6.jpg d5b256afb5ab4380601eb516bffe5dd4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nebraska Tire and Rubber Company Certificate Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Permanent Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/463fbb76ca5173d59b3c1e580a8364f5.jpg ea969e86f7a87fdcb4219a6700090a6f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Omaha Overland Tire Factory Subject The topic of the resource The Omaha Overland Tire Factory, pictured here represents a common tire factory in the 1920s Description An account of the resource Men working with tires. Located at 30th and Taylor Streets in Omaha, Nebraska. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15426coll1/id/4532/rec/ Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1926-05-04 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/abc9d4fcd7ac6c4140c5d6264609e8d4.jpg b32e5482768640b22b9eb004c0e09eaa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Natural and Synthetic Rubber and Tyres Subject The topic of the resource This map shows the global natural and synthetic rubber production and also shows the major movement of natural rubber from Southeast Asia. Description An account of the resource Industry (continued). Pergamon World Atlas. Pergamon Press, Ltd. & P.W.N. Poland 1967. Sluzba Topograficzna W.P. Pergamon World Atlas. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived David Rumsey Map Collection https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~205401~3002403:Industry--continued---Pergamon-Worl?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:rubber%20world;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=1&trs=2834# Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conquering Time and Space Subject The topic of the resource <div>Industrial Revolutions <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4704/39667361775_2e3264c4bf_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~24266~880086:-Birdseye-view-Great-Plains-#" title="Bird Eye View - Rumsey" target="_blank">Detail(Birdseye view Great Plains)Knight, Leonard &amp; Co.,Engravers and Printers, Chicago. (1890) David Rumsey.com <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> </a></div> Description An account of the resource Industrial revolutions fundamentally transformed the world’s social and economic order. Beginning in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, European empires expanded industrialization into a global phenomenon that created spectacular wealth and unprecedent power for western countries, but also led to new social conflict and increased the gap between rich and poor. Industrialization also led to profound changes in the global environment. Advances in transportation and telecommunications expanded the reach of industrial powers. The railroad and the telegraph allowed people to tap distant natural resources more quickly and efficiently than ever before. Contemporaries praised this “annihilation of time and space” and Omaha was central to this story. The first transcontinental telegraph began in Omaha and was completed in 1861. In 1863, the Union Pacific chose Omaha as the eastern terminus for the transcontinental railroad. By 1867, the United States had built the world’s largest railroad network, business leaders communicated from coast to coast, and Omaha stood at the center. As railroads and the telegraph shrank time and space, cities expanded. Streetcars promoted urban growth and the rise of the first suburbs. The objects in this section show rail and the telegraph reshaped environments during this era of industrialization. As you move through this section of the exhibit, consider how transportation and telecommunication connects Omaha to the wider world and to global environments today. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rubber Tires Subject The topic of the resource This logo of the Nebraska Tire and Rubber Company represents the twentieth- century global rubber boom. It connects the evolution of transportation in Omaha to the demand for rubber. The early 1900s saw a dramatic increase in rubber driven partly by the popularity of the automobile. By 1923, Omaha had the highest ratio of population to automobiles. As the demand for rubber tires grew, so did deforestation. Rubber trees are native to the Amazon, and until 1876, environmental impacts remained confined to South America. By the early 1900s, rubber plantations took root in Southeast Asia and then western Africa. The rubber industry globalized forest clearance to make way for new monocrop plantations. This logo serves as a reminder of the global impact the items we use daily can have on the world around us. Description An account of the resource Every commodity we use today has a story, a history, and simultaneously acts as a connection and division between nature and humanity. Rubber is no exception; its history is rich and widespread, connecting each place it comes into contact with to the Anthropocene. Omaha, like any other city, had its own role to play in this story. Serving as evidence, the logo of the Nebraska Tire and Rubber Company, our artifact, connects Omaha with changes in transportation and the global rubber industry. It symbolizes their coevolution and simultaneous effects on environments thousands of miles away. In this essay we examine the history of the rubber industry in the Amazon, its leap into Southeast Asia, and how these affected local environments. We then connect these histories with our specific company, the tire industry, and the United States’ continued role in the global rubber industry. The story of rubber starts where the plant itself originated: in the Amazon basin. For most of the 18th and 19th centuries Brazil supplied almost all of the world’s demand for rubber. (Grandin, 2009) In the 18th century, the two most common rubber trees (Havea brasiliensis and Castilloa ulei) (Stanfield, 1998) grew wild in small patches of two to three trees spread throughout the jungle. (Grandin, 2009) Seringueros, or tree tappers, collected the sap from the trees and transported it back to their tents to create the first form of latex. There, he would smoke the sap over a fire to produce a ball of rubber taken to aviadores, or middlemen, who would then sell it . The collection of the latex was not simply a passive process. To extract the latex from the Castilloa trees required the tappers to create deep cuts which resulted in the death of the tree. This was such a problem that by 1874, reports came in telling of the decline in rubber exports due to the destruction of the trees. (Stanfield, 1998) This marked the first stage of environmental transformation due to the rubber industry. In 1876, Henry Wickham committed an act of bio-piracy that would change the world forever. (Clay, 2004) He illegally smuggled over 70,000 seeds of rubber plants to Kew Gardens in London from the Amazon. The plants were then transferred to the British colonies in Southeast Asia. Rubber trees flourished on the plantations in Southeast Asia due to the lack of natural diseases and fungi that were a cause of concern for the plantations in the Amazon. Within a span of 9 years the amount of latex produced in Southeast Asia grew from 8,500 tons to 370,000 tons. (Grandin, 2009) From this point onward, the Amazonian monopoly began its slow decline. By 1947, Brazil was no longer exporting rubber to the rest of the world. Where one rubber empire fell another rose to power. New plantations developed in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka, and forests were clear cut to make room for the new monocrop, ultimately leading to a decrease in the natural biodiversity of the area. (Clay, 2004) The climate was perfect for the rubber species and the area provided cheap sources of labor. The trees are usually productive for up to 30-40 years and historically used for lumber after the end of their productive lifespan and ultimately replanted. (Gordon, 2004) In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the world used natural rubber as it’s source specifically in household items such as belts or hoses. (United States Synthetic Rubber Program, 2018) However, natural rubber has one major drawback, when exposed to extreme temperatures, it melts in the hot summer and cracks in the cold winter. In response, the rubber industry explored new ways to manufacture rubber. Through a process of trial, error, and serendipity, Charles Goodyear succeeded in “vulcanizing” rubber in 1839. Goodyear combined sulfur and rubber at a very high temperature. To his astonishment, instead of the rubber melting as it usually did at a high temperature, the rubber got harder as the heat rose. (Somma, 2015) Vulcanization is still in practice today. Without Goodyear’s invention of vulcanization, rubber would not be able to provide the means of transportation through tires. During the 1880s, bicycling increased in popularity and opened up space for a new market, tire manufacturing. Most of the rubber companies found on the east coast wanted nothing to do with making tires and stuck to what they knew -- making rubber shoes. This opened up a new market within the Midwest for tire production. Bicycles continued to gain popularity and by 1897, 3 million bikes were being manufactured around the country. With the advent of a new transportation through automobiles, this number dropped to 225,000 machines in 1904. By 1907 companies producing tires for automobiles thrived with 33% of their sales being for the larger more expensive car tires. (French, 1991) The 1900s saw a rise in the demand for rubber and many places profited. As global demand increased so too did the need for new rubber plantations. From 1910-1920 the total global area of rubber trees planted increased from 1,125,000 acres to 4,500,000 acres. (Babcock, 1966) The certificate of the Nebraska Tire and Rubber Company shows the importance of rubber not only in the United States, but specifically the impact of rubber in Omaha. In the 1920s, Omaha saw a boom in tire demand. The Nebraska Tire and Rubber Company was one of the leading producers at this time . The president, Mr. William Wuchter, began his career with bicycle tires in 1897 and adapted his business with the increasing use of the new household item, the automobile. (India Rubber & Tire Review, 1922) The automobile industry sparked not only across the nation in the 1920s, but specifically in Omaha. In fact, by 1923, Omaha was the leading city with the highest ratio of population to automobile ownership. (Harding,2017) According to the India Rubber & Tire Review, “Three tire manufacturers in Omaha are making approximately 1,500 tires and on average 1,000 a day each.” The Nebraska Rubber and Tire company attributed to 550 of these 1,500 tires and 500 of the 1,000 tubes produced each day. To keep up with high demand, the company was open and working 24/7. (India Rubber & Tire Review, 1922) It is clear that rubber is one of the most important commodities in the United States, “The American rubber industry became the largest and the most technologically advanced in the world. By the late 1930s, the United States was using half the world's supply of natural rubber, and most of it originated in Southeast Asia.” However, in 1941, not only did the United States feel the impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but the Japanese also seized the United States’ rubber plantations in Southeast Asia. These rubber plantations consisted of 90%-95% of the world’s resource of rubber. Hence, the thought of losing almost all rubber resources caused the United States to question how they would proceed with the war. Without being able to produce tires for airplanes, cars, or other war machinery, an increasing fear arose that the Allies could not win the war. (United States Synthetic Rubber Program, 2018) It was time for a call to action. Franklin Roosevelt responded to the rubber shortage through three specific actions. First, Roosevelt asked Americans to be mindful of their rubber consumption and to collect extra rubber for recycling. Next, U.S. plant scientists traveled to nearly all corners of the earth to find other resources that could be used to produce rubber. Lastly, Roosevelt called for a production of a new synthetic rubber. (United States Synthetic Rubber Program, 2018) Two lines of thought emerged on what the best starting material for synthetic rubber would be: one side argued to create it from grain alcohol while the other advocated for the use of petroleum. Some of the biggest advocates for rubber made from grain alcohol came from the Midwest. The plan included building alcohol plants in the middle of Nebraska. They never received government support because the petroleum industry assured the government that they would be able to provide the rubber the country needed, and so synthetic rubber plants based on converting petroleum started to pop up. (Finlay, 2009) As a result, hundreds of thousands of new synthetic rubber materials increased to make accommodations for World War II. These actions that Roosevelt called for were essential to the US victory in World War II. In modern times, synthetic rubber has increased in demand. Countries in Asia, specifically China, have the highest demand for both synthetic and natural rubber. It is also evident that world consumption of synthetic rubber is higher than natural rubber. However, many products require natural rubber, such as airplane and car tires. Today natural rubber takes up 29% of the global rubber market, the remaining demand is synthetic rubber substitutes. (Clay, 2004) The United States consumption of natural rubber is highly used in the production of tires. (Tire Manufacturer Testing Dandelion Rubber, 2012) Natural rubber, made from latex not petroleum, favors over synthetic rubber in the manufacturing of tires because of its resilience, resistance to abrasion and high impact forces, ability to disperse heat and malleability when it gets cold. To this day, research with synthetic rubber has not been able to create a product that performs as well as natural rubber does. (Van Beilen and Poirier, 2007) “Aircraft tires require nearly 100% natural rubber to meet heat tolerance and required adhesion specifications.” (Tire Manufacturer Testing Dandelion Rubber, 2012) In comparison, car tires compose of 35-40% natural rubber for the same reasons. (Clay, 2004) Natural rubber is not only used for tires, but also found in tennis shoes, surgical gloves, rubber bands, hoses, and many more household items. With the large consumption of natural and synthetic rubber in our country, there is a push for recycling rubber materials, especially because it can take fifty to eighty years for rubber to decompose. (Adhikari and Maiti, 2000) Even with the effort to find ways to start recycling rubber materials this does not change the fact that forest landscapes have suffered centuries of transformations and exploitative practices. During the start of his automobile empire Henry Ford wished to find ways to economize and control as many parts of his business as he could. This led to the purchase of land in the Amazon jungle in Brazil to be used for the creation of rubber plantations. This attempt failed, but Ford’s purchase, now called Fordlandia, has become pasture land for cattle after years of deforestation. The roads that Ford had built resulted in fragmented landscapes propelling extinctions of species that require huge amounts of land to survive. (Grandin, 2009) Southeast Asia has also suffered from immense landscape change due to high demand for the latex. Since 1961 rubber production has increased by a factor of 1500% in Southeast Asia. (Fox et al., 2000) Its range is being expanded from where it was originally planted to keep up with demand. (Li and Fox, 2012) Typically, this process used the slash and burn tactic to clear forests needed for the new plantations. The new areas are less suitable for rubber plantations and usually require some form of terracing to grow properly leading to higher rates of soil erosion. (Ziegler, Fox, and Xu, 2009) As the demand for new tires continues to increase areas in Southeast Asia will continue to be transformed and degraded. The Nebraska Tire & Rubber company shows the impact that a single commodity can have not only on the city of Omaha, but on a global perspective. Not only does rubber serve as a vital part to suffice our need for modern day transportation, but it is also seen in everyday objects. Our world would not be where it is today without rubber. From its original habitat in the Amazon, to Goodyear’s invention of producing natural rubber through vulcanization, and the increasing amount of natural forest loss, it is evident that the consumption of rubber on a global scale has attributed to the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Emma Baker Rebecca Hare Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Adhikari, B., and S. Maiti.“Reclamation and Recycling of Waste Rubber,” Progress in Polymer Science, vol. 25, iss. 7, 909-948, September 2000. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079670000000204 Ahrends, Hollingsworth, Ziegler, Fox, Chen, Su, and Xu. "Current Trends of Rubber Plantation Expansion May Threaten Biodiversity and Livelihoods." Global Environmental Change 34 (2015): 48-58. Babcock, Glenn D. History of the United States Rubber Company; a Case Study in Corporation Management. Indiana Business Reports ; No. 39. Bloomington: Bureau of Business Research, Graduate School of Business, Indiana University, 1966. Beilen, Jan B. Van, and Yves Poirier. "Establishment of New Crops for the Production of Natural Rubber." Trends in Biotechnology25, no. 11 (2007): 522-29. Clay, Jason W., and World Wildlife Fund. Staff. World Agriculture and the Environment a Commodity-by-commodity Guide to Impacts and Practices. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2004. Finlay, Mark R. Growing American Rubber Strategic Plants and the Politics of National Security.Studies in Modern Science, Technology, and the Environment. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2009. Fox, Jefferson, Dao Minh Truong, A. Terry Rambo, Nghiem Phuong Tuyen, Le Trong Cuc, and Stephen Leisz. "Shifting Cultivation: A New Old Paradigm for Managing Tropical Forests." BioScience50, no. 6 (2000): 521. French, M. J. The U.S. Tire Industry : A History. Twayne's Evolution of American Business Series ; No. 6. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Gordon, Alec. "Dynamics of Labour Transformation: Natural Rubber in Southeast Asia." Journal of Contemporary Asia 34, no. 4 (2004): 523-46 Grandin, Greg. Fordlandia : The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City. 1st ed. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2009. Harding, David. "Hupmobile Showroom Was Part of Omaha's Auto Row on Farnam Street." Omaha.com. March 22, 2017. http://www.omaha.com/living/hupmobile-showroom-was-part-of-omaha-s-auto-row-on/article_f7ccb2a8-0b5f-11e7-91c5-bf401131adb4.html. "India Rubber & Tire Review." Google Books. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=xNjmAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA64&dq=Nebraska rubberandtirecompany&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNucrA_YfaAhUIG6wKHSwPBQUQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Nebraska rubber and tire company&f=false. Li, Zhe, and Jefferson M. Fox. "Mapping Rubber Tree Growth in Mainland Southeast Asia Using Time-series MODIS 250 m NDVI and Statistical Data." Applied Geography 32, no. 2 (2012): 420-32. "Overland Tire and Rubber Company." Bostwick-Frohardt Collection. Accessed March 28, 2018. http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15426coll1 /id/4532/rec/6. Somma, Ann M. "Charles Goodyear and the Vulcanization of Rubber." Connecticut History. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://connecticuthistory.org/charles-goodyear-and-the-vulcanization-of-rubber/ "Statistical Summary of World Rubber Situation." Accessed March 27, 2017. http://www.rubberstudy.com/documents/WebSiteData_Feb2018.pdf. "Tire Manufacturer Testing Dandelion Rubber." Material Analysis & Materials Testing Lab. July 05, 2012. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/tire-manufacturer-testing-rubber-from-dandelion/. "U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program - National Historic Chemical Landmark." American Chemical Society. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/syntheticrubber.html. "United States Synthetic Rubber Program, 1939-1945." A National Chemical Historical Landmark. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/syntheticrubber/us-synthetic-rubber-program-historical-resourc.pdf. Ziegler, A. D., J. M. Fox, and J. Xu. "The Rubber Juggernaut." Science324, no. 5930 (2009): 1024-025. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/1d618972d238f08b89a6d9d495f576ee.png 4bccf373fddb74c923bd5eb844a0d16e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Omaha International Exhibition Pamphlet Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Permanent Collection Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/bda9c1fbb8bc5b3c33bd40f7909b8c2d.png 9d97d4d9a2e955c8d6b32657a14e6312 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Trans-Mississippi Exposition Description An account of the resource Looking west down the Grand Court at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. A canal runs down the middle of the court with buildings on either side. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/0269eb30ae87ec476f0f0a2fc64251b9.png d2f67107f2e954c5cebf269d6d3ee3c3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Fine Arts Building Description An account of the resource A building with two domes on it. A gondola is on the lagoon in front of it. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/35c1a9e0821afb4829a0f07331b8eedb.png b96afb140eb0587ee54cb394c9e42371 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Trans-Mississippi Exposition Description An account of the resource The Agriculture Building stands near the water at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The building is white with arched windows and has flags on the top. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ef72a0864fad31dbfd2c834a0912cfdc.png 95c1eac7df60e4f2551b910f270d92c9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Trans-Mississippi Exposition Description An account of the resource The Government Building stands at the West end of the Grand Court at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The building has a gold dome and statues on top of it. LRB Personal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/c1e985536cb6ba1d828568054e8ba142.png 772081ffb2fc687262163ef005082b25 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Court at Night Description An account of the resource A lagoon with buildings surrounding it at night. Photograph by Rinehart. Located in Omaha, Nebraska. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15426coll1/id/5712/rec/13 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d16353fc4efae97ad47dc3269d6e06a3.png fee0ee30b4ef7fc478cf740d8442a187 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Trans Mississippi Exposition Description An account of the resource courtyard of Fine Arts Building Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15426coll1/id/5552/rec/6 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ae9259fa9c550b268f3fe3a1d053911d.png 30e6cf9cfd774de2a8a833c76feb98f2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Estimates of number of farms (circles with solid line) and mean farm size (triangles with dashed line) in Nebraska, 1870–2002. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Hiller, Tim L., Larkin A. Powell, Tim D. McCoy, and Jeffrey J. Lusk. "Long-Term Agricultural Land-Use Trends in Nebraska, 1866-2007." Great Plains Research 19 (2009): 225-237. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Consumer Revolutions Subject The topic of the resource Global Capitalism <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4758/39538672694_da9d00eca7_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> Butter-Nut Coffee Advertisement, Durham Photo Archive</span> Description An account of the resource Globalization has brought the world to our doorstep. Expanding networks of trade bring goods from every corner of the world to our homes in Omaha. Although many of us associate globalization with the very recent past, those connections have a long history. This section of the exhibit takes us from the early history of globalization to the present and shows how our consumer decisions transformed economic and environmental relationships around the world. The first era of globalization dawned in the late sixteenth century when the Spanish Empire created the first global currency. The Spanish used gold and silver mined by indigenous peoples in Bolivia to trade for goods in China. Silver coins greased the wheels of early globalization and connected American mines, to tea fields in China, to the markets of Europe. Expanding wealth and power eventually opened up foreign landscapes to American use as well. By the nineteenth century, consumer networks allowed families in Omaha to consume tropical goods like coffee. Today, multinational corporations like ConAgra dominate food production. They use resources from every type of environment and ship their products globally. Consumer revolutions accelerated after the Second World War. Home appliances like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines promised convenience and an increased quality of life, but new technologies sometimes produced unexpected environmental consequences. These objects remind us that modern consumerism was part of a long history of globalization that transformed global environments. Many of us still use objects like these on a daily basis. As you look through this section, ask yourself how many goods you have used or consumed today are connected in some way to foreign landscapes. Physical Object An inanimate, three-dimensional object or substance. Note that digital representations of, or surrogates for, these objects should use Moving Image, Still Image, Text or one of the other types. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Trans-Mississippi Exposition Subject The topic of the resource The Trans-Mississippi Exposition was a World’s Fair hosted in Omaha in 1898. This pamphlet described the attractions and new technological developments on display. Sponsors hoped the fair would boost the local economy and encourage settlement in unclaimed Western lands. People could then use those natural resources as a source for profit. The fair’s fantastic Renaissance-style buildings showed this potential for success, but they only existed for one year. Planners constructed buildings with cheap materials and destroyed them after the fair ended. No buildings from the fair remain today. The fair, and this artifact, are a symbol of this frontier sensibility. People treated the environment in the same way: using resources until they were not profitable, and then moving on. This exploitation of nature for profit is a common theme of the Anthropocene. Description An account of the resource “The mighty West affords striking evidences of the splendid achievements and possibilities of our people,” remarked President William McKinley. “It is a matchless tribute to the energy and endurance of the pioneer, while its vast agricultural development, its progress in manufactures, its advancement in the arts and sciences, and in all departments of education and endeavor, have been inestimable contributions to the civilization and wealth of the world.” Few times in the prior history of America did it possess the opportunity to demonstrate its affluence and ingenuity as it did with the platform of World’s Fairs and Expositions in the late 19th century. Catalyzed by the synthesis of resource and resourcefulness, industry elevated America on the new global capitalist stage. Greater than anticipated, the then-untamed West possessed a wealth of resources for cultivation and extraction alike. The success afforded the majority of the nation as a result of its Western backbone led to many celebrations of the West in the form of lavish World’s Fairs, the prime model being Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. However successful the West had appeared, in truth the West’s ability to support the new industrial America was an illusion. The West’s extreme prosperity came at the cost of an ever-accelerating requirement for a finite amount of new land: over-commodifying the land had exhausted its ability to produce. The same boom and bust mirrored in the years to come in the lesser Western fairs and expositions: demonstrating illusive staying power and affluence, but in truth embodying overexploitation and their promises preying on the hopeful. <br /><br />The 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition exists as a metaphor for the boom-and-bust nature of capitalism in the developing West. All facets of the exposition illustrated these cyclic patterns, ranging from the physical construction and demolition of the exposition buildings to its impact on the local economy. Boom-and-bust financial cycles were fundamental and recurrent phenomena in capitalist economies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since the 1970s, environmental historians have critiqued the predominant economic interpretation of these cycles, emphasizing their connections to western expansion. A “capitalist ethos” reframed nature as resource and incentivized the utilization of Western resource frontiers for financial gain. Omaha’s economic success in the 1890s reflected in the exposition’s ability to market the untamed Western land purely as substances ready for new settlers to exploit. This capitalist ethos originated from the idea that humans are separate from nature, a mindset that resonated throughout the exposition, what Jason Moore refers to as Cartesian dualism that prevails in practice. This rejection of ties with the natural environment enabled drastic overexploitation, without consideration for future viability. The Omaha Trans-Mississippi International Exposition represented the cyclic pattern of success and decline caused by many similar dualisms, evidenced in the exposition’s physical construction as well as its fluctuating economic outcomes. <br /><br />The Omaha 1898 International Exposition pamphlet (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/1d618972d238f08b89a6d9d495f576ee.png">Figure 1</a>) was a commemorative item and a contemporary guide for attendees of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. It was distributed beginning in June during the 1898 festival and provided 32 pages of detailed exhibit coverage. It supplied visitors with necessary information regarding available amenities and transportation around Omaha, a comprehensive exhibit guide, and details about the available diversions, including carnivalesque swordsmen, mazes, and funhouses. The pamphlet first describes the layout of the exposition as a guide for navigation. The exposition grounds consisted of Renaissance-style buildings surrounding a lagoon (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/bda9c1fbb8bc5b3c33bd40f7909b8c2d.png">Figure 3</a>). Nearly half the pamphlet consisted of photographs of these architectural installations. The classical, palatial aesthetic of the Omaha Exhibition was proudly lauded, illustrating the grandeur of the fair. <br /><br />The pamphlet enumerates the exhibits housed within each of the state buildings, as well as exhibits documenting substantial achievements. Specific care is taken describing the special exhibits. The government exhibit (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ef72a0864fad31dbfd2c834a0912cfdc.png">Figure 4</a>) displayed exotic artifacts, such as a draft of the Declaration of Independence, and featured military and educational advancements that promoted imperialist sentiments. The Indian Exhibit, when juxtaposed with the exposition’s impressive shows of classical architecture, technology, and material wealth, emphasized the progress of colonialism. Other major exhibits, such as the Agriculture (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/35c1a9e0821afb4829a0f07331b8eedb.png">Figure 5</a>), Electricity, and Machinery buildings, presented the technological advancements and the resources wrought by these newfound processes in order to glorify the technological progress and economic opportunity in the West. <br /><br />The Exposition celebrated western technology and colonial progress, and their relationship to economic opportunity, though the fair itself was an opportunity for financial gain. Ironically, this fair celebrating western progress originated when the entire nation was recovering from the Financial Panic of 1893. Western states were disproportionately impacted by the panic and therefore especially determined to revitalize their economic prospects. Several macroeconomic problems initiated the beginning of an economic recession; however, the addition of unexpected Western crop failures pushed a common depression into a financial panic. These agricultural shocks were most prevalent in the Western and North Central states, including Nebraska, which caused bank failures that were strongly concentrated in Western states. National and Eastern banks, which were less influenced by the struggling Western agricultural markets, did not experience the same magnitude of the recession following the panic. However, rural banks depended on the success of nearby farms, so local and state banks in the West failed more frequently than in other regions. <br /><br />The Trans-Mississippi Exposition was a direct response to this economic disaster. Shortly after the recession, Omaha leaders determined that an exposition would successfully communicate the financial potential of the West to the rest of the nation and perhaps resurrect the economic stability in the region. The immense, unprecedented success of Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 inspired several Western leaders to advocate similar projects in their respective cities. In 1894, Nebraskan delegates invited the Trans-Mississippi Congress, a group of men from Western states who promoted the commercial and material interests of their region, to host the next annual meeting in Omaha. After proposing the idea to the Congress in 1895, local Omaha businessmen successfully committed their city to host an exposition. <br /><br />The 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, also known as the Omaha World’s Fair, was one of forty international expositions that occurred during the “Golden Age of Fairs” from 1880-1910. The purpose of the Omaha World’s Fair was to exemplify the fertility and potential of Western farming and manufacturing as a definite pathway to financial success. The initial settlers already utilized the Western resources by growing crops and raising livestock, but many were still skeptical about adopting the pioneer lifestyle. The number of Nebraskan farms drastically increased from 1870-1890, but then growth and settlement stagnated through the 1890s following the agricultural failures from Panic of 1893. The development of new procedures and technologies provided a stronger promise of success for those moving West. William Jennings Bryan, the spokesman for the Nebraska committee of the Trans-Mississippi Congress, stated, “We believe that an exposition of all the products, industries and civilization of the States west of the Mississippi River, made at some central gateway where the world can behold the wonderful capabilities of these great wealth-producing States, would be of great value, not only to the Trans-Mississippi States, but to all the homeseekers in the world.” The planners hoped the exposition would directly combat the previous notion of the West as having low and unpredictable crop yields observed in the Panic of 1893. By projecting Western industrial and agricultural success to the rest of the nation, Omaha leaders sought to attract settlers to utilize the abundant resources in order to boost the local economy. <br /><br />The desire to project an image of the West’s success and appeal to potential settlers influenced the construction of the fairgrounds itself, though its execution occurred in a temporary and superficial manner. The goal of the architecture and landscaping was to produce the impression of a prosperous civilization: full of order and stability. A two-thousand foot-long lagoon designed to resemble Venetian canals hosted gondola rides as a whimsical form of transportation throughout the fair (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/0269eb30ae87ec476f0f0a2fc64251b9.png">Figure 6</a>) . Stately trees and lush grass plots lined artistically crafted walking paths, illuminated by electric lights (left) . Bright white building designed in Renaissance style reflected ancient Greek and Roman influences (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d16353fc4efae97ad47dc3269d6e06a3.png">Figure 7</a>) and possessed strenuous constraints on color, scale and height. The strict application of artistic consistency and simplicity produced a harmonious environment to all attendees. Though the architecture created the appearance of success and stability, the exposition was merely an illusion of prosperity. The clean “White City” had no resemblance to the rough and untamed Trans-Mississippi wilderness that the exposition claimed to be the source of their economic success. The trees and shrubs were transplanted onto the original landscape to create the illusion of mature landscapes and fertile soil. The buildings were inherently temporary – constructed of plaster of Paris and horsehair – since they were only intended to survive the short duration of the 5-month exhibition and then destined for immediate demolition. The purpose of the Omaha World’s Fair was to initiate lasting economic growth following the financial panic, yet the founders had no intention of maintaining the environment or circumstances that would promote further financial prosperity following the exposition’s conclusion. <br /><br />Omaha did experience some transient financial benefits due to its successful execution of Trans-Mississippi Exposition. The fair attracted over 2.6 million visitors to the city of Omaha over the short five-month duration of the fair. Planners generated a sufficient profit to recoup the expenditure of $2.5 million to put on the Exposition. Nebraska’s government sponsored the Nebraska Exposition for $100,000, and leveraged its local resources to great effect, reaping significant short-term financial gains through its infrastructure and by prominently featuring its agricultural bounty . Visiting delegations, such as Illinois, also poured significant financial investments into the fair. The Illinois delegation regarded the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of paramount importance in its reports to the governor, since the fair would provide a stimulus for Chicagoan industry. Their expenditures were unequivocally reimbursed in returns from the committee and through advertising for Chicagoan business, affluence, and luxuries. All the delegations present at the Omaha Exposition were involved for profit, and Omaha took advantage of its position by exhibiting its hospitality and luxuries. Omaha’s immediate financial success was due to its ability to thoroughly project the inherent potential of Western land and resources throughout all aspects of the exposition. <br /><br />Despite its immediate financial benefits, Omaha did not experience its predicted, long-lasting settlement and success. The number of Nebraskan farms leveled off around 1890, which coincided with the period of agricultural failures in the Panic of 1893 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ae9259fa9c550b268f3fe3a1d053911d.png">Figure 8</a>). However, the number of farms did not increase following the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, as the stagnant trend following the recession continued. Population changes followed the same trend: dramatically increasing into the 1890s, stagnating during the decade, but failing to resume its upward climb following the close of the exposition (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/f8c204b4ecbc26c56b2f21c5d9cca249.png">Figure 9</a>). Though the fair experienced an initial financial boost, its predicted lasting effects were a bust. <br /><br />A capitalist ethos of commodified nature and endless growth permeated the Omaha World’s Fair. From this perspective, industrious westerners viewed capital as exogenous from nature. Nature was a commodity, and resources were simply reduced to substances to be used by humans. Jason Moore has argued that capitalism promoted this dualistic mindset, which ultimately separated humans from the environment with profound, global consequences. The objective and the execution of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition precisely illustrate this duality. Acquisition of capital was the motivating force for creating the exposition, and the event itself worked to convince other Americans to join the pioneering effort to use the Western resource frontier to create wealth. In a public address, Gurdon Wattles, the President of the Trans-Mississippi Association, explicitly named the goal of the exhibition to be an “advancement of commercial interests of the West, a demonstration of the marvelous resources of the great West.” The fair promoted the improvement of Western territories and in doing so, converted nature to resources to wealth, unclaimed wilderness to Western Civilization. Moore, in The Capitalocene, remarks that “capital… forms independently of the web of life, and intervenes… intruding in, and interrupting, a pre-given ‘traditional balance between humanity and nature.’” Moore states that capitalism depends on the frontier; although the centrality of capitalism is the commodification of everything, it is the frontier that underpins the acquisition of capital. More specifically, the methods to sustainably tame this untouched nature are disparate from the methods that Western settlers used and the age of World’s Fairs glorified. <br /><br />Although practices that promote profit maximization are logical from capitalist perspectives, they become illogical in ecological contexts. Capitalist production utilizes this separation of humans from nature to view natural resources as disposable commodities, in which the exploitation of these commodities results in profits, yet also often degrades the environment of its source. In ecological matters, this process occurs without feedback or regulation until overproduction or resource depletion occurs, where profitability declines and environmental destruction endures. The cycle of an expedited profit boom and following bust from the Trans-Mississippi exposition illustrates this cycle of exploitation and the resulting ecological impacts. <br /><br />The Omaha World’s Fair exceeded their goal of financial revitalization in the short duration, and therefore attempted to prolong their success. However, the bust arrived almost immediately following the closing of the fair. Although remnant funds from the exposition were intended for a new exposition, much of the board who had conducted the previous year’s Exposition were unwilling to accept the responsibility of a second Exposition. The novelty of the Trans-Mississippi grounds and image had lost its shine. After the physical fairgrounds structures had outlived their use and profitability, the buildings were hastily destroyed or removed from the North Omaha site. The majority of the demolished material shipped to Chicago by freight cars, but the plaster sculptures and exteriors of buildings were discarded into the emptied lagoon. The exposition physically transformed the North Omaha landscape for the purpose of temporary financial gain, but once the financial payoff began to decline, the fairgrounds were entirely trashed and forgotten with no remnants remaining. The extremely temporary lifespan between construction and demolition, and similarly the exposition’s investment and payoff, portrays the culmination of all societal, economic and environmental perspectives influencing the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. <br /><br />The inception of the exposition was financially motivated in response to the Financial Panic of 1893 in hopes of accruing wealth. In order to combat the recession, Western inhabitants utilized untouched Western resources as disposable substances for capital gain. The perspective of nature existing independent of humans originated from a capitalist ethos, which justified this exploitation of nature for quick financial gain. Likewise, the construction of the exposition fairgrounds mimicked the exploitation of the environment. The land of North Omaha transformed for the purpose of economic gain, and certainly not in a Lockean sense for its improvement. The buildings were structurally deficient and the landscaping unnatural and artificial. Once profits declined, the city demolished the fairgrounds and erased any actual remnant of the exposition from the Omaha landscape. Today, the only trace of the fair is a small park located on top of the plaster-filled lagoon. Commercial businesses and residential areas now occupy the previous location of the White City. The Trans-Mississippi Exposition strived to instill a lasting economic change, but since it was inherently tied to capitalist economic cycles, the successful boom was followed by the inevitable bust. The technological advances showcased at the fair eventually allowed Western economies to flourish, yet this was in not a direct result of the Exposition’s efforts. Though its legacy is largely forgotten, Omaha eventually evolved into a prosperous metropolis, which satisfied the initial goal of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maddie Fung Matthew Mordeson Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Altvater, Elmar. "Ecological and Economic Modalities of Time and Space." Capitalism Nature Socialism 1, no. 3 (1898): 59-70. Bostwick, Louis, and Homer Frohardt. Shot of Government Building. Digital image. Durham Museum Photo Archive. Bostwick, Louis, and Homer Frohardt. View of the Agriculture Building. Digital image. Durham Museum Photo Archive. Dupont, Brandon R. "Panic in the Plains: Agricultural Markets and the Panic of 1893." Cliometrica 3, no. 1 (January 03, 2008): 27-54. Findling, John. "World's Fair." Encyclopaedia Britannica. September 15, 2017. Haynes, James B. History of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. (Omaha, NE: Committee on History, 1910), 14. Hiller, Tim L., Larkin A. Powell, Tim D. McCoy, and Jeffrey J. Lusk. "Long-Term Agricultural Land-Use Trends in Nebraska, 1866-2007." Great Plains Research 19 (2009): 225-237. Kelly, Michael. "Find in Trench Dusts Off Exposition Quests." Omaha World-Herald, June 11, 1980. Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission. Patterns on the Landscape: Heritage Conservation in North Omaha. (Omaha, NE: The Commission, 1984), 25. Maloney, Kathy Jean. World's Fair Gardens: Shaping American Landscapes. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2012. Moore, Jason W. "The Capitalocene Part I: On the Nature and Origins of Our Ecological Crisis." The Journal of Peasant Studies 44, no. 3 (March 17, 2017): 594-630. Nebraska State Commission. Report of the Nebraska State Commission for the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. Omaha, NE: Omaha Printing Company, 1898. Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, NE) “Greater America Exposition at Omaha, July 1 to Nov.1, 1899.” June 25, 1899. Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, NE) “Only Small Crowd Appears.” July 6, 1899. Rinehart, F.A. Bird's-eye View Grand Court (Night). 1898. Durham Museum Photo Archive. Rinehart, F.A. Fine Arts Building. 1898. Durham Museum Photo Archive Rinehart, F. A. "Grand Court Looking E. (1)" Digital image. Trans- Mississippi & International Exposition. April 5, 1996.; Rinehart, F. A. "Grand Court Looking E. (2)" Digital image. Trans-Mississippi & International Exposition. April 5, 1996. Spencer, Jeffrey. East End of Lagoon. 1898. Durham Museum Photo Archive. "The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition at Omaha." Scientific American 78, no. 22 (May 28, 1898): 346-47. Wishart, Ryan. "Coal River's Last Mountain." Organization and Environment 25, no. 4 (November 27, 2012): 470-485. Worster, Donald. Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. 6. Zipay, John P., "The Changing Population of the Omaha SMSA 1860-1967 With Estimates for 1970" (1967). Publications Archives, 1963-2000. Boosterism Financial Panic Transmississippi Exposition World's Fairs https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/87df9f7bf92cfc1cedeec88c6c2fac25.jpg 4344c0b4d7c5d46a149539929e450029 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eric Crouch Commemorative Football Subject The topic of the resource The Eric Crouch Husker commemorative football housed in the Durham museum. This is a symbol of Husker football fandom and the impacts that sports fandom has on the environment Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Durham Museum Permanent Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/f0aed36c61c18447fea6772d86e04cc7.jpg 7cc6fee1e18c67e334546c955b6455ff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eric Crouch Commemorative Football Subject The topic of the resource The Eric Crouch Husker commemorative football housed in the Durham museum. This is a symbol of Husker football fandom and the impacts that sports fandom has on the environment Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Durham Museum Permanent Collection https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d7775a82a8b00f024362d0cd9499d344.jpg 12bffd66c33bd78284e1b024df4714cb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eric Crouch Commemorative Football Subject The topic of the resource The Eric Crouch Husker commemorative football housed in the Durham museum. This is a symbol of Husker football fandom and the impacts that sports fandom has on the environment Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Durham Museum Permanent Collection Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Living in a World of Our Own Making Subject The topic of the resource <a href="http://www.igbp.net/images/18.950c2fa1495db7081ebd1/1421396650502/GreatAcceleration2015igbpsrclowres.jpg" title="IGBP - The Great Acceleration Dashboard" target="_blank">The Great Acceleration</a> <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4721/40562555551_972c132773_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> <span style="font-size: 3;"> </span> Description An account of the resource The Anthropocene means “The Age of Humans,” but what does it mean to live in a world of our own making? Humanity has flourished in past two centuries. Two thirds of every person ever born lived between 1945 and today. Scientists call this era of expanding population, economic development, and environmental impact the “Great Acceleration.” People are now more numerous and powerful than ever before. Mining moves more rocks and soils than all of the worlds rivers combined. Artificial fertilizers have doubled the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in our soils. Plastics can now be found on mountain tops and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Paradoxically, many of the most profound changes to global environments pass virtually unnoticed. Nuclear fallout, for instance, is invisible to the naked eye, but radioactive evidence of cold war weapons tests remains in soils around the world. Until recently, lead was one of the most common materials in industrial use. It was used to seal our foods, paint our homes, and power our cars. Lead is toxic, especially for children. Although invisible, lead is now in our soils, in our cities, and even in our blood. By contrast, concrete is virtually everywhere, yet we rarely think about it. We drive on it, work in it, and the foundations of this very museum are built using it. More than half of the concrete ever produced was manufactured between 1995-2015. Concrete requires enormous energy to mine, transport, and produce. These consequences are as invisible to us as the material is abundant. As you finish your journey through the exhibit, consider how many other “invisible” materials influence our lives and connect us to the global environment. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Husker Football Subject The topic of the resource Sports and sport fandom have played a major role in US and global history. Fandom produces a bond between people in communities, but it also produces environmental impacts. This commemorative Husker football is an artifact of Nebraska fandom. Omaha has a history of producing great athletes, including Eric Crouch, a quarterback for the University of Nebraska between 1998 and 2001. The large crowds typical of Power 5 collegiate football require thousands of megawatts of energy used to run the stadiums. This along with the negative impacts of fans traveling to games are all examples of how sports culture affects the environment. In this sense, this Husker football is an important artifact that connects the passionate football community of Nebraska to the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chris Aleti Brody Methven Description An account of the resource <p>Sport fandom is a universal language that unite communities, evoking passionate response among its participants. In Nebraska, college football is king. On game day, upwards of 90,000 people attend home games. It is not unfair to imagine that most fans pay little attention to the environmental impacts of their sport. Historians have studied the impacts of sports and its importance to different cultures. The sports fandom culture it creates has a major impact on the Anthropocene. Global sport fandom has become a phenomenon, and its expansion since the mid-1900s has had profound environmental effects. The sport of football has a significant environmental impact in the anthropocene through the waste it creates, the ecosystems it alters, and its overall carbon footprint it generates. The significance of sports fandom as a global cultural phenomenon is only matched by its environmental significance in the Anthropocene.</p> <p>This Nebraska Huskers commemorative football, housed in the Durham Museum lists the career awards and achievements of Eric Crouch. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/208">Figure I</a> and <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/210">II</a>) Eric Crouch is not only relevant in terms of his importance in the history of Husker football, but he is relevant in the history of the city of Omaha, as this is his hometown. Crouch grew up as the son of a single mother who was a medical technician by day and a waitress by night in Omaha (Lapointe, 2001). One of his biggest mentors was a Creighton faculty member, Dr. Jim Brown, who was a radiologist (Lapointe, 2001). Crouch went on to become a very well-known and successful Husker football player, known by Husker fans for two major scoring plays in his Junior season. One being a 95-yard touchdown scramble, the other being a trick play against Oklahoma to seal what was a close game (Lapointe, 2001). Being from Omaha, Crouch was a fan favorite and ties Omaha into Husker football history.</p> <p>College football fandom feeds from and builds upon cultural and social norms that support a team. (Satterfield and Godfrey 2011). Like many sports cultures around the world, football culture operates through a set of rules. Rules such as showing loyalty on game days by wearing school colors and team jerseys (Satterfield and Godfrey 2011). A community develops that defines itself by the wins and losses of its team. The success of the team’s performance affects the behavior of the community. A successful team is more likely to draw in more supporters and increase their fanbase. The connection between the team and the community is especially strong in a small college town (Satterfield and Godfrey 2011). The importance of college football to Nebraskans is amplified by the absence of professional sports teams in the state. The lack of competition among other sports and a large student population results in attendances regularly over 90,000 for Nebraska home games (Satterfield and Godfrey 2011).</p> <p>Nebraska football fandom in particular has been found to not be primarily rooted in the team’s success, or its geographic location, or even a fan’s association with the university. Rather, their fandom and attachment to the Husker football team is due to what it stands for. The team stands for the state of Nebraska and what Husker fans believe to be their way of life or set principles that represent the state’s dominant agrarian culture. As a result, Husker fans tend to equate their fandom of the football team to being part of what it means to be a Nebraskan (Earnheardt et al, 2013).</p> <p>The historic growth of Nebraska football fandom is most clearly expressed in the construction and expansion of Memorial Stadium. <a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/211">Figure III</a> shows the initial construction of the Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1923. The stadium was built to replace Nebraska Field which previously hosted all Husker home games. The construction of buildings by Nebraska Field reduced its seating capacity. As Nebraska’s fan base grew in popularity, a new stadium with more seating arrangements were required (“Memorial Stadium” 2005). (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/213">Figure IV</a>) The use of a horse drawn plow alters the soil and the cutting down of trees to clear the area for construction also changes the landscape and the ecosystem. The altering of the ecosystem can result in loss of many habitats for the local fauna. The construction of the stadium also contributes to urbanization and the subsequent loss of farmland.</p> <p>College football had its roots in America in the late 18th century. Schools in the Northeast each had a different version of football (PFRA). The first official college football game wasn’t until 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers. This game attracted about a hundred supporters cheering on their team despite the cold, windy conditions (PFRA). The game soon spread to other ivy league schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. The popularity of the game was noticed by colleges around the nation and many other schools began to start programs dedicated to football (PFRA). College football has managed to retain its passionate fanbase that initially made it popular. A survey from September 2, 2007 indicates that college football is the third most popular sport after professional football and baseball with thirteen percent of the sample (PR Newswire 2007). This indicates that even after the introduction of new sports such as basketball and soccer, college football has managed to retain its popularity among the public.</p> <p>By the 2000s, college football transformed into a big business. Football games around the nation recorded an attendance of 36 million over the course of 129 games in the NCAA Division I-FBS subdivision with an average of 42,000 spectators for each game (NCAA 2017). (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/214">Figure V</a>) NCAA Division I football also recorded a median revenue of $63 million in 2015 (NCAA 2016). These figures are also expected to increase every year. The increasing demand led to many stadiums expanding their capacity. For example, Texas A&amp;M spent an incredible $485 million to expand their stadium (Patterson 2018). The expansion projects are designed to increase seating capacity and provide more facilities for the fans. The new stadium also provides increased facilities to players and in hopes of attracting new recruits. Many colleges rely on their football programs as their main source of revenue (Patterson 2018).</p> <p>Football, ranging from high school to the professional level, has become a billion-dollar industry (Massengil 2016). This industry provides entertainment and jobs for thousands of people across the nation. Historian Taylor Rhodes argues that college sports are especially significant in geographically isolated cities like Lincoln, Nebraska. These cities experience a significant increase in employment and tax revenues from hosting college football games (Rhodes 2013). Major sporting events such as the NFL Super Bowl, the Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup promise fame and fortune to host cities (Warren 2017). This large economic benefit results in the negative environmental impacts being overlooked (Massengil 2016).</p> <p>One negative impact is air pollution. Environmental scientist Tanushree Dutta and colleagues explain that large scale assemblies of people gathering in confined spaces can have significant impacts on the local air chemistry due to human emissions of volatile organics (Dutta et al, 2016). These variations in air quality in such a small scale can be studied by quantifying fingerprint volatile organic compounds such as acetone, toluene, and isoprene. All of these can be found in large scale assemblies of people such as concerts, movie screenings, and of course sporting events such as the Olympic or the FIFA World Cup (Dutta et al, 2016). During the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, average attendance of over 50,000 fans per game totaled more than 3.4 million people during the whole event (Dutta et al, 2016). Large scale attendance numbers aren’t just restricted to events such as the Olympics and the World Cup but can also be seen on local scales as well. Nebraska Cornhusker football games are just one of many examples of this local scale gatherings in the United States. Roughly 90,000 people attended Husker football games on game days in Lincoln, NE in 2016 (KETV, 2016). Overall, 631,000 fans total attended home games that season, and over 1 million fans total attended home and away games (KETV, 2016). The sheer number of fans that attend these sports teams makes sense as to why teams nationally and globally would expand and further construct their stadiums to meet these capacities. This expansion of stadiums can relate back to the environmental impacts of gameday.</p> <p>Stadiums produce significant waste during game days. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/admin/files/show/215">Figure VI</a>) In addition to the waste generated, stadiums also use up a great amount of energy. For example, the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis was estimated to have consumed 15,000 megawatt hours of electricity (Massengil 2016). This is enough electricity to power 1,400 homes across the nation for an entire year. In addition to the energy consumption by the stadium itself, 111.3 million viewers consumed more electricity to watch the game (Massengil 2016). The carbon emissions that result from game day are also a significant concern. Carbon emissions are a major proponent of climate change. A study conducted by researchers at Cardiff University in the U.K. in 2007 examined the ecological footprint of an FA Cup Final, the premier event of English domestic soccer. The footprint included traveling energy consumption, food and drinks consumed at the end, and the stadium infrastructure. The results showed that the estimated event footprint was about 3000 global hectares with more than half comprising of travel energy consumption (Collins et al, 2009).</p> <p>The footprint estimate would be similar to a major football bowl game in the United States. Construction projects, which include sports stadiums, consume 60 % of the nation’s raw materials annually (Grant, 2014). The construction projects failed to use local or recycled product that could reduce their environmental impact addresses Thomas Grant Jr. (Gant, 2014). The construction and personal vehicle of stadiums contribute to air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. This was evident after the construction of the new Yankee stadium which significantly increased air pollution in an already congested part of New York City (Porteshawyer 2009).</p> <p>Fandom is also expressed in travel. In the post-realignment era in Division I sports, teams of all sports (not just football) have had to travel larger distances due to a growing geographical footprint of these conferences. One way that college football in the United States has had an effect on the environment in terms of energy used on game days can be seen when the NCAA Division I athletic conferences underwent conference realignments. Conferences such as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the Big Ten Conference (B1G), the Big 12 Conference, the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12), and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) make up what is known as the Power 5 Conferences in division I college football (Farley et al, 2017). What Farley and his colleagues found during their study was that sports do, in fact, have a major impact on the environment. In almost every case in their study, the expansion of the Power 5 Conferences caused average emissions to rise. The only conference that did not rise in emissions was the one that already had the largest average emissions per game and highest total emissions, the Pac-12 Conference (Farley et al, 2017). While colleges have focused more attention on the sustainability of their campuses and at stadiums, travel-related environmental impacts have risen (Farley et al, 2017). This problem of transportation related emissions on game days can also be seen in Husker football, as many fans travel from Omaha to Lincoln and back in their cars to attend these home games. For their first home game in 2018, stadium officials expected a turnout of 100,000 with thousands driving from Omaha to attend the game (Patterson 2018). The large number of commuters impacts the transportation related emissions.</p> <p>The impact of sport fandom occurs globally and is not just restricted to America. The Olympics is an event that unites sports fans worldwide. It can also lead to environmental problems for the host country. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosted the summer Olympics in 2016. This was an exciting venture for the city, but it also led to many environmental concerns. This included the 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted during the duration of the event (Frontier 2016). In addition to this, there was an estimated 17,000 tons of waste produced, 23,500 liters of fuel consumed, along with almost 30,000 gigawatts of electricity used throughout the Olympics (Frontier 2016). The environmental impacts of global sport fandom such as carbon dioxide emissions and waste produced have lasting impacts on the anthropocene.</p> <p>To avoid such traffic congestion, there was once even an attempted ban of a football stadium in New York City in 2004. Groups such as the Straphangers Campaign and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign were arguing that the city’s environmental review underestimated the number of fans that would travel to the stadium on the West side of New York on game days via cars or taxis. The groups argued that this would result in traffic congestion and pollution in a neighborhood that already had problems in both of those areas (Bagli, 2004). The review estimated that anywhere between 68 and 75 percent of the fans would travel to games by foot, but they were mistaken. The actual percentage of fans that travel on foot ranges from 52 percent at Pacific Bell Stadium in San Francisco, to 17 percent at Shea Stadium in Queens (Bagli, 2004). A reason for choosing car travel over other methods was explained by Robert Paaswell, director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College. He said that going to a football game is considered, “leisure travel, not business travel, so people don't have to travel by transit. They go with friends, go out for lunch or for beers afterward. You want to get there early, and you don't want to deal with a fixed schedule. A car is the most attractive way to go” (Bagli, 2004). This incident is yet another example of the concerns of traffic congestion and air pollution that can be seen on football game days.</p> <p>Despite all of the negative impacts that can be seen from football game days, or mass sporting events in general, there is still some positive things students and fans can do to try and make these events greener. According to Kristen Domonell, successful efforts at campuses across the country include: solar arrays at 10 sporting facilities at Arizona State University, wind turbines that supply 30% of the power to North Texas University’s football stadium and nearby buildings, and the switch to all compostable or recyclable concession packaging at the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium (Domonell, 2013). If more universities, including the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Cornhuskers, would be able to implement efforts such as these, then it would help cut down the environmental effects that are seen on game days.</p> <p>The sport of football brings joy to millions of people across the nation. While we are celebrating a victory or enjoying the unity of supporting a team, we must remember the environmental effects caused by football and other major sports and work to address them.</p> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <p>Collins, Andrea, Calvin Jones, and Max Munday. "Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Mega Sporting Events: Two Options?" <em>Tourism Management</em> 30, no. 6 (2009): 828-37. Accessed November 7, 2018.</p> <p>&nbsp;KETV. "Nebraska Football Team Ranks in Top 10 in Average Attendance in 2016."</p> <p>Lapointe, Joe. 2001. “FOOTBALL; Crouch Has Matured Beyond His 23 Years”. <em>New </em><em>York Times, </em>December 28</p> <p><em>Memorial Stadium Construction June 30 2006</em>. In <em>Huskers.com</em>. Accessed October 9,<a href="http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105">&nbsp;http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105</a>.</p> <p><em>Memorial Stadium Picture after a Nebraska Touchdown</em>. In <em>Huskers.com</em>. Accessed October 9, 2018. <a href="http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105">http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;"2017 Football Attendance." NCAA. 2017. Accessed December 13, 2018. <a href="http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf">http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;"Revenues and Expenses." NCAA. 2016. Accessed December 13, 2018. <a href="http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D1REVEXP2015.pdf">http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D1REVEXP2015.pdf</a></p> <p>&nbsp;<em>Construction on Memorial Stadium took place during the summer of 1923. </em>In <em>Huskers.com</em>. Accessed October 9, 2018.<a href="http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105">http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&amp;PALBID=105</a></p> <p>Patterson, Thom. "Eye-popping College Football Stadium Pricetags." CNN. September 28, 2018. Accessed December 14, 2018.</p> <p>"While Still the Nation's Favorite Sport, Professional Football Drops in Popularity." Razor Tie Artery Foundation Announce New Joint Venture Recordings | Razor &amp; Tie. Accessed December 13, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20070902220050/http://sev.prnewswire.com:80/sports/20070109/NYTU17309012007-1.html.</p> <p>Bagli, Charles V. 2004. “Environmental Review Stirs Doubt About Stadium Plan.” <em>New York Times</em>, December 22.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Collins, Andrea, Andrew Flynn, Max Munday, and Annette Roberts. 2007. “Assessing the Environmental Consequences of Major Sporting Events: The 2003/04 FA Cup Final.” <em>Urban Studies (Routledge)</em> 44 (3): 457–76. <a href="https://login.cuhsl.creighton.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=aph&amp;AN=24827727&amp;site=ehost-live"></a>&nbsp;</p> <p>Dutta, Tanushree, Ki-Hyun Kim, Minori Uchimiya, Pawan Kumar, Subhasish Das, Satya Sundar Bhattacharya, and Jan Szulejko. 2016. “The Micro-Environmental Impact of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Large-Scale Assemblies of People in a Confined Space.” <em>Environmental Research</em> 151 (November): 304–12.</p> <p>Domonell, Kristen. 2013. “Sustainable Game Days.” <em>University Business</em> 16 (10): 16.</p> <p>Earnheardt, A. C., Haridakis, P. M., &amp; Hugenberg, B. S. (2013). <em>Sports fans, identity, and socialization exploring the fandemonium</em>. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.</p> <p>Farley, Bradley, Lisa M. DeChano-Cook, and Lucius F. Hallett IV. 2017. “Environmental Impact of Power Five Conference Realignment.” <em>Geographical Bulletin</em> 58 (2): 93–106.</p> <p>Frontier. "The Environmental Impact Of The Olympics." HuffPost UK. August 19, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2018.</p> <p>Grant, Thomas, Jr. "Chapter 2. Impact Studies and Other Quantitative Analyses: Inconclusive Conclusions." <em>The Sports Franchise Game</em> 25, no. 1 (January 1, 2014). Accessed October 9, 2018. doi:10.9783/9780812209150.13.</p> <p>&nbsp;Massengill, Mitchell. "Tackling Football's Environmental Impact." Energy and Environmental Policy 2016. November 28, 2016. Accessed October 10, 2018.</p> <p>"Memorial Stadium." UNL Historic Buildings - Burnett Hall. Accessed December 13, 2018. <a href="http://historicbuildings.unl.edu/building.php?b=38">http://historicbuildings.unl.edu/building.php?b=38</a>.</p> <p>Patterson, Thom. "Eye-popping College Football Stadium Pricetags." CNN. September 28, 2018. Accessed December 14, 2018.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Porteshawver, Alex. "Green Sports Facilities: Why Adopting New Green-Building Policies Will Improve the Environment and the Community." <em>Marquette Sports Law Review</em>20, no. 1 (2009).&nbsp;</p> <p>PFRA Research. "No Christian End! The Beginnings of Football in America." <em>Professional Football Researchers Association</em>. Accessed December 13, 2018. http://www.profootballresearchers.com/articles/No_Christian_End.pdf.</p> <p>Rhodes, M. Taylor, 2013. "Pigskin, Tailgating and Pollution: Estimating the Environmental Impacts of Sporting Events," UNCG Economics Working Papers 13-19, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.</p> <p>Satterfield, J., &amp; Godfrey, M. (2010). The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Football: A Metaphorical,Symbolic and Ritualistic Community Event. <em>Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12</em>(1). <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1425"></a>&nbsp;</p> <p>Rhodes, Taylor. "Pigskin, Tailgating and Pollution: Estimating the Environmental Impacts of Sporting Events." October 21, 2013. Accessed November 7, 2018. http://faculty.lawrence.edu/rhodesm/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/10/draft_v48_environ_jmp_10_2013.pdf.</p> <p>Warren, Gina. "Big Sports Events Have Big Environmental Footprints. Could Social Licenses To Operate Help?" Forbes. December 11, 2017.</p> Construction Fandom Greenhouse Gasses Lincoln