1 10 34 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/cea2bedc142d5a665271eec574befc9b.jpg be4d3b454617df81a41e158ddc0a35d3 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ab76381d240f0101acca555b50c025d9.JPG cd9bd8a8aac59634d2dbc725dcb55cd4 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 Description An account of the resource Concrete from the foundations of the Durham Museum. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of Jacob Ohnstad and Sonya Ponzi https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/a515b27ced9ed40255d2703a9ee0bf48.jpg 34433423da1ba92a03d888e1f9d58d14 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 3 Description An account of the resource A satellite image of the greater Omaha area. The dark red and pink parts on the map indicate impervious surfaces, meaning that these areas have been paved with concrete, so water is unable penetrate and reach soil. When impervious surfaces are mapped using satellite imagery, the amount of land alteration resulting from concrete usage can be determined along with concrete consumption. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived “USGS Small-scale Dataset - 100-Meter Resolution Impervious Surface of the Conterminous United States 201301 TIFF,”U.S. Geological Survey, accessed December 10, 2017, https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/usgs-small-scale-dataset-100-meter-resolution-impervious-surface-of-the-conterminous-united-st. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/8a91bcebda925da961ecf64e650c2ba2.jpg 10f8e9996e5e4a5815e5310828bc398f 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 Description An account of the resource Omaha's Union Station, now the Durham Museum, in 1931, after construction. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of the Durham Museum https://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15426coll1/id/1207/rec/1 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 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=" /> 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 Concrete Foundations of the Anthropocene Description An account of the resource Concrete surrounds us; we build with it, drive on it, walk on it, and live in it. It forms the infrastructure that allows us to live life the way we do today, yet, we rarely stop to think about it. Concrete has now become the world’s most used building material, but despite its pervasiveness, there is one aspect many people forget to consider when they see concrete and that is where it comes from: the earth. (Flower and Sanjayan, 2017) Since it is currently one of the most important commodities to mankind, it only fuels the argument that man is reshaping the world. Our object is a part of the foundations of The Durham Museum (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/22" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). The foundations of The Durham, like much of Omaha and much of the industrial world, are built with concrete. This essay explores the history of concrete and its main ingredient, cement, in a local and global context paying particular attention to its environmental consequences. Concrete is an important artifact in Omaha’s environmental history because it has shaped the way we live from the ground up through structures, roads and art. It links Omaha’s environmental history to the global history of the Anthropocene because it is used worldwide in our globalized civilization and has far-reaching environmental impacts, from the composition of the atmosphere to land use changes resulting from mining.<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ff19a53578469baba6fc1771c0d3230b.JPG" title="(Figure 1: Concrete from the foundations of the Durham Museum; the object of this essay)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"> </a>The substance we know as “concrete” is a mixture of materials, including cement. Cements are powders comprised of naturally occurring rock deposits (natural cements) or combinations of ingredients (artificial or “Portland” cements), and both of which include clay and lime in varying proportions. The concrete foundations of The Durham are likely derived from this second, artificial form, meaning the concrete is comprised of Portland cement. In the preparation of Portland cement, raw ingredients are ground to a powder, burned in kilns, and then milled. When mixed with water and allowed to harden, cement creates a material of great compressive strength and, depending on its chemical composition, one that may also harden under water. Concrete consists of gravel, sand, cement, and water blended to create a liquid that can be poured into place, where it then hardens, or cures, to achieve a solid mass. (Nature, 1941) Concrete was developed over 150 years ago, yet the mixture has not changed all that much. Joseph Aspdin, an inventor, discovered that when a mixture of limestone and clay was heated, it hardened. By firing the calcium carbonate contained in the stone, it would decompose forming calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. Calcium oxide reacts with water to produce calcium hydroxide. These reactions create the paste which is cement. He named his invention “Portland cement”, because it resembled the Portland stone quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The modern-day cement was formed by an innovator named Isaac Johnson in 1845. Johnson refined Aspdin's cement process by roasting the mixture of limestone and clay at higher temperatures, allowing the substances to bind together better. The resulting material proved a lucrative and popular building material because it is moldable and durable. The relatively simple technological process of cement production led to a rapid development of the cement industry in Europe and the United States in the second half of the 19th century. (Igliński and Buczkowski, 2017) From this point on, worldwide construction would be forever changed. Concrete made its arrival into the United States in the 1860s. It brought new procedures and priorities of mass production to construction, including the application of science to commercial enterprise and a redistribution of skills, opportunities, credit, and risk in the workplace. (Slaton, 2001) As a main ingredient in concrete, many people would make the claim that cement is the most important binding construction material, because of its ability to harden in air and underwater. The buildings, dams, roads and bridges that surround us today would not have been created without cement. (Igliński and Buczkowski, 2017) Concrete came to Nebraska in the late nineteenth century, likely through rail car imports from the Ash Grove cement plant in Ash Grove, Missouri. Not long afterwards, Nebraska opened its own cement plants: one in Superior and another in Louisville. (Lesley, 2017) The Louisville cement plant was an extension of the one in Ash Grove and was built in 1929. (Ash Grove, 2017)This is the most likely source for cement in Omaha until they built a cement plant in Omaha several years later. Therefore, many of the old buildings in Omaha are suspected to have been built with the cement from Louisville, Nebraska, including The Durham Museum. Construction on the Union station started in 1929. After twenty months and $3.5 million, construction on the 124,000 square-foot on the Union Station was finished. The Union Station, now known as The Durham Museum, opened on January 15, 1931 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/24" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). (<a href="https://durhammuseum.org/our-museum/historic-timeline/">Durham Timeline</a>) The Union Station quickly became one of the busiest stations in the nation. In order to be considered a Union station, a train depot needed to serve more than one rail road line; Omaha had seven. The Union Station was especially important to Omaha because it connected the east and the west via railways. This allowed for passenger trains to make a stop in Omaha, bringing more tourism than before. At its peak, 64 passenger trains and some 10,000 passengers utilized the facility every day. The station once offered a wide range of amenities consisting of a taxi stand, baggage check, dining room, gift shop, telephone station, and even a barber shop. But, during the 1950s and 60s, air travel increased, and the Union station was eventually forced to close its doors in 1971, but reopened shortly after as a Museum in 1975. The original building of The Durham still stands today, not as a Union Station but as a Museum for the history of Omaha. The Durham Museum provides a unique experience for visitors and tells the story of Omaha using artifacts. Although we don’t often consider it as such, the building itself is an artifact. (<a href="https://durhammuseum.org/our-museum/historic-timeline/">Durham Timeline</a>) There are several reasons why concrete and cement became so popular as building materials. One reason is the sheer strength that these mixtures have. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was much sturdier and longer lasting than other commonly used construction materials such as wood. During the second world war concrete started to become reinforced with metal bars, which was an addition that gave concrete the ability to withstand the bending, or tensile, forces to which floors, ceilings, beams, and columns are subjected to within a building. Secondly, concrete was fire proof. People did not have to worry about the material catching fire. Also, concrete was less expensive than methods of ceramic cladding because the ingredients used in concrete could be found in abundance. (Nature, 1941) Lastly, the production of concrete was easily mechanized. Concrete is a building material that people can control and form quite easily with the help of machines, making it an efficient building material. With these numerous advantages, concrete achieved widespread use and remains the most popular building material used today. Although concrete has developed our modern world, it also impacts the natural environment on a global scale. To understand the ways in which concrete affects the environment, we need to consider the rates at which it is consumed by an average person. Concrete is a global commodity consumed at a rate of about 1 ton per year for every human being. Only water consumption is greater. (Flower and Sanjayan, 2007) Out of all the materials used by people on earth, concrete is number one. Thinking about concrete's consumption rates can be puzzling and perhaps counterintuitive, because average people do not purchase or think about their interactions with concrete every day. Rather than thinking of private ownership, consider public commodities. People drive their cars on concrete every day; cars are then parked on concrete in parking lots; next, people walk along concrete sidewalks upon arriving at their destination; finally, people work and live inside concrete structures. These are not typical considerations made by most people, but thinking in this way helps to develop and form a more complete understanding of how humans impact their global environment. Global consumption rates of cement are projected to continue increasing into the future. In 2010, world production of cement equaled 3,310 million metric tons. Five years later it increased to 4,100 million metric tons. Consumption rates are not predicted to decrease within the near future. (USGS, 2017) Obviously, those are very large numbers, but they do not have any meaning if they are not put into context (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/23" title="Figure 3" target="_self">Figure 3</a>). All things humans use come from nature, with some materials being closer to their natural form than others, but regardless, everything is sourced from the earth. The ingredients of concrete fit into this scheme and consumption patterns mirror environmental impacts of the industry. Today, much of the research on the environmental impact of concrete production focuses on the emission of greenhouse gases. which may be a surprising concept to those unaware of the material’s production methods. It is not often that people think about how and where the everyday materials they interact with are made of or come from. Recall that the basic ingredients of concrete are cement, water, coarse aggregates and fine aggregates. These ingredients must be sourced from available natural resources and put into a useable form. The acquisition of these ingredients contributes to emissions. In addition, so does the batching, transport and actual placement of concrete, because all these steps require an energy input, which are typically in the form of fossil fuels. The production of Portland cement also has environmental impacts, because carbon dioxide is released during the processing phase when there is a decomposition of limestone. Overall, cement makes up the largest share of carbon dioxide emissions out of all the ingredients in concrete, accounting for 74% to 81% of the total carbon dioxide emissions released during production. (Flower and Sanjayan, 2007) In addition to greenhouse gas emissions released during production, mining makes profound changes to landscapes. Taken together, landscape alteration and emissions disturb local ecosystems, and consequently, the people and animals living in the area. Coarse aggregates are blasted out of the ground with explosives, the rubble is removed using diesel powered vehicles, taken to electric screening and crushing equipment, and once again transported using diesel powered vehicles to create stockpiles. Fine aggregates are strip-mined, which is a process where the land is opened by excavators. Extraction leaves giant, terraced holes in the ground so that materials from the earth’s crust can be obtained. The fine aggregates are also sorted with electric vibrating screens and transported to grading plants. (Flower and Sanjayan, 2007) The process of attaining coarse and fine aggregates alter and damage ecosystems through land alteration and emissions. Just as research about the environmental impacts of concrete production has been completed, research about how to mitigate these impacts has also been completed. First, alternative fuels can be used during the production of cement to reduce fossil-fuel reliance and emissions. Refuse-derived fuels commonly utilized today are "used tires, animal residues, sewage sludge, waste oil, and lumpy materials." Waste-derived fuels consist of “shredded paper, plastics, foils, textiles, and rubber." (Tornal, 2013) In conjunction with alternative fuels, energy efficiency can lessen how much fuel is needed to produce cement, therefore reducing emissions. Finally, alternative ingredients can be used to produce cement and reduce environmental impacts. (Tornal, 2013) Waste products can be used as supplemental ingredients in cement, decreasing the waste that ends up in landfills and reducing land disturbance from mining. For example, ground blast furnace slag, a byproduct of the steel production industry, has been used as an ingredient in cement as has coal fly ash, a byproduct of the coal combustion practice. (Paris et al. 2016) Moving into the future, it is possible for concrete production to be more sustainable as people innovate and technology advances. Concrete has global environmental impacts which links Omaha’s environmental history, including The Durham Museum, to the Anthropocene. Concrete is one of the most important commodities known to humans. It has not only changed the way we build, but it has also changed the environment all people live in by altering the composition of the atmosphere and changing natural landscapes as well. Concrete is only one part of the story concerning human’s relationship with nature. Although concrete has many impacts on the environment, it provides infrastructure which will always be a necessity for human well-being, but a more sustainable construction practice needs to be implemented before we pave our way through the future. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Ohnstad Sonya Ponzi Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Sources: Concrete (image and physical objects, The Durham Museum Collections) Abrams, Duff A. "The Contribution of Scientific Research to the Development of the Portland Cement Industry in the United States." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 119 (1925): 40-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1015405. “About Us.” Ash Grove Cement Company. Accessed October 20, 2017, https://www.ashgrove.com/about/. Azizian, Mohammad, Peter O Nelson, Pugazhendhi Thayumanavan, and Kenneth J Williamson. “Environmental impact of highway construction and repair materials on surface and ground waters: Case study: crumb rubber asphalt concrete.” Waste Management 23, no. 8 (2003): 719-728. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0956-053X(03)00024-2. Science Direct. Berryman, Charles, Jingyi Zhu, Wayne Jensen, Maher Tadros. “High-percentage replacement of cement with fly ash for reinforced concrete pipe.” Cement and Concrete Research 35, no. 6 (2005): 1088-1091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.06.040. “Cement Statistics and Information.” U.S. Geological Survey. Accessed December 9,2017. https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cement/. Choo, B. S., and John Newman. Advanced Concrete Technology 1: Constituent Materials. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003. EBSCOhost. “Historic Timeline.” The Durham Museum. Accessed October 19, 2017. https://durhammuseum.org/our-museum/historic-timeline/. Flower, David and Jay Sanjayan. “Greenhouse gas emissions due to concrete manufacture.” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 12, no. 5 (2007): 282-288. Accessed November 12, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1065/lca2007.05.327. Gorilla, G.P., K. Teknomo, K. Hokao. “An environmental assessment of wood and steel reinforced concrete housing construction.” Building and Environment 42, no. 7 (2007): 2778-2784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.07.021. Igliński, Bartłomiej and Roman Buczkowski. “Development of cement industry in Poland – History, current state, ecological aspects.” Journal of Cleaner Production 141 (2017): 702-720. Accessed October 31, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.139. Joshi, Ramesh & Rajinder Lohtia. Fly Ash in Concrete: Production, Properties, and Uses. Australia: Gordon and Breach, 1997. Larsen, Lawrence Harold. Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. EBSCOhost. Lesley, Robert. History of the Portland cement industry in the United States: with appendices covering progress of the industry by years and an outline of the organization and activities of the Portland Cement Association. Chicago: International Trade Press, Inc., 1924. Accessed November 10, 2017. Heathy Trust Digital Library. Nature 148, no. 3764 (20 December 1941): 750. Accessed October 31, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/148750a0. Nature 196, no. 4860 (22 December 1962): 1129-1130. Paris, Jerry, Justin Roessler, Christopher Ferraro, Harvey DeFord & Timothy Townsend. “A review of waste products utilized as supplements to Portland cement in concrete.” Journal of Cleaner Production 121 (2016): 1-18. Accessed December 10, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.02.013. Sharp, J. H. “Surely we know all about cement – don't we?” Advances in Applied Ceramics: Structural, Functional & Bioceramics 105, no. 4 (2006): 162-174. EBSCOhost. Slaton, Amy E. Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American Building, 1900-1930. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Tornal, Fernando Pacheco. Eco-Efficient Concrete. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, 2013. Accessed December 10, 2017. EBSCOhost eBook collection. “USGS Small-scale Dataset - 100-Meter Resolution Impervious Surface of the Conterminous United States 201301 TIFF.” U.S. Geological Survey. Accessed December 10, 2017. https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/usgs-small-scale-dataset-100-meter-resolution-impervious-surface-of-the-conterminous-united-st Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The Durham Museum Subject The topic of the resource The modern age of concrete began in 1845 during the second industrial revolution when Isaac Johnson patented a new technique for its manufacture in England. Concrete quickly spread across the world and arrived in Nebraska by the late nineteenth century. Nebraska opened its first cement plant in Louisville in 1929. The Louisville plant is the most likely source of cement for the old buildings in Omaha, including its Union Station (now The Durham Museum) which was completed in 1931. Today, concrete is the world’s most used building material. It is a global commodity consumed at a rate of 1 ton per person per year. Concrete is made from gravel, sand, cement, and water. Production takes an intense, and largely hidden, toll on the environment. Materials must be strip mined and processed using incredible amounts of energy. Concrete accounts for 5% of the global carbon dioxide emissions. Concrete, more than any other building material, is the foundation of the Anthropocene. Cement Commodity Greenhouse Gasses Mining Second Industrial Revolution Union Station https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/fa0dec6e9ac02f64db6db4afbf4918fd.JPG 6b61cf5a3a123d53b7142cab00c30972 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/115f3851f1a0644cd804810aeaef7101.jpg 4673516d342b81ac33bbef9ffe008103 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 Interior of streetcar damaged in 1935 strikes Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Description An account of the resource Interior view of streetcar number 915. Heavily damaged by fire during the 1935 streetcar strikes. All the windows have been broken out and the roof is completely gone. All the seats and interior fixtures have been destroyed by the fire. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource From the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection, owned by KM3TV and on permanent loan to The Durham Museum. 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. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/aad7af18e64ac947fe94024a534e0685.jpg ec9e349d019edbd004193ee4423630e3 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 16th and Douglas in 1916 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive https://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15426coll1/id/17927/rec/3 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. https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/20768e22998e209985384fcf6bfeba11.jpg f4d9d3de4004735b619314169523b7fd 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 Streetcar in Downtown Omaha Description An account of the resource Streetcar # 1024 moving down 16th and Farnam streets. People walk along the streets, cars are also on the roads. Buildings include: Richman's, Union Pacific and the Henshaw Hotel. A banner running across the street reads: A Civic Achievement! Chicago Civic Opera with Mary Garden and Tito Schipa, Seats at Candyland, 1522 Farnam, AkSarBen Coliseum, March 26 & 27. Copy date of 1951-11-05 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource From the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection, owned by KM3TV and on permanent loan to The Durham Museum. 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 & Co.,Engravers and Printers, Chicago. (1890) David Rumsey.com </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 Streetcar Tokens Subject The topic of the resource Streetcar tokens were once a large part of American life. In the late 1800s, city sizes, structures, and functions changed. Why? Because streetcars allowed people to live in suburbs, away from their job in the city. Before the streetcar, the largest US cities did not extend more than two miles from their center. Today, most Americans travel over 10 miles to work. In Omaha, streetcars played an important role in this transition. Between 1886-1955, the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company (O&CB) operated an extensive streetcar system. By 1955, the car had already begun to replace mass transportation. With cars, the environmental consequences of suburban growth accelerated. As people lived further away from their work, vehicular emissions skyrocketed. Today, transportation accounts for over a quarter of US greenhouse gas emissions. The legacy of streetcar tokens lives on in the dollar bills spent on gasoline. Description An account of the resource In Omaha, streetcars were not only a symbol of innovation and urbanization, but also a symbol of a social justice movement and change to come. In the mid-1800s, before the advent of omnibuses and horse-drawn streetcars, the footprint of cities was limited, and walking was the primary mode of transportation. People often lived within a minute’s walk of their workplace, if not in the same building. During this time, the largest US cities – New York, Boston, Philadelphia– did not extend further than two miles from the city center, due to the limitations of walking as a primary mode of transportation. Between 1850 and 1900, Boston had extended the radius of its city center by five times, from two miles to ten. (<a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/b40955b63eaf260975729e5fba7832ff.jpg">Figure 1</a>) (Chudacoff, 1975) By the turn of the 21st century, the average American commute to work lasted approximately 26 minutes, and about 50 percent of Americans traveled 11 miles or more for their commute. (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 1995) Historians have often tied suburbanization to the rise of the automobile, but this misses an essential intermediary development. The streetcar was the crucial factor in the shift from the “walking city” to the modern, automobile-dominated landscape. The history of streetcars, particularly in Omaha, is also full of civil activism. The role activists played in opposition to streetcar companies helped to create the changes necessary for cars to overtake US roads. The subsequent processes of increased city expansion and the burning of gasoline and diesel have substantially contributed to the worldwide ecological shifts characteristic of the Anthropocene. Streetcar tokens, the object of display in The Durham Museum, provide a stand-in for measuring streetcar popularity over time. (<a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/fa0dec6e9ac02f64db6db4afbf4918fd.JPG">Figure 2</a>) While the overall circular shape of the tokens remained largely stable, their value consistently decreased throughout the streetcar era. In order to ride the streetcar in 1919, fares were four for a quarter. By 1930, a fare was three tokens for a quarter and by 1950 it became two tokens for a quarter. (Orr, 1996) The development of streetcars depended on an earlier movement away from pedestrian traffic to other forms of mass transit. Omnibuses (enclosed, horse-drawn passenger vehicles) and horse-drawn carriages debuted prior to streetcars, and had large influences as the first means of public transportation in urban areas. As the nineteenth century advanced, electric railway and streetcar systems overtook those less-sophisticated technologies. By the 1890s, nearly every major US city contained an electric railway or streetcar system. (Chudacoff, 1975) In fact, in 1890, there were about 800 streetcar companies responsible for carrying approximately two billion passengers throughout the US. By 1903, the US had about thirty thousand miles of streetcar tracks, nearly all of them were electrified. (Wells, 2014) Electric streetcars changed the composition of city streets and the composition of cities themselves. (<a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/aad7af18e64ac947fe94024a534e0685.jpg">Figure 3</a>) Due to the increased speed of travel, commuters were able to live farther and farther away from their workplace, and “streetcar suburbs” were born. Chicago, a city where cable cars and electric streetcars were hugely popular in the early 1900s, is a great example for the impact of streetcars on suburban growth. Between 1890 and 1920, 250,000 residential lots were recorded on the borders of its city limits, and another 550,000 in regions just outside those limits. (Chudacoff, 1975) The invention of the electric streetcar proved to be the first major transportation innovation leading to the current suburbia-dominated landscape surrounding urban areas. Streetcars were equally important in Omaha. The Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company (O&CB) dominated the streetcar industry in the region. Omaha was first occupied by omnibus transport, then horse-pulled streetcars. In 1886, the O&CB became incorporated, and secured a monopoly over the region. (Orr, 1996) The O&CB streetcar company was one of the first in the nation to introduce an electric streetcar system. Shortly after incorporation, electric streetcar railways extended throughout the city center and into surrounding neighborhoods. (<a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/20768e22998e209985384fcf6bfeba11.jpg">Figure 4</a>) The last streetcar ride through Omaha took place in 1955, completing the city-wide transformation into buses as the newest public transportation media. (Orr, 1996) The nearly 70-year history of electric streetcar systems in Omaha may be best characterized by controversial and often violent clashes between company and community. Many strikes against streetcar companies were headed by a local civil rights group, known as the De Porres Club, which was led by Mildred Brown and Rev. Markoe S.J. Brown was the co- founder and publisher of the Omaha Star, which is a newspaper predominantly for the African American citizens of Omaha. During her time as a publisher for the Omaha Star, she used her journalistic rights to spread the word of civil rights activism by putting initiatives in her paper that were put on by the De Porres Club. She provided a voice for residents in the North side of Omaha, where the population was an is predominately African American. She explained to her readers that she wanted, “freedom from fear, want, and the right to equal opportunity.” Through her activism she caught the eye of Rev. John Markoe, a Jesuit at Creighton, and six white Creighton University students that founded the De Porres Club on November 3, 1947. The De Porres Club led many strikes and rallies to stop discrimination of African Americans in the Omaha area. From 1909 to 1919, the black population grew 113%, most of whom lived in North Omaha. The De Porres Club held their meetings at the Omaha Star when they ran out of funding to support their own facility.(National Register of Historic Places, 2007) The De Porres Club first meeting in Omaha attracted a total of forty-seven people. Rev. Markoe S.J. was a former West Point graduate recently banished from St. Louis University’s Jesuit community due to civil rights advocacy. Markoe’s goal for the De Porres club was “better racial relations through constructive actions, to banish every form of compulsory segregation and abolish any and all forms of discrimination against individuals because of race, color or creed.” Ultimately, Creighton University, fearful of public backlash, severed any and all ties from the organization. Brown and the De Porres Club took the Omaha community by storm with their civil rights movements. They had many strikes in the Omaha area and a few were with the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company. (National Register of Historic Places, 2007) In 1952, Brown and the De Porres Club challenged the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company’s policy of no black bus drivers. In response, the streetcar management opined in 1952 that, “No white woman would be safe on a street car if there was a black [man] driving.” The Star pushed back forcefully against this discriminatory characterization. It provided upset readers with home address and phone numbers of company officials. Brown used the Star to keep people from using public transportation in Omaha by stating in an article to either pay less (18 pennies) or stay away. This transportation boycott was one of the first of the nationwide civil- rights transportation boycotts, and predated the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott of 1955-1956 by a few years. (Forss, 2011) Nationwide trends were also wrought with negativity. As streetcar popularity increased, so too did city congestion, waiting periods, and public complaints. Indeed, the history of streetcars is one of controversy between business and consumer. In order to maximize patronage and minimize expense, streetcars tended to serve only the locations of the highest densities, resulting in heavily- crowded city centers with ever-frustrating traffic jams. Despite growing public distaste for the perpetual ways of business within the streetcar industry, companies often failed to provide solutions, such as larger, faster, and more comfortable cars, as well as more frequent services. (Wells, 2014) Consumers frequently accused streetcar companies of other activities, including “bribing City Council members, disregarding the public's safety, ignoring the community's needs, abusing their franchise privileges, and profiting at the public's expense.” (Bottles, 1987) In Omaha, major union clashes and strikes against the OC&B took place in 1909, 1918, 1934, and 1935. (Orr, 1997) (<a href="http://www.steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/115f3851f1a0644cd804810aeaef7101.jpg">Figure 4</a>) The violence and unrest in June of 1935 was so overwhelming the city was put into martial law. All of the civil unrest, controversy, and public distaste of streetcar monopolies created a market for a new type of transportation, one for which consumers no longer needed to rely on time-schedules and station locations to commute. Indeed, automobiles liberated millions of Americans from reliance on streetcars; cities were also becoming increasingly decentralized, and many Americans were becoming less dependent on city centers for everyday items and services. These factors led to the stark decline of streetcar popularity beginning in the 1920s through the 50s. (Wells, 2014) As streetcars declined, car markets boomed. With cars came ever-increasing city limits and an accelerated expansion of suburbia. It was during this era that the full environmental implications of urban and suburban expansion came to be realized. While the effects of replacing natural geographical landscapes with concrete and steel can have large effects on global and local environments, the effects of carbon emissions have global environmental implications. The connection between rising CO2 emissions from the onset of the Industrial Revolution and rising global temperatures is well publicized. The exponential growth of CO2 from the nineteenth century into the twentieth century is frequently tied to global warming, as CO2 serves an ever-growing heat trap in our atmosphere, causing an overall warming of the climate. When examining the history of Western CO2 emissions, historians Christophe Bonneuil and Jean- Baptise Fressoz claim, “The suburbanization and motorization of Western societies are certainly the most massive example of a technological and civilizational choice that is profoundly suboptimal and harmful." (Bonneuil and Fressoz, 2015) The pattern of increased suburban sprawl with increased automobile usage correlates strongly with dramatic increases in CO2 emissions in the US during the mid- 1900s into the 1970s. Not only were people driving more, but city surface areas were also increasing. Alain Bertaud and Harry W. Richardson, well noted urban scholars, convincingly point to the relationships between city surface areas and CO2 emissions when comparing Atlanta with Barcelona. (Bertaud and Richardson, 2004) Barcelona, despite having a higher population, has over ten times less transport carbon emissions than Atlanta, a city with a much higher urban area. High density urban environments tend to be more “green” in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Cities in the United States, such as Atlanta, have spread significantly further in surface area (on average), largely due to the early influence of streetcars and modern influence of cars. As population densities spread and people live further away from their work, vehicular emissions skyrocketed. When these trends are applied to an ever-industrializing and urbanizing planet, the consequences become convincing evidence for the Anthropocene origins in the Great Acceleration beginning in the 1950’s as production of automobiles escalated along with the burning of fossil fuels. The problems of urban sprawl do not end at city limits, either. Researchers at California Berkeley conducted a study examining the per-household carbon emissions by county across the entire United States. As evidenced by an <a href="http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps">interactive US map</a>, urban areas of high population density tend to have relatively low per-household carbon emission levels. However, levels quickly grow as distance from the city center increases, with the highest levels of carbon emissions located often in residential suburbs surrounding big cities. While these patterns are prevalent throughout the United States, including Douglas County, Nebraska, which contains Omaha, Eastern metropolises demonstrate the pattern very clearly. (Jones and Kammen, 2014) In other words, suburban development has massive implications in CO2 generation. Transportation accounts for over a quarter of all US greenhouse gas emissions per year, mostly produced by the burning of petroleum (gasoline and diesel). (EPA, 2017) As cities and suburbs continue to grow in population, CO2 emissions become increasingly relevant in addressing climate change. Urban areas tend to be “greener” due to higher levels of mass transportation and shorter commutes to work. People living in cities tend to live closer to their workspace, reducing the need for longer transportation routes and increasing the utility of public transport systems. The history of the streetcar, in Omaha and beyond, is one of civil and environmental struggle. Poor service and racist practices inspired activism from organizations like the De Porres club to demand change. Change came in large part with the automobile, which displaced the streetcar and became the most dominant form of transportation in the US. Today, Omaha is considering the implementation of an expensive streetcar system that would travel through the downtown area. Public officials claim the system will increase the value of developments along its route, and cause economic stimulation. The project is, in large part, designed to incentivize more people to reside in the Omaha City Center. Across the nation, streetcars have been framed by city officials as potential economic boosts, acting as tourist attractions as well as improving property values. Streetcars initially played an active role in expanding city centers outward, and are now being designed to pull people in. In light of Omaha history, city officials should carefully consider the location of streetcar lines to benefit all communities. Also, as cities continue to grow in population density, creating “green” alternatives to unhealthy CO2 emission become more relevant. Perhaps incentivizing people to live downtown can play a significant role in reducing transportation CO2 emissions. However, much more innovation is necessary to reverse the increasing rate of planetary environmental change. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Bertaud, Alain and Richardson, Harry W. “Transit and Density: Atlanta, the United States and Western Europe” in Urban sprawl in Western Europe and the United States. England: Ashgate, 2004. Bonneuil, Christophe and Fressoz, Jean-Baptiste. “Thanatocene: Power and Ecocide," The Shock of the Anthropocene: The Earth, History and Us. Verso, 2015. Bottles, Scott. Los Angeles and the Automobile: The Making of the Modern City. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Chudacoff, Howard. The Evolution of American Urban Society. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice- Hall, 1975. Forss, Amy H. “Mildred Brown and the De Porres Club: Collective Activism in Omaha, Nebraska’s, Near North Side, 1947-1960.” Nebraska State Historical Society, February 18, 2011. http://nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full- text/NH2010DePorres.pdf Jones, Chrisopher and Kammen, Daniel. “Average Annual Household Carbon Footprint by Zip Code” CoolClimate Network, University of California Berkeley. http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps Jones, Christopher and Kammen, Daniel. “Spatial Distribution of U.S. Household Carbon Footprints Reveals Suburbanization Undermines Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Urban Population Density,” Environmental Science and Technology 48, no. 2 (2014). Orr, Richard. O & CB: Streetcars of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Omaha, NE: R. Orr, 1996. “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Environmental Protection Agency, 2017. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions United States Congress. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, 2007. www.nps.gov/nr/publications/sample_nominations/Omaha%20Star.pdf. United States Department of Transportation. “National Household Travel Survey.” Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 1995. https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/subject_areas/national_household_ travel_survey/index.html. Wells, Christopher. Car Country: An Environmental History. Vancouver: University of Washington Press, 2014. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ryan Leuty Mary McClure Civil Activism De Porres Club Emissions Greenhouse Gasses Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company Protest Reverend Markoe S.J. Brown Suburban Development Transportation https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/b4941ff5bde45dd5b6cbb7843fb42459.JPG b49a843759ac182188dcf25bae7f7e48 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ac74a129fb9e69405aa678a8aec8188f.JPG 19b762702ee7f74166e7346439ccb16e 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 3 Description An account of the resource Gas roasted coffee can. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of Trevor Schlecht and Zach Tapia 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=" /> Butter-Nut Coffee Advertisement, Durham Photo Archive 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 Coffee Cans Subject The topic of the resource Omaha businessmen William Paxton and Benjamin Gallagher started gas-roasting coffee in 1887. Their factory stood across the street from the current location of The Durham Museum on 10th and Jones. The pair launched Butter-Nut Coffee in 1916 and employed hundreds of Omahans. Although a local hit for decades, the coffee beans used by the “Butter-Nut” brand were anything but local. The coffee beans grew thousands of miles away. Butter-Nut farmed their beans on plantations in 18 different tropical countries. These plantations used either sun or shade-grown coffee. Sun-grown coffee is grown in the sun, whereas shade grown coffee grows under the canopy of trees. Large businesses, like Butter-Nut, preferred sun-grown coffee, which requires massive deforestation. This led to habitat loss, sometimes putting species at risk for extinction. Declines in tropical ecosystems and species diversity are part of the Anthropocene. Not only does coffee start our day, it changes the places where it is grown. Description An account of the resource Thomas Jefferson called it “the drink of the civilized world,” it has been cultivated since the fifteenth century, and there is a very good chance you started your day with it. It is consumed recreationally, to promote wakefulness and productivity, and often just for the taste. Today, coffee is the most popular beverage in the world, with 400 billion cups consumed annually. (Morris, 2013) Grown in the “Bean Belt-” the area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn - and shipped globally, coffee can be found in our stores, our homes, and in the factories that process beans. It is no surprise why coffee is popular. It’s flavors... the cultural significance… its mild addictiveness… but how it achieved such prominence is a fascinating story that connects the rise of cities with different environments. It is a tale of the Anthropocene. We are surrounded by evidence of that story, whether in the form of coffee cans on our shelves or the immense fields of coffee beans in distant countries. You drink that story with every sip of coffee. The Butter-Nut Coffee can represents Omaha’s place in that story. The commodity chain developed over the last 150 years to bring coffee into our homes and businesses speaks to dramatic changes the coffee industry has had on the global environment. Coffee traveled long and far to end up in the roasters that supplied Butter-Nut Coffee. The bean was first described in writing to be a beneficial crop as early as 1000 CE by Avicenna of Bukhara (in modern-day Uzbekistan), and scholars have found evidence of widespread coffee drinking during the mid-15th century after it found its way to Mecca. From there, coffee traveled along trade routes and became an instant hit wherever it was available. Cafes became popular places to meet in 17th century Europe, and the beans were already being exported to America by 1668. (Luttinger and Dicum, 2006) A crop with such a global popularity does not enter our lives unnoticed. “Only a handful of consumer goods have fueled the passions of the public as much as coffee. [It] has inspired battlefields of economics, human rights, politics, and religion” while becoming a part of our everyday lives thanks to the chemical composition responsible for its habit-forming properties and enjoyable taste. (Luttinger and Dicum, 2006) By the early 18th century, obsession with coffee expanded to the US. Coffee consumption was on par with tea domestically until the 1880s, when an influx of immigrants hoping to have the economic ability to purchase coffee began to settle in the US. (Morris, 2013) It was not a specific taste for coffee that the immigrants sought, but rather, they yearned for the financial agency to obtain coffee - something that could be done in America, as argued by coffee historian Jonathan Morris, PhD. Around this time, various manufacturers of coffee began to notice an uptick in demand of an already popular product and acted accordingly, importing increasing amounts of beans from source countries like Brazil. (Figure 1) Speaking on the early dramatic rise of coffee consumption in America, notable coffee historian Steven Topik describes how “consumption ballooned from under one pound [per capita] at independence to nine pounds in 1882,” leading to the US consuming one-fifth of the world’s coffee at this time. (Topik, 2013) Paxton & Gallagher as suppliers would ultimately create a coffee powerhouse in the Midwest during this popularity surge - and would be the first producer to sell coffee in tin cans, as opposed to loose beans, in the state of Nebraska. (Landale, 1945) The story of coffee in Omaha began long after it was found that coffee beans could be stewed into an energizing elixir. Omaha businessmen William Paxton and Benjamin Gallagher enjoyed success across several industries and rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century thanks to their investments and ties to other prominent capitalist families like the Creightons. (NSHS, 2010) In 1879, the pair established a trading post that enjoyed success along the rail lines they helped to build, and by 1887 they were roasting beans for distribution on 10th and Jones streets in Omaha. (OWH. 1994)(Figure 2) The unique process used gas instead of coal to roast the imported green coffee faster, reducing the detrimental effects of prolonged heat exposure while still achieving the desired characteristics in an effort to preserve the freshness and flavor of the coffee. (OWH, 1915) Paxton & Gallagher used their method as a unique selling point, bragging to audiences about how they spare no expense to produce the best product. “Gas roasting means something,” says an ad in an April 1915 printing of the Omaha-World Herald. “The Omaha Gas Company will tell you that we are the biggest gas consumers in the city. You can use your own judgment, for we certainly would not pay them over $500.00 a month for gas to roast our coffee if we could do it by using coal for $50.00 a month.” (OWH, 1915) This advertisement reveals to us the efforts that Paxton and Gallagher made in creating their product, while also showcasing their immense gas consumption. This braggadocio with respect to energy consumption is a trait of the Anthropocene, as it demonstrates the ideal of producing as much product as possible with little thought to possible impacts. Beans first arrived via railroads and were stored onsite. (OCCJ, 1936) After being fed through pneumatic tubes in 120 pound increments, the beans were dumped into one of several sixty-foot-long roasters. (The Spice Mill, 1911) After twenty minutes of roasting, the roasted and ground blend of coffee was then packaged in two pound red coffee cans vacuum-packed to preserve taste - a new development for coffee in the early 20th century that gave Paxton & Gallagher a marketable advantage. (The Spice Mill, 1911) These cans were emblazoned with “PAXTON GAS ROASTED COFFEE,” much like the first coffee can artifact from The Durham Museum, which can lead one to reasonably conclude that this can was created around 1915. (Figure 3) This can lands a spot in The Durham thanks to the large role that Paxton & Gallagher had in shaping the Omaha economy through their roastery, among other ventures. Their coffee brand would only grow for most of the 20th century. Shortly after the production of this can, Paxton & Gallagher launched the Butter-Nut line of foods, which included coffee. Named after a tree nut, this rebranding was an attempt to describe their sweet-smelling product and launch a successful effort that would increase its reach to other states. The number of employees at the roastery on 10th street grew with increased demand, doubling in size to 150 between 1939 and 1942. (Landale, 1945) Butter-Nut directly impacted the economic scene in Omaha by employing a steady, local workforce. As demand for coffee increased and Butter-Nut’s sales grew, competitors began eyeing the corporation. In 1958 the coffee line was bought by Clark and Gilbert Swanson, and was then acquired by Coca-Cola in 1964 thanks to a stock transition worth $30 million. (Coca-Cola, 1969) It is during this time under Coke that the second coffee can was produced - likely in the late 1960s.(Figure 4) Its design changes reflect ideals of modernization that were driven by the commercial consolidations that produced the can. With company structures changing through acquisitions and time, the can designs were periodically updated to appeal to consumers. In 1989, Butter-Nut was sold to an investor working for Maryland Club Foods, and later that year was finally sold to Procter & Gamble, where a Butter-Nut variant of Folger’s was produced. (United Press International, 1989) The flavor was discontinued and Folger’s was sold to Smucker’s, which accounts for 69% of today’s coffee sales along with the remaining “Big Five” coffee producers. (Morris, 2013) Butter-Nut Coffee distinguished itself from the competing brands of its time through its unique taste and aroma. As its popularity grew exponentially, the Butter-Nut Coffee swiftly established itself as a common household brand and found its way into millions of homes across the Midwest. Butter-Nut faced two primary obstacles that blocked the growing company’s path in maximizing their profit margins, both of which were derived from the biological nature of the coffee bean itself. One limitation is the fact that coffee beans will only grow in tropical climates that exist in certain geographical locations. The collective growing sites of coffee around the world is known as the coffee belt which, “spans the globe along the equator, with cultivation in Central and South America; the Caribbean; Africa; the Middle East; and Asia. Brazil is now the world’s largest coffee-producing country.” (Scott, 2015) (Figure 5) While Butter-Nut could process and distribute its product in North America, they had to import the coffee beans, “from the 18 producing countries in Central America, South America, and Africa.” (OWH, 1959) The second obstacle the company encountered was the unpredictable events affecting coffee yields from Butter-Nut’s eighteen producing countries. The motivation to overcome this challenge is due to the rising demand and the consumer’s expectation of the product’s quality which both had to be met in order to maintain the company’s gain in capital. This is evident in the Seventy Fifth Anniversary Cook Book, produced by the Paxton and Gallagher company in 1939. (Figure 6) When describing the origin of their coffee they state that maintaining adequate amounts of their product, “accurate knowledge of the world’s supply, day by day, month by month in and month out, from season to season, and year to year in spite of crop failures, revolutions, and other unpredictable occurrences.” (Paxton and Gallagher, 1939)They go on to say, “In the Butter-Nut Coffee you drink today there is sure to be coffee grown thousands of miles apart and from all, or almost all, of the eighteen countries that supply us. Next day, or a week from now, still another combination is necessary the distinctive flavor of Butter-Nut Coffee for you.” (Paxton and Gallagher, 1939) This reveals that the climate sensitivity of the coffee bean, the ever-increasing demand, and quality expectations of the consumer for the product forced Butter-Nut to uptake resources from around the globe. The Butter-Nut Coffee commodity chain expanding into these foreign locations exemplifies how the coffee industry have dramatic environmental impacts on a global scale. The methods of cultivations represent the strongest influential factors that contributed to the coffee industry’s environmental effects. These methods vary in the intensity of deforestation which is directly linked to a change in the biodiversity and the release of carbon emissions into the earth’s atmosphere. The most profound differences between cultivation practices are apparent in the system management of the coffee farm landscapes. (Morris, 2013) Coffee farming locations around the globe vary in the how they control production, giving rise to a broad collection of landscapes. The coffee fields that are considered rustic denotes plantations that are completely covered with natural tree species that shroud the coffee plants in shade. Sun grown coffee represents the opposite side of the spectrum where there are little to no trees are present in the area of cultivation. Due to their small size, coffee plants store very little carbon. Plantations consisting of sun grown coffee, where the fields have almost no trees, create an ecosystem in which very low amounts of carbon are being taken out of the atmosphere by vegetation. One possible way to lower coffee’s carbon footprint, “is to store more carbon in the trees on the farm.” (Morris, 2013) Therefore, shade grown coffee’s use of trees on the landscape offers environmental benefits by lowering the global levels of atmospheric carbon. Of the 18 coffee producing countries utilized by Butter-Nut, many were in Central America. In the article, “Paxton and Gallagher Company’s Coffee Train”, Mexico is listed as one of their main coffee producing countries. (Paxton & Gallagher's Company Coffee Train, 1901) Much research has been conducted comparing the shade and sun grown coffee’s influence on biodiversity in Mexico, which can make implications on Butter-Nut’s environmental impacts in the region. In his article Robert Rice comments on the landscapes of shade grown coffee and its effects on biodiversity stating, “It is the managed shade covered, essentially a biodiversity managed by the farmer, that in turn allows promotion and presence of an associated biodiversity.” (Morris, 2013) He goes on to refer to a study conducted in Chiapas, Mexico that compared biodiversity between the two coffee managing systems. The authors of the study concluded that “it is imperative to highlight the ecological function of shade farms, not only in providing refuge for native tree fauna, but also in preserving connectivity and gene flow processes essential for reforestation by native tree species.” (Morris, 2013) Where habitat fragmentation can have inhibitory effects of species population growth, the studies provide evidence that more shade-grown coffee farms can be beneficial to the maintaining of species diversity among the surrounding native forests as well. The evidence for the effects of agroforestry systems and may be helpful in understanding how Butter-Nut coffee influenced its coffee producing regions. There tend to be trends that relate the size of the coffee farms and the management systems they utilize. Rice states that larger farms tend to use sun grown coffee because “less tending of the shade trees means that more time can be spent on tending to the coffee bushes.” (Morris, 2013) According to these trends, Butter-Nut, being a large company and producing massive amounts of coffee to meet the public demand, would have used sun grown coffee. Therefore, it is likely Butter-Nut coffee contributed to the loss of biodiversity, an increase in coffee’s carbon footprint, and habitat fragmentation. Clearly, analysis of Omaha’s Butter-Nut Coffee commodity chain reveals the coffee industry’s dramatic effects on the global environment, which are proportional to the historical changes in consumption and production of the product. Coffee drinkers and, in the case of Butter-Nut, Omahans specifically, have been participating in an intricate process that has gained complexity over time. The story of commodification and consumption requires players that desire a product. Our examination of the process in which Butter-Nut acquired beans, imported them, and processed the final product shows how cities can have far-reaching effects on the global environment by requiring resources from increasingly further places. Coffee is a clear example of how high demand for a product changes the environment where it is produced, while creating a complex and competitive market for the final product. This is demonstrated by coffee growing fields in the tropics, and brands like Paxton & Gallagher’s line of Butter-Nut Coffee. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Baker, Peter S. “Coffee as a Global System.” Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry, (2013) 26-29 "Butter Nut Coffee Roasted Far From Growing Fields." Omaha Chamber of Commerce Journal, May 1936, 4-5. Coca-Cola Company Foods Division. "The Coffee Processing Story at the Butter Nut Coffee Plant." News release, Houston, TX, May 1969. The Coca-Cola Company. "Coffee-Roasting Equipment of Paxton & Gallagher." The Spice Mill, Vol. 34 No. 1, January 1911, 359. "Ex-Butter-Nut Workers Brew Omaha Reunion." Omaha World-Herald , October 8 , 1994. Landale, Ted . "Coffee Business Cures Its Own Wartime Headache ." Omaha World-Herald , January 21 , 1945. Landale, Ted . "Oldest or Youngest ." Omaha World-Herald , March 1 , 1959. Luttinger, Nina, and Gregory Dicum. The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry from crop to the last drop. New York: New Press, 2006. "Maryland Club Foods completes coffee acquisition." United Press International, February 1, 1989. Michon, Scott. "Climate and Coffee." Climate.gov. June 19, 2015. Accessed November 7, 2017. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-coffee. Morris, Jonathan. “Coffee, a Condensed History”. Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry. Maryland: Rowman and Littleton, 2013. 215-224. "Notable Nebraskans." Nebraska State Historical Society. June 3, 2010. "Paxton & Gallagher's Company Coffee Train." September 1 , 1901. Paxton and Gallagher Co. Seventy Fifth Anniversary Cook Book. Paxton and Gallagher, 1939 Rice, Robert. “Shade Coffee Farms and Biodiversity.” Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry, (2013) 42-49 "To Our Dealers ." Omaha World-Herald , April 24 , 1915. Topik, Steven. “Why Americans Drink Coffee”. Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry. Maryland: Rowman and Littleton, 2013. 234-244. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Trevor Schlecht Zach Tapia Bean Belt Benjamin Gallagher Biodiversity Loss Butter-Nut Coffee Commodity Chain Creighton Deforestation Paxton & Gallagher https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/dd9b5d6616913c206ecb315d3495c270.jpg 8ed938d4146ef8caa31f241ac18cde1d 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 Description An account of the resource A section of the Original Iron Wire of the First Transcontinental Telegraph Line. Presented to Creighton University by Western Union in 1961 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Creighton University Archives and Special Collections https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/ebb6baea42c85643009997c95d797b84.jpg 0b8ee159ded86b1d55fa253d33b4e661 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: the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies' cable system Subject The topic of the resource Color map, mounted on linen, on sheet 46 x 99 cm. folded into red cardboard cover 17x12., with title: "Via Eastern" Head Office, Electra House London. Includes insets: northwest Europe, Aegean area and East Indies and table of main line cables and land lines. Cable system shown in red lines and extension of telegraph system shown in red dots. Gift of Dorothy A. Young. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eastern Associated Telegraph Companies Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived David Rumsey Historical Map Collection https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~272463~90046267:Via-Eastern---the-Eastern-and-Assoc# Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Waterlow & Sons Limited Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1922 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource DavidRumsey.com 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 & Co.,Engravers and Printers, Chicago. (1890) David Rumsey.com </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 Transcontinental Telegraph Wire Subject The topic of the resource In 1961, Western Union gifted this part of the transcontinental telegraph line to Creighton University to commemorate the Creightons' contributions the city of Omaha. Invented in 1836 during the second industrial revolution, the telegraph changed communication forever. Telegraphs are messages sent over wires by electricity. The transcontinental telegraph united the country from coast to coast, and eventually, telegraph lines crossed oceans. Every new telegraph cable built connected businesses to new markets and helped change the landscape it passed through. Plains became feeding areas; green woods turned to timber yards; and mountain sides gave way to coal mines. These changes depended upon rapid, effective communication provided by the telegraph. (Western Union Telegraph Company sent Edward Creighton to survey the Omaha area and determine the best route of installation. His wealth and business experience helped grow and shape the city, and allowed his wife Lucretia to fund Creighton University.) The transcontinental telegraph showed the growth and enhancement of global telecommunications. This includes communication by means of cable, telegraph, telephone, or broadcasting. Expansion of telegraph networks mirrors today expansion of communication networks. Edward Creighton was brought to Omaha by the telegraph, which allowed him to earn his fortune. His wife Lucretia later used a portion of his earnings to fund Creighton University. Description An account of the resource Before the telegraph, communicating across distances meant waiting for letters delivered by horses, boats, and trains, that often took days or weeks to reach their destination. Today, we cannot imagine life without instant communication. The invention of the telegraph in 1836 during the second industrial revolution allowed immediate transmission of messages, and suddenly business transactions could be made from across the country, increasing trade, globalization, and the accumulation of capital - all of which had dramatic environmental consequences. These connections in Omaha were directly linked to changes in telecommunication developing on a global scale - a telegraph could be sent from anywhere in the country and make its way across the globe in minutes. When considering the growth of Omaha, the telegraph and its implication for the area cannot be left out - with a direct connection to Edward Creighton and Omaha, the telegraph’s impact is undeniable. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/14" title="Telegraph Wire">Figure 1</a>) On a larger level, the telegraph not only connected the United States from coast to coast, but also to the rest of the globe. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/102" title="Via Eastern : the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies' cable system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figure 2</a>) The telegraph played an important role in the telecommunication revolution of the second industrial revolution and the mass globalization that stemmed from it, and continues to be relevant in the discussion of globalization’s effect on the environment. Globalization has resulted in an increased demand for goods and competition, ultimately leading to exploitation of the environment’s natural resources. The telegraph, then, and it’s connection to the Anthropocene, is beyond doubt. For the invention of the telegraph, Samuel F. B. Morse is to thank. Morse’s initial telegraph was crudely composed of parts from his painting studio. The first part of the apparatus recorded messages. Made of old canvas stretchers nailed against the side of a table, with a bar attached to an electromagnet hung across the middle of the frame. A lever stretched from the top of the frame, holding a magnet, its base holding a pencil onto a roll of paper. The second part of the apparatus transmitted messages, and consisted of a long horizontal rod with a saw-toothed type arranged in a deep slot at the top. The type was arranged in a way that opened and closed an electrical circuit according to a code pattern received as dots and lines as the pencil moved up and down, marking the moving paper. (Thompson, 1947) Galvanic batteries with 10-30 cylinders were used to power the telegraph after its installation. The cylinders were zinc with a thin plating of copper or platina, and placed in a glass vessel containing weak sulfuric acid. Operators placed a porous earthenware jar placed inside the zinc cylinder, containing a platina plate and weak nitric acid. To create a circuit copper wire was attached to the end of a platina plate to the zinc cylinder, and on the final cylinder from the platina to a metallic key on a pivot used by the operator. Pressing this key lifts the opposite end breaking the circuit, causing the pencil on the receiving apparatus to lower and transcribe the message. (Scientific American, 1851) Cables carrying messages were made of seven copper wires tinned over, and sheathed with natural latex or felted tape, and encased in india rubber. (Scientific American, 1871) Morse was motivated to improve communication after missing his wife’s funeral due to slow communication methods. To keep his mind off grief, Morse attended a series of lectures by James Freeman Dana. Morse’ and interest in electricity led Dana to stop by Morse’ studio often, where they would further discuss the applications of electricity. The idea of the telegraph was born on Morse’s return from Europe in 1832, during a discussion about electromagnetism. Morse saw no reason why electricity could not serve as a medium across which, “intelligence might not be instantaneously transmitted by electricity to any distance.” Morse completed his first telegraph apparatus and numerical code to represent the alphabet in 1836. (Thompson, 1947) Professor Leonard D. Gale of New York University helped improve the battery and electromagnet, increasing transmission from 40ft to 10 miles of wire arrange around Gale’s lecture room. (Thompson, 1947) Alfred Vail, graduate student and owner of an iron and brass works in New Jersey, heard of Morse’ invention and agreed to pay for the construction of telegraph instruments for a demonstration before a Congressional committee in January 1838. (Thompson, 1947) Morse took on Gale and Vail as partners. After successful exhibitions in the US and Europe, the American Senate signed the Telegraph Bill on March 3, 1843. The bill provided $30,000 (worth $918,183 today) for constructing an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. Representative Cave Johnson of Tennessee felt Congress was doing much to encourage science, and he, “did not wish to see the science of mesmerism overlooked.” The majority of members agreed that allowing further experiments would be beneficial. (Thompson, 1947) This was the first step in the process of building the first transcontinental telegraph line. The ambition of this project was to connect the east and west coasts. Without Morse’ invention and persistence Omaha would not be the city it is today. When the installation reached Omaha, it was a small city just starting out. Western Union Telegraph Company sent Edward Creighton to survey to surrounding area and determine the best route of installation. His wealth and experience helped grow and shape the city. To commemorate the Creighton family’s contributions, the city of Omaha presented this piece of telegraph wire to Creighton University in 1961. At the age of fourteen Creighton began his entrepreneurial career as a cart boy delivering goods. When he was eighteen years old, his father gave him a wagon and team of horses, which he used to haul freight long distance within his home state of Ohio. He later expanded his business to building roads, grading city streets, and preparing roadbeds for railroad tracks. This experience made him ideal for working on the transcontinental telegraph. Through hard work Creighton earned the respect of his peers, and overcame the stereotypes of being Irish and Catholic. After seeing two Irish-Americans installing a line, Creighton shifted his business focus and began supplying and transporting lumber for the poles. He later secured contracts for grading the land, and within a year was supervising construction of multiple lines. (Mihelich, 2006) Creighton began working for the Western Union Telegraph Company and was chosen to survey the western plains for the proposed transcontinental line and provide it with supplies. (Mihelich, 2006; Zornow, 1950) Creighton and his younger brother John moved to Omaha, Nebraska in 1856 to sell their equipment, and head to the new town of Omaha, Nebraska to restart his businesses. The Panic of 1857 and the Civil War stalled his plans to install telegraph lines to the west coast and caused the economy to plunge, however, Edward still made money by becoming a creditor. (Mihelich, 2006) When the telegraph reached California on October 23, 1861 Edward returned to Omaha and became the general superintendent of the Pacific Telegraph Company. Using the nineteenth century business device of watered stock and artificially inflating the value, Edward and other directors profited more than they should have. Spending only $147,000 of the $400,000 subsidy they received to build a line, then issuing $1 million in stock which directors paid significantly less for. In 1864 Western Union absorbed Pacific Telegraph, and despite the initially inflated value, the actual value of stock rose. Edward sold one third of his stock for 8x the price he paid, receiving $85,000 (approximately $1.3 million today). (Michelich, 2006; Inflation Calculator) Mounting capital allowed Edward to create a freighting company, which took goods from Omaha to Salt Lake City to trade with the Mormon community there, then to the goldfields of Montana. Before the Platte River Bridge Company he started could take off, Union Pacific laid 305 miles of track west of Omaha. Changing his business, Edward began to transport goods between gaps in the railroad. Herds of draft animals did the grunt work for this business requiring arrangement of grazing rights until the Homestead Act of 1862. Large amounts of pasture west of the Missouri River became available, allowing Edward to claim thousands of acres so his herds to eat for free. Grazing extra animals to sell further increased profits. (Mihelich, 2006) Edward Creighton played an active role in all his businesses until November 3, 1874 when he collapsed in his office. Never regaining consciousness, he died two days later. Without a will, his wife Lucretia and brother John inventoried and administered her husband’s estate. Lucretia became ill and died in 1876, leaving in her will $100,000 for the founding of a, “Creighton College as a testimony to her late husband's virtues and her affection to his memory.” She did this for Edward because he wanted to found an institute of higher learning, but never got the chance. (Mihelich, 2006) Throughout the duration of man’s time on earth, communication has continued to evolve. The invention of the telegraph initiated a shift from communication by means of letters that took days to weeks to be delivered to messages that could be delivered and received in a matter of seconds or minutes. The telegraph kickstarted the telecommunications revolution of the Second Industrial Revolution and from it stemmed a rapid advance in new forms of technology that allowed for faster and easier communication, which of course, meant increased connectedness felt around the globe. The second industrial revolution, also referred to as the “Technological Revolution” is the time period during which the telegraph was brought to life. Beginning in 1870, the second industrial revolution was a time of great economic and industrial growth in America after the Civil War that gave way to numerous advances in different technologies, including the telegraph and railroad. Prior to the transatlantic cable connecting London and New York, it took three weeks for letters to travel across the ocean. Throughout Europe, the telegraph was also revolutionizing communication, with major cities serving as points of communication: “London was a major international communications node, as were Paris and Berlin. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly so too were Vienna and Budapest.” (EH.net) Investors often chose to do business within local markets at a known price instead of using information from a foreign market that was already a month old. The transatlantic cable cut down communication time to one day. Transaction prices were still accurate upon receipt and orders from foreign markets were able to be put in faster. Foreign transactions added came shipping costs, so cheaper goods did not always mean lower total costs. (Esty and Ivanova, 2003) To summarize the effects of the telegraph on a global scale: “By 1900, communication times converged and no longer reflected geography, presumably suggesting that globalization was entering a new phase.” (EH.net) History has shown that globalization often comes at a cost to the environment. Globalization has led to an increased consumption of products and competition within various industries. Lower environmental standards are a consequence of increased competition, as countries competing for global trade opportunities face pressure to lower prices, which often time results in detrimental exploitation of the environment. A higher demand to export products means more of a reason to push natural resources to their limit if it maximizes production. (Esty and Ivanova, 2003) An increased demand for goods to be imported and exported around the world has requires transportation. Food is an obvious example: “Globalization has also led to an increase in the transportation of raw materials and food from one place to another. Earlier, people used to consume locally-grown food, but with globalization, people consume products that have been developed in foreign countries." (Esty and Ivanova, 2003) Such a high demand for goods to be transported around the globe puts a strain on non-renewable energy sources, and the environment ultimately suffers. “The gases that are emitted from the aircraft have led to the depletion of the ozone layer apart from increasing the greenhouse effect. The industrial waste that is generated as a result of production has been laden on ships and dumped in oceans.” Overall, “production, transportation and use of consumer goods results in more waste, pollution and fuel use.” (McAusland, 2008) Apart from the effect of the telegraph on the manner in which individual businesses operated, capitalism itself owes much to the telegraph wire, for without the means to communicate on a transcontinental level, the huge web of business practices that we know to exist today as capitalism would not be so. Referred to as the “‘great item with commercial men,’” the ability to send seemingly instant messages by means of the telegraph greatly influenced the “acquisition, exchange, and circulation of specialized economic information by major-center businessmen.” (Pred, 1980) Bankers, manufacturers and other businesses used the telegraph to finalize buying or selling arrangements, and the Stock Market relied on the instant communication made possible by the telegraph to follow conditions of supply and demand. The telegraph meant that trade could occur more efficiently on a larger scale, impacting the level of speed at which negotiations could be made: “the telegraph not only affected when and where business opportunities were exploited, but, since they were performed in minutes and hours rather than days and weeks, they affected the pace at which capital could circulate, turn over, and accumulate.” (Pred, 1980) The telegraph changed the nature of business interactions in the nineteenth century, but that power was controlled by a relatively limited number of corporations. Initially, a number of telegraph companies obstructed the telecommunications infrastructure and controlled (and profited) from its operation. This gave way to the telegraph monopoly of the Western Union during the last half of the 19th century. Western Union absorbed numerous smaller companies, as shown in the illustration on the right, and rose “in two short decades to become the largest and most powerful corporation in the United States.” (Nonnenmacher, 2001) In the case of Western Union, more wire miles meant more capital - the connection between the telegraph and capitalism is undeniable. (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/103" title="Capitalization">Figure 3</a>) Due to its large contribution to the acceleration of capitalism and globalization, the telegraph wire earns its place within the Anthropocene, even if its own impact as a material object on the environment is in some ways indirect. The telegraph is a representation of capitalism, and capitalism has been seen to have negative impacts on the Earth System. While the telegraph wire is no longer in use - the last message was transmitted in 2006 - modern day communication methods have the telegraph to thank for their existence today. (Thompson, 1947) The telegraph was the first form of instant messaging, a concept that is an integral part of everyday life. The implications of the wire’s impact on capitalism and globalization are still felt today, as the connection of the world and efficiency of the business world relies on rapid communication on a global level. The telegraph wire, due to its contributions to globalization growth of capitalism is a representation of human impact on the Earth System. Globalization has contributed to an increase in consumerism, which has resulted in negative effects on the environment such as exploitation of resources from the environment and due to a demand for products and transportation. The way businesses conduct trade was changed by the telegraph, as was the way humans communicate in general. The segment of the transcontinental telegraph line mounted on a plaque house at Creighton University is a clear representation of humankind’s impact on the earth, and for that reason, the telegraph earns itself a place in the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kassidy Smith Lindzey Sánchez Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Blondheim, Menahem. "Rehearsal for Media Regulation: Congress Versus the Telegraph-News Monopoly, 1866-1900." Federal Communications Law Journal 56, no. 2 (March 2004): 299-328. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 7, 2017). Brown, Charles H. First Telegraph Line across the Continent. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society, 2011. Esty, Daniel C. & Ivanova, Maria H. “Global Environmental Governance: the Post-Johannesburg Agenda” October 2003. FinanceRef Inflation Calculator, Alioth Education. “$85,000 in 1864 → 2017 | Inflation Calculator.”, 15 Dec. 2017, http://www.in2013dollars.com/1864-dollars-in-2017?amount=85000. Garbade, K., & Silber, W. (1978). Technology, Communication and the Performance of Financial Markets: 1840-1975. The Journal of Finance, 33(3), 819-832. Lew, Byron. Connecting the Nineteenth-Century World: The Telegraph and Globalization. https://eh.net/book_reviews/5252/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2017. "Manufacture of Telegraph Cables." Scientific American 25, no. 11 (1871): 165. McAusland, Carol. “Global Forum on Transport and Environment in a Globalising World; Globalisation’s Direct and Indirect Effect on the Environment.” November 2008. Mihelich, Dennis N. The History of Creighton University 1878-2003. Omaha, NE: Creighton University Press, 2006. Moore, Jason W. “The Capitalocene, Part I: On the Nature and Origins of Our Ecological Crisis.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 44, no. 3 (May 4, 2017): 594–630. NBC News. “STOP-Telegram Era over, Western Union Says.” Associated Press. February 2, 2006. Nonnenmacher, Tomas. “History of the U.S. Telegraph Industry.” Edited by Robert Whaples. Economic History Encyclopedia. EH.Net Encyclopedia: Economic History Association, August 14, 2001. https://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-the-u-s-telegraph-industry/. Pred, Allan. Urban Growth and City-Systems in the United States, 1840-1860. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980. Prescott, George B. History, Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph. Boston, Ticknot and Fields, 1860. Rumsey, David. “MEDIA INFORMATION.” The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies' Cable System, Eastern Associated Telegraph Companies, 1922. Sandweiss, Martha A. “John Gast, American Progress, 1872.” Picturing United States History. Accessed October 8, 2017. "THE AMERICAN ELECTRO MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH." Scientific American 6, no. 27 (1851): 211. Thompson, Robert L. Wiring a Continent. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1947. Zornow, William Frank. "Jeptha H. Wade in California: Beginning the Transcontinental Telegraph." California Historical Society Quarterly 29, no. 4 (1950): 345-56. Commodification Communication Edward Creighton Globalization Second Industrial Revolution Telegraph https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/7251bc5e03c628b4611f06d03fce68aa.jpg 382e89ffa87569490b7f6b9d0eb7feee 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 in the Anthropocene Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A Collaborative Global Environmental History Exhibit https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d6764bf36c8a796ded8acbfaca0e3526.JPG 0cc7856a7987afb2059240f05d5de5f3 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 Scout the Bison Description An account of the resource Scout, the North American Bison on exhibit at the Durham museum in Omaha, NE. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Courtesy of Chelsey Dizon and Kevin Vincent https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/4bd4d45183e12b08efbae31ec8bb0369.jpg 79ba8319364992dac06e370d71987141 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 Description An account of the resource Scout, the North American Bison on exhibit at the Durham museum in Omaha, NE. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Photo by Chelsey Dizon and Kevin Vincent 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 <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4740/38752446300_776a102fdd_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> 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 Bison Subject The topic of the resource This is Scout, a symbol of the fall and rise of the American Bison. Before westward expansion in the 1800s, between 30-60 million bison roamed the Great Plains. They played an important role in the ecosystems. For example, bison ‘wallowed’ or rolled in the dirt to get rid of insects and to cool off. At the same time, this behavior created depressions that encouraged new plant growth. Bison are central to Native American cultures on the Great Plains. They used bison for food, shelter, clothing, and ceremonies. When European settlers moved west, bison became commodities and hunts grew in size. By 1889, less than 2,000 bison remained. But, recent conservation efforts are increasing their numbers. Nebraska is the second highest producer of bison in the U.S. Although bison will never return to the prominence they once held in the Midwest, their recovery story, which Nebraska is a part of, inspires hope for their future. Description An account of the resource Visitors of the Durham Museum begin their journey through history with Scout. Scout is a North American Bison who has been a part of the Durham collection since 2006 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/33" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). Scout’s story is complicated. On the one hand, he represents bisons' past dominance of the prairies and their erased ecological system. Scout reminds us of the slaughter and near extinction of his species brought about by humans. On the other hand, Scout represents the Bison bison’s slow, but persistent recovery. Both stories are part of the Anthropocene narrative. Human activity, specifically Euroamerican settlement, were the main destructive force behind bisons' near extinction. Slaughtered in the millions for their hides, horns, and meat during the nineteenth century, the rapaciousness of western expansion was certainly culpable for their decline. However, people have also played a major role in bisons' recovery, an often untold but necessary narrative that inspires hope for the future of bison. The bison is an important artifact in Omaha’s environmental history because they were once the dominant keystone species of the grasslands, but now have been reduced to peripheral importance. It links Omaha’s environmental history to the global history of the Anthropocene by epitomizing human power over nature. Bison once dominated the Great Plains. According to Colonel Richard I. Dodge, the commander of Fort Dodge, KS in 1851, there were "60 million bison in primitive North America” (D. Lott, 2003). Twenty years after the Civil War, bison population was below two thousand. The dramatic decline of the keystone species had cascading influences across the Plains ecosystems. For example, bison urine, wallowing, and carcasses all uniquely contributed to the ecological health of the Great Plains. According to Flannery, a professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia and the director of the South Australian Museum, "the key to the bison's role in the prairie ecosystem lay in the fact that the great grasslands were piss-driven" (T. Flannery, 2001). Bison urine is essentially "a bath of nitrogen dissolved in water," which means that the urine leaves behind a high concentration of ammonium and nitrate in the soils (D. Lott, 2003). Wallowing, or rolling on the ground, relieved bison of insects and heat. More importantly, this created “compacted bowls of soil that hold rainwater, creating a microenvironment in which seeds can sprout” (D. Lott, 2003). Essentially, bison urine and wallowing laid groundwork for healthy plant growth and diversity. Last, bison carcasses played a key role in the ecology of the Great Plains. Not only are carcasses a food source for other animals, but they release fluids that eventually create “zones of high fertility" (A. Knapp, et. al. 1999). These characteristics exemplify the codependence between the bison and the prairie. The Native Americans were the first humans to interact with the bison. Soon, the tribes of the Great Plains became dependent on bison for hunting. Initially, Native Americans tactics involved disguises that allowed them to hunt with greater accuracy (V. Geist, 1996). However, the introduction of the horse in the 1600s made game driving the gold standard (V. Geist, 1996). Although bison hunting has been part of North American history for centuries, its height was during Euroamerican westward expansion in the 1800s. This expansion propelled the destruction of bison in numerous ways. First, natural catastrophes and Pre-Euroamerican activity impacted bison populations. From drowning when fording a river to the harsh winter weather of the plains, bison faced life-threatening situations constantly. As McHugh, a biologist and zoologist with a background in wildlife management, states, “the ravages of nature were taking a recurrent, at times disastrous, toll of the herds” (T. McHugh, 2004). For example, in 1867 “a herd of four thousand bison attempting to ford the Platte River in Nebraska walked into channels of loose quicksand" (T. McHugh, 2004). As the lead bison were slipping into the sand the remaining herd kept moving, causing the death of two thousand bison. Devastation surged with the increased influence of humans on the herds. For example, “[Paleoindians] would drive a bison herd into a gully, a canyon, or some other natural trap having inescapable sides” (H. P. Danz, 1997). This game driving (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/34" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>), allowed hunters to easily kill large amounts of bison. Particularly, when bison were driven off cliffs and maimed, hunters could finish them off without using ammunition.  Lewis and Clark, two famous westward explorers of the 1800s, described this phenomenon in their journals when they observed a young Indian man deceiving bison herds by disguising himself: the skin of the head with the ears and horns fastened on his own head in such a way as to deceive the buffalo … the disguised Indian leads them on at full speed towards the river, when suddenly securing himself in some crevice of the cliff (H. P. Danz, 1997). This manipulation of animals and nature demonstrates the impacts humans had on bison populations during the period. Although Pre-Euroamerican impacts and nature decreased bison populations, it was the industrial revolution that put them in grave danger. The industrial revolution was an important precondition for the decline of bison herds. The introduction of the railroad through the Midwest provided quick and easy transport of people and material. This made the plains more accessible for Euroamericans, and with the romanticizing of bison hunting by many Europeans, much more popular. This idealistic view of wild animals paired with increased access and easy transportation propelled the destruction forward. With the introduction of railways and westward expansion, bison habitat shrank dramatically. With the landscape disappearing, bison herd bunched. This "resulted in harmful competition" especially during times of drought, food shortages, and heavy snow (H. P. Danz, 1997). Furthermore, crowded herds furnished an "easy route for the spread of parasites and disease" such as anthrax and tuberculosis (H. P. Danz, 1997). Prevalent disease paired with other human influences created excellent conditions for hunting, but, by the end of the nineteenth century, led to the near extinction of the North American bison. Slaughtering bison was as much a political act as it was economic and environmental. Euroamerican conflicts with Native Americans prompted the American government to actively hunt and kill bison. Great Plain tribes such as the Sioux, Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Arikara, Pawnee, Wichita, Kiowa, and Comanche depended on the bison for their very existence. The bison served many purposes for them. Although primarily used for food, bison also provided hide for housing, clothing, and bedding; bones, organs, and feces were used as fuel and markers (H. P. Danz, 1997). Native Americans placed religious importance and mystical symbolism on bison, especially white bison. Occasionally, an albino or light cream-colored bison would materialize in a herd “an event that nearly always resulted in the eventual killing, or sacrifice, of the animal, followed by ritualistic and religious ceremonies” (H. P. Danz, 1997). Knowing that these tribes revered and depended on bison, the American government targeted bison as a way to undermine Native American culture and reduce their populations. In 1873, for instance, President Grant's Secretary of the Interior, Columbus Delano wrote, "'I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western prairies, in its effect upon the Indians' … the destruction of the herds would have a beneficial effect in reducing Indian resistance"(S. M. Taylor, 2011). Although no official statement from the Army states they intentionally targeted bison, it was clear through their eagerness to break Indian resistance. Railroads, from a tactical perspective, also played a large role in their late nineteenth century decline. When it was discovered that the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads interfered with bison territory, military commanders increased their pressure on bison herds. This strategy cleared the path for railroads and undermined Native American societies in the area. In the words of Army General Philip Sheridan, "I think it would be wise to invite all the sportsmen of England and America this fall for a Grand Buffalo hunt" (D. D. Smits, 1994). Military commanders also deliberately permitted their troops to kill bison in order to decimate the Native American frontier. After all, the bison and the Plains tribes were inseparable and the bison were an easier target. The destruction of the bison was a political and economic act that fundamentally reshaped the human ecology of the Great Plains.  Even though human involvement and natural catastrophes devastated bison herds throughout the United States, the force driving the slaughter of bison was capitalism. Because the supply of bison was so plentiful and the railroads made shipping quicker, companies, such as the American Fur Company, could "sell the [bison fur] robes at a moderate price and still reap profit" (Isenberg, 2000). This, however, put "heavy pressure on the herds" themselves (Isenberg, 2000). Ultimately, profits depended less on the price of the robes than "on the sheer volume shipped east" (Isenberg, 2000). According to environmental historian Andrew Isenberg, the Native Americans participated in the bison robe trade. Native Americans also participated in the beaver fur trade that spanned between the late 1600s to the early 1800s. Similar to the bison trade, the Euroamericans prized beaver fur and Native American tribes hunted beaver for food. However, other game, such as muskrat, mink, otter, and lynx were available in the case of beaver shortages (A. J. Ray, 2017). The difference between the bison fur trade and the beaver fur trade was that the nomadic lifestyle of the bison was mirrored by the Native Americans on the Great Plains. Thus, even though Native American tribes participated in the beaver trade, the tribes on the Great Plains experienced greater difficulties when they transformed their main source of livelihood, the bison, into capital. From the Euroamerican perspective, Native American involvement benefited the American Fur Company so much that by 1835, “an average of over 130,000” bison robes were shipped per year (Isenberg, 2000). This, in conjunction with the fixed low robe prices, made profits dependent on the volume of bison robes rather than on their prices. These industrial pressures caused the western plains to become “a remote extension of the global industrial economy and an object of its demand for natural resources" (Isenberg, 2000). This exploitation nearly brought the North American bison to extinction, all the while fueling the United States’ global economy.  The story of the downfall of the bison is a sad one. By 1889, there were only “1,089 bison left in North America” (H. R. Harris, 1920). The diagram pictured above (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/36" title="Figure 3" target="_self">Figure 3</a>) shows the decline of bison herds after Euroamerican expansion in1889. However, a more recent history, of which Scout is a part of, is hopeful. Today, “approximately 500,000 bison live across North America” (Defenders.org, “Basic Facts About Bison"). Populations persisted in Canada and, surprisingly, on Catalina Island. 23 bison were brought to this foreign island to film a movie, but ended up staying when 22 new bison were imported to Catalina Island between 1969 and 1971 to mix with the island herd and maintain population health (R. A. Sweitzer, et. al. 2005). Again, bison were saved from near extinction “in the late 1800s by 5 private herds established by ranchers and by a sixth herd at the New York Zoological Park”, meaning that the present-day plains bison population is “descended from less than 100 founders” (P. W. Hedrick, 2009). Because the number of bison remaining on the continent was so limited, conservation promoted hybridization between bison and cattle. Breeding bison with cattle resulted in a changed population, however. A scientific study demonstrated that in both a nutritionally poor environment (Santa Catalina Island, California) and a nutritionally rich environment (Montana), bison with cattle mtDNA had lower body weights and were shorter than their counterparts with bison mtDNA (J. N. Derr, et. al. 2012). Although this decreases the bison's overall fitness due to the smaller stature, it keeps alive some degree of bison. Some critics complain that this does not stay true to conserving organic bison, but this is a critical step in the right direction for the conservation of bison in modern times.  These early successes prompted a wave of recent efforts to sustainably increase bison populations and reintroduce them to the American Midwest. In the late 1900s, organizations such as the National Bison Association and the Canadian Bison Association worked with individuals to promote raising bison in every state and nearly every province, especially those with plains (D. E. Popper and F. J. Popper, 2006). Wealthy entrepreneurs and conservations have even gone so far as to promote the recovery of large regions of the plains as a bison ecosystem, a movement known as Buffalo Commons. This movement has “coincided with numbers of important shifts: from a paradigm of mastery of nature to one of cooperation based on ecology… As one result… prairie dogs were saved from extermination in Lubbock, Texas, because of their identified role in the ecosystem” (D. E. Popper and F. J. Popper, 2006). These efforts are part of a global movement to “rewild” anthropogenic landscapes, breed endangered or even extinct animals.  Today, bison have reemerged as an economically significant source of food. A Nebraskan farmer, Dave Hutchinson, was recognized in September 2017 in the Omaha World Herald for promoting organic bison, "raised and finished on grass" (S. B. Hansen, 2017). His land “has been certified organic since 1980 and his animals since 1990” (S. B. Hansen, 2017). This is particularly notable for Nebraska because according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2012 Census of Agriculture, there's "about 23,000 bison in Nebraska and 88 operations raising the animals, making Nebraska the second highest producer, behind South Dakota" (S. B. Hansen, 2017). Certainly, the attitude towards bison is shifting towards an approach that encourages natural bison growth, in Nebraska, nationally, and internationally. Hutchinson’s farm attracts local, domestic, and foreign visitors that are intrigued by his dedication to organic farming and conservation. Hutchinson demonstrates how humans can positively employ their power to help conserve nature.  Nebraskans continue to be a leading force in bison conservation. Across the U.S., the bison is now considered the national mammal (World-Herald Editorial, 2016). Nebraskans recognize the bison’s impact on Great Plains ecology and Native American culture. U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, a sponsor of the National Bison Legacy Act, says, “bison have a storied history in Nebraska and are an important part of our nation’s frontier heritage… By naming bison as our national mammal, we are supporting the ongoing preservation of this majestic species and their essential tie to the American experience” (World-Herald Editorial, 2016). This admiration for the North American bison inspires a spirit of activism towards the bison that once roamed the Great Plains.  Bison will never reassume the prominence they once held in Midwest ecologies and human societies. From that perspective, a twenty first century bison like Scout serves as a culturally resonant reminder of past mistakes. The massive decline in the bison population demonstrates our selfish, greedy nature that drives us to push nature and its creatures to its limits. However, the bison recovery represents a different perspective on the Anthropocene. It shows that with conscious effort, humans also have the capability to create new relationships with nature. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chelsey Dizon Kevin Vincent Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived “Basic Facts About Bison.” Defender.org. https://defenders.org/bison/basic-facts (26 November 2017). Danz, Harold P. Of Bison and Man: From the Annals of a Bison Yesterday to a Refreshing Outcome from Human Involvement with America's Most Valiant of Beasts. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1997. Derr, James N., Philip W. Hedrick, Natalie D. Halbert, Louis Plough, Lauren K. Dobson, Julie King, Calvin Duncan, David L. Hunter, Noah D. Cohen, and Dennis Hedgecock. "Phenotypic Effects of Cattle Mitochondrial DNA in American Bison." Conservation Biology 26, no. 6 (2012): 1130-136. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01905.x. Flannery, Tim F. The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples. London: Penguin, 2001. Geist, Valerius. Buffalo nation: history and legend of the North American bison. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, 1996. Hansen, Sarah Baker. "Nebraska Man Raises Organic Bison." Omaha World-Herald, September 17, 2017. Accessed November 7, 2017. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska/articles/2017-09-17/nebraska-man-raises-organic-bison. Harris, H. R. ""John Full of Pep," Only Surviving Paleface to Hunt Buffaloes with Pawnees, Recalls Days when Hoof Beats Resembled Thunder on Plains." The Omaha Sunday Bee, August 29, 1920. Accessed December 10, 2017. Hedrick, Philip W. “Conservation Genetics and North American Bison.” Journal of Heredity 100, no. 4 (July 2009): 411-420. doi:10.1093/jhered/esp024 Isenberg. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 (Studies in Environment and History). Cambridge University Press, 2000. Knapp, A., J. Blair, J. Briggs, S. Collins, D. Hartnett, L. Johnson, and E. Towne. "The Keystone Role of Bison in North American Tallgrass Prairie: Bison Increase Habitat Heterogeneity and Alter a Broad Array of Plant, Community, and Ecosystem Processes."BioScience, 1999. doi:10.1525/bisi.1999.49.1.39. Lott, Dale F. American Bison: a Natural History. University of California Press, 2003. McHugh, Tom. The Time of the Buffalo. New Jersey: Castle Books, 2004. Popper, Deborah E., and Frank J. Popper. "The onset of the Buffalo Commons." Journal of the West 45, no. 2 (2006): 29. Ray, Arthur J. Indians in the Fur Trade: their roles as trappers, hunters, and middlemen in the lands southwest of hudson bay, 1660-1870. Toronto: Univ of Toronto Press, 2017. Smits, David D. "The Frontier Army and the Destruction of the Buffalo: 1865-1883." The Western Historical Quarterly 25, no. 3 (1994): 312. doi:10.2307/971110. Sweitzer, RICK A., Juanita M. Constible, Dirk H. Van Vuren, PETER T. Schuyler, and FRANK R. Starkey. "History, habitat use and management of bison on Catalina Island, California." In 6th California Islands Symposium, Institute for Wildlife Studies, Ventura, CA. 2005. Taylor, M. Scott. "Buffalo Hunt: International Trade and the Virtual Extinction of the North American Bison." American Economic Review 101, no. 7 (2011): 3162-195. doi:10.1257/aer.101.7.3162. "World-Herald editorial: Bison are a fitting symbol for Plains, U.S." Omaha.com. May 18, 2016. Accessed December 10, 2017. http://www.omaha.com/opinion/world-herald-editorial-bison-are-a-fitting-symbol-for-plains/article_c6f22d14-e8a6-5f3a-9c30-b043011909b3.html. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Durham Museum Collection Bison Great Plains Ecology Overkill Prairie Ecosystem Rewilding Second Industrial Revolution Westward Expansion https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/569bca3839f0f9b412dd3ee208dee76f.jpg d3425b8231515e3e1331747ed06abc82 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d1d07b585c8572f268c6bac35367a62d.jpg 5016715c390bb07b455d21b22350920e 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wentworth, William. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Durham Museum Photo Archive Description An account of the resource Westinghouse 1417 No. 22nd St. Omaha, 18 June 1938. Woman standing near refrigerator. 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 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=" /> Butter-Nut Coffee Advertisement, Durham Photo Archive 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 Servel Electrolux Gas Refrigerator Subject The topic of the resource In 1979, Jimmy Carter said that "human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.” Consumer appliances like the refrigerator changed American domestic life in the twentieth century. The consequences of this consumer revolution had profound and unexpected environmental impacts. The Servel corporation was one of the few companies making gas powered refrigerators in the 1930s. By the 1950s, most companies were using refrigerating chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs were cheap, effective, and non-toxic. In 1974, two scientists discovered that CFCs deplete the earth’s ozone layer. The ozone layer in the atmosphere blocks harmful UV rays from reaching the earth. Too much UV radiation results in consequences for humans, plants and marine life. Once scientists discovered the harmful effects of CFCs, the Montreal Protocol imposed a ban on their use in 1986. This refrigerator is a reminder of paths not taken and the unexpected consequences of miracle technologies. Description An account of the resource Everyday objects are often overlooked when discussing environmental change. However, these objects hold profound impacts on our environment and when looking at our environment should be extensively researched. The new wave of consumerism and the development of new appliances contributed significantly to anthropogenic change worldwide and specifically in Omaha. The object of our project is a 1933 Servel Inc. gas powered refrigerator. It may seem like a benign, everyday object, but this consumer appliance represents a profound shift in global environmental history. One of the consequences of that revolution, and the use of artificial coolants more specifically, was their impact on the ozone layer. Our refrigerator represented a change in consumer culture, a new desire to store food, the convenience made possible by refrigerating technology. These changes occurred in Omaha and much of the developed world, but its environmental consequences were global. The first refrigerators sold for domestic and home use were sold in 1911 by General Electric Company and 1913 an invention by Fred Wolf (Heldman, 2003). They were prohibitively expensive for families, however, and even the most wealthy people would have to make a significant investment in order to access one. Additionally, these refrigerators were costly to maintain, did not preserve food efficiently, and required significant space in the home. The Electric World journal said in 1942 “people as yet are skeptical as to the feasibility of electric refrigeration in the home” (Electrical World, 1924). This reality presented a difficulty for their widespread adoption. In response to these obstacles, engineers and refrigeration companies like Servel and Frigidaire began to attempt to mass produce refrigerators, shrink the size of their components, and advertise the feasibility of using a fridge in the home. One advertisement from 1930, markets the refrigerator by addressing all of these potential pitfalls. “Frigidaire is an electric refrigerator available to every electrically wired home. Frigidaire maintains constant, crisp, dry cold—preventing food decay, and the development of menacing bacteria” (Buziak, 2011). This ad explains that these are easy to set up and maintain because they can be simply plugged in. Additionally, the ad asserts that the air stays cool enough in order to combat decay and bacteria growth. The technology was relatively novel and definitely new to the average middle income American. Some companies, such as Frigidaire, capitalized on these early innovations. These ads attempted to explain this new technology, made possible through science, in order to promote the adoption of their product in the home (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/39" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). These new inventions paved the way for the consumer culture began to spread during this time. The Durham Museum collection hosts a 1933 Servel Inc. gas powered refrigerator. It represents a new accessibility to mass consumer goods in the late 1920s -1940s. The advertisement presented below is of our refrigerator. In contrast to their competitors such as General Electric and Frigidaire, Servel was much less widely used. It was “a small fish in a big pond.” Servel never held more than an 8 to 10 percent share of the home refrigerator market. Servel made refrigerators until 1956 but was unable to compete with competitors who relied on compression for their refrigerators (Anderson, 1953). Servel was the only company that used “only gas-powered ammonia absorption technology. (Rees, 2015). Both the absorption and compressor refrigerators rely on heat and then the evaporation of a refrigerant to provide the cooling effect. Compression machines would often use electricity to provide the heating effect and absorption machines relied on some other outside heat source like fire. The absorption technology of our refrigerator relies on three phases for cooling. First, the gas fueled flame evaporates ammonia in a low partial pressure environment. This process extracts heat from its surroundings. Second, the gaseous refrigerant is absorbed by another liquid like a salt solution. Third, the liquid is heated causing the refrigerant to evaporate. The refrigerant passes through a heat exchanger and condenses. The process of evaporation provides the cooling effect. Servel’s story implies a reason why compression refrigerators eventually beat out absorption refrigerators. The manufacturers who produced compression machines used different resources to cool their machines. Servel’s ammonia absorption refrigerator eventually fell waned in appeal in favor of the more efficient compression machines, which, by the 1930s commonly used a new chemical coolant CFCs. During the early 1930s, there were two primary types of refrigeration, gas powered and electric. The gas-powered units boasted a design that was meant to be more fitting of a rural lifestyle due to the fact it did not need electricity to function. Through a series of heating and cooling processes, ammonia gas would be used to pull heat out of the fridge, and in turn cool its contents. This process, aside from the emissions given off by burning the gas, had a small impact on the environment. However, its popular counterpart, the electric fridge, used a more damaging process. Relying on many of the same techniques of as the gas fridge, the electric fridge relies on a compressor to do its heating. It also uses a refrigerant rather than ammonia gas. Refrigerants, most commonly Freon, are a group of gasses that exhibit certain qualities that are helpful in the compression and condensing process of an electric fridge. As cities became more urbanized, and the technology for refrigerators got better, the market for them boomed. “By the 1920s, the household refrigerator was an essential piece of kitchen furniture. In 1921, 5,000 mechanical refrigerators were manufactured in the US. Ten years later that number grew past one million and just six years later, nearly six million.” (Krasner-Khait, 2000) CFCs, Freon, or Chlorofluorocarbons were commonly used by Servel’s competitors, specifically General Electric, in their compression machines. The gas-powered ammonia flame, that Servel used, would oftentimes result in fires and high exposure to toxic ammonia. CFCs are not toxic to humans and do not require flames to fuel them. Therefore, CFC machines were more appealing to consumers. The development of Freon led to the development of safer, smaller, lighter, and cheaper refrigerators. These competitors that used compression machines would use a compressor powered by electricity to increase pressure on Freon. The gas produced by this pressure then condensed to a liquid by cooling in a heat exchanger. At this point, the liquid is passed through a valve to the evaporator. The liquid then evaporates and absorbs heat from the area where food is kept. The Freon then returns to the compressor to repeat the process. The accessibility to refrigerators in general created a change in the domestic lives of Omahans and Americans. This image from the Wentworth collection from The Durham Museum digital archive shows a woman in Omaha standing next to her electric refrigerator in 1938 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/38" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). This image connects Omaha to this new culture of consumerism and in turn to anthropogenic change. The development of these cheaper, smaller, and “nontoxic” contributed to the continuous growth of the refrigerator. Furthermore, with the development of affordable, efficient refrigerators Americans were now able to store food regardless of weather. “ In recent decades, cold chains have propagated and lengthened, moving more goods and including more countries” (Rees, 2015). Consequently, refrigeration connected the United States globally and domestically. As seen, the refrigerator began to gain popularity in the United States and globally, but not without environmental consequences. Our Servel “Electrolux” refrigerator contributed to these changes, however new electric refrigerators that used artificial coolants began to displace them by the 1950s. These more “modern” consumer appliances were supposed to be longer lasting and more safe for the consumer. Dependability, and reliability were the mainstays in refrigeration advertisement (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/40" title="FIgure 3" target="_self">Figure 3</a>). In the advertisement shown below in the 1933 San Antonio ad, Majestic says, “the refrigerating unit is made with such precision, and of such dependable, well tasted parts that it can safely be SEALED within a steel dome.” (Novak, 2012) Safety was a mainstay in electric refrigerator advertisements. On the surface level this seems obvious because they replaced toxic ammonia gas, with non-flammable, nontoxic, non-corrosive, and highly non-reactive gases. On the other hand, the transition from gas powered fridges like out Servel Electrolux to seemingly “safer” modern option presented new dangers, this time on a global scale. Thomas Midgley, an American Chemist, synthesized chlorofluorocarbons in 1928. They seemed a miracle refrigerant. CFCs were much safer to inhale, and much less volatile. Marketed as “Freon” by the DuPont corporation, CFC proliferated following the second world war as consumer demand increased. In addition to refrigerators, CFCs were used in many household items, bug sprays, paints, hair conditioners, and other health care products are just a few examples of their extensive usage. They provided an inexpensive solution to the desire for air conditioning in an increasingly modern society. CFC use peaked at annual sales of about a billion dollars, and more than one million metric tons of CFCs produced. (Elkins, 2005) Mario Molina, a PhD researcher at the University of California Irvine was the first to make the shocking discovery about the environmental impact of CFCs. Molina found, that CFCs when reacting with UV radiation in the atmosphere, would destroy an oxygen compound called ozone (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/41" title="Figure 4" target="_self">Figure 4</a>). He predicted that they could deplete the ozone layer at a staggering 7 percent over 60 years putting us in real peril. (ESDE) Globally, this was troubling news, the depletion of the ozone layer meant a number of things. First and foremost for humans, the increased amount of UVB radiation can cause certain types of cancer, and result in the early development of cataracts. Furthermore, there are consequences for plant life, marine life, and the biochemical system as a whole. Plants more quickly develop disease, marine animals see a decreased ability to reproduce therefore throwing off the food chain. It also inhibits the growth and movement of phytoplankton. (EPA, 2016) Many of these of these consequences have cascading effects, for example, an ecosystem that previously was lush with plant life may see a small reduction. Animals that depend on those plants were then left with either not enough food and their numbers diminish, or they are forced to decimate the plant population to an unrecoverable point. As a result of these findings, people finally started to realize that their actions could have environmental impact on a global scale. Mario Molina said, “It doesn’t matter where CFCs are emitted. It is a global problem. What is important is that it led to an international agreement that solved the problem.”(American Chemical Society) And that is exactly what happened. In 1986, the Montreal Protocol banned their use. Since then, we have seen an overwhelming amount of evidence that the ozone layer is rebuilding itself and that we are well on our way to fixing the damage we have done. Currently companies use HCFCs, mostly HFC-134a which is as effective as Freon, but does not have the detrimental effect on the environment. Overall, the story of our Servel Incorporated Electrolux refrigerator proves that everyday objects do play a role in environmental change. The development of these CFCs were more efficient, non-toxic to humans, and seemingly improved everyday life. However, this new technology led to a potentially disastrous environmental repercussion. Not only do new developing technologies have unexpected consequences as seen by our refrigerator, but so do the decisions consumers, companies, corporations, governments, and people make. It is important to consider the consequences that new convenient technologies may have on the environment. The story of CFCs and their effects on our home is a teaching point about what improvements must be made. Sufficient research and testing is essential in ensuring that we maintain the natural processes of our planet, and we don’t continue along the path we find ourselves on in the Anthropocene. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eric Heffelfinger Fletcher Guinn Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. The Vitamin B Complex. http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/cfcs-ozone.html Anderson, Jr. Oscar Edward, Refrigeration in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953), 105. "Bottled air from all over the world tells story of ozone-Depleting gases and their connection to climate change", NOAA Climate.Gov, 18 May 2015, www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-tech/bottled-air-all-over-world-tells-story-ozone-depleting-gases-and-their. Buziak, Ed, “What a Difference Frigidaire Made!” Alamy.com, 25 June 2011, l7.alamy.com/zooms/c6a55dfde88f4f56a2e53d322cf0edb2/1920-1930-advert-for-frigidaire-refrigerator-from-english-homes-gardens-ep8jrn.jpg. Department of Energy, "Mario Molina, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and Ozone Depletion.” www.osti.gov/accomplishments/molina.html. Electrical World 36 ( July 1924):28. Electrolux. “ELECTROLUX Gives You Everything You Expect…AND MORE!” Periodpaper.com, cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1021/8371/products/SEP3_018.jpg? v=1493262408 Elkins, James W. “ESRL Global Monitoring Division - Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species.” NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, 1 Oct. 2005, www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/hats/publictn/elkins/cfcs.html. Environmental Protection Agency, “Health and Environmental Effects of Ozone Layer Depletion.” 28 Dec. 2016, www.epa.gov/ozone-layer-protection/health-and-environmental-effects-ozone-layer-depletion. Heldman, Dennis R. “Extruder Power Requirements .” Encyclopedia of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering, Marcel Dekker, 2003, pp. 305–305. Krasner-Khait, Barbara, “The Impact of Refrigeration” History Magazine (February/March 2000), https://history-magazine.com/refrig.html Novak, Matt. “The Great Depression and the Rise of the Refrigerator,” Pacific Standard Magazine. Oct 9, 2012. Rees, Jonathan. Refrigeration nation a history of ice, appliances, and enterprise in America. “Shopify.com.” Shopify.com, cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1021/8371/products/SEP3_018.jpg?v=1493262408. Wentworth, William. Westinghouse 1417 No. 22nd St. Omaha, 18 June 1938. Westinghouse 1417 No. 22nd St. Omaha, 18 June 1938. CFC Consumer Revolution Montreal Protocol Ozone Depletion Refrigerator https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/3a0e562bfcfca59480b6611d19bddaed.JPG ff7bc2b61af49b28daaff6cbe7a396c1 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/42ba956c1f1e6bbef1078212a52cbc0e.JPG 5a897826ea217d8283d8b28ae5f5372b 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 3 Description An account of the resource Products offered by ConAgra includes things such as Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Marie Callender’s meals, and Healthy Choice meals. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo Courtesy of Emma Sundberg https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/2a4db9f0ac7f907c844a1ef21bcc231a.jpg 167f0f35aa06d31bb9f75a24356530e0 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 General Views since 1921 Description An account of the resource Looking northwest from about 8th and Leavenworth Street at the construction of the Conagra campus in the old Jobbers Canyon area. The Woodmen Tower is in the far background. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis (1868-1943) and Frohardt, Homer (1885-1972) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Durham Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-01-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource From the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection, Owned by KM3TV and on permanent loan to The Durham Museum. 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 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=" /> 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 ConAgra Foods Subject The topic of the resource The foods here are part of the ConAgra product line. They all contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the form of corn products, like corn starch. For centuries, people have changed plants to improve farming through artificial selection. Working the land and farming plants as food is one way that people interact with the environment. In the past, people did this by choosing the seeds from the best plants to grow the next year. Now, people use a different method called genetic modification. In the past, companies like ConAgra have used this method to make their food tastier and easier to make. ConAgra has recently decided to remove GMOs from their food due to public opinion. This shift away from GMOs signals the start of another new chapter in food production. Because ConAgra is a part of that change, it represents the way food production has shaped the environment. Description An account of the resource The Anthropogenic "object" that will be the focus of this essay is the currently Omaha-based corporation ConAgra. This corporation was founded in 1919 in Nebraska after the consolidation of four smaller grain mills, with the headquarters moving to Omaha itself in 1922. Since then it has steadily built up into the larger conglomerate that it is today, growing into a strong local and global presence, with offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Italy. ConAgra has had a major impact on the legislation that Omaha has passed in relation to businesses, with the company receiving tax breaks for investing in its own city, rather than moving away. (Larson, 2007) Its political clout and extensive lobbying, along with the large number of citizens of Omaha that it employs, have made it a major player in Omaha's involvement with the Anthropocene. Moreover, the purpose of this Anthropogenic artifact lies mainly in consumption as a food product and occupation as a major employer. ConAgra Foods is part of The Durham’s collection because of its long history as an influential corporation in Omaha. Starting just outside of the city in Grand Island, Nebraska, ConAgra moved its headquarters to Omaha during their early years, where it has remained since, employing thousands, shaping the landscape of the city and its legislature. One of the best examples of the direct impact ConAgra Foods has had on the landscape of Omaha is the renovation of Jobber’s Canyon on the riverfront. These changes, which removed long-standing warehouse buildings that constituted a proposed historic district at the time, were part of the larger “Return to the River” movement that began in the 1980s and lasted through the early 2000s that saw a rise in renovations of the riverfront to include parks, corporate office campuses, and other recreational areas. (Bednarek, 2009) ConAgra was able to make this happen through the city’s desire to have the corporation remain located in Omaha due to the large number of people the company employs locally. In this sense, ConAgra Foods is unique to Omaha, though it has since expanded to be a major national and global presence as part of a growing commercialization of food distribution companies on a global scale. This Omaha-native company has interacted with the people of Omaha since its founding, providing food services and consumer products like Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Marie Callender’s meals, and Healthy Choice meals while providing jobs for many of the citizens of Omaha. In the end, ConAgra foods has shaped the history of Omaha in both a recreational and occupational sense, playing a major role in employing some of the local workforce and an even larger role in the distribution of food. Their economic and political position place them as a major force within the Anthropocene in Omaha. ConAgra is a major player in the Anthropocene as it relates to Omaha, especially through its legislative authority. As the Anthropocene can be examined through the lens of agricultural capitalism and industrialization, ConAgra is easily identifiable as an anthropogenic force of change. One such example is how ConAgra is shaping the views of the public on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These changes are more varied and perhaps subtler than they initially appear to be. They are currently stating that they are cutting back on the use of GMOs. One explanation for this could be the use of the Public Trust Doctrine to drive legislative changes to protect non-GMO environments, a product of the need to increase profits and keep up with the ever-changing needs of a capitalistic society. (Knudsen, 2011) Other changes seem to appear earlier regarding public opinion about GMOs. Public exposure to biotechnology in general has risen in recent years, starting as early as the late 1990s and rising substantially since. (Runge et al, 2017) At first glance, these two changes appear to be indicative of the ways in which public opinion has modified the GMO policies of ConAgra, but ConAgra Foods, and companies like it, have been just as influential in getting to this point. The rising attention to biotechnology and GMOs in particular has, in the past, driven changes largely focused on the labeling of foods in grocery stores and supermarkets. Essentially, the demand is to know if the food on the shelf is GMO free. This is the obvious, and easy, option for indication of GMOs in stores, especially given the difficulty of passing legislature that would require labeling genetically modified foods – a result of the political and economic clout of companies like ConAgra. (Sunstein, 2017) Simply put, companies like ConAgra want to be able to use cheap and easy materials to make their products, but the market must allow this. If people decide they don’t want to eat GMOs, then ConAgra would want to find a way to sneak them into foods or spend more money producing non-GMO crops. The easiest way to do this is to manipulate the regulations placed on them for labeling their products. Given that non-GMO foods are far less common, and that labeling GMOs would be potentially detrimental to profits, it makes sense for companies like ConAgra to lobby against legislature requiring the labeling of GMOs and to promote the labeling of non-GMO foods as GMO free instead. ConAgra has proven to be a reactionary force, driving the way the market truly responds to the growing attentiveness of the public regarding the use of GMOs. It can be argued that the Anthropocene begins when humans begin to manipulate the environment for their own benefit, such as with the widespread use of agriculture, and the presence of grain mills. In this case, while the human alteration of food has already taken place, the Anthropogenic impacts are being lessened, or changed in ways that we are not yet aware of, with the reduction of GMO usage by ConAgra, thus discouraging further human exploitation of their environment. (Yang and Chen, 2016) ConAgra’s stance on their reduction of GMO use is unfortunately not presented to the public this way. Instead it is represented as the company listening to the needs and wants of its customers and removing something the public is not sold on. Another main theme regarding the Anthropocene is the idea of invasion and exploitation of the environment for human gain. ConAgra is arguably one of the largest driving forces for changes in the environment in Omaha, with the destruction of Jobber's Canyon and creation of multiple grain mills for agriculture. (Steffan and Crutzen, 2010) This, along with their commodification of food, contribute to the idea that the Anthropocene is driven by capitalistic forces, as these changes are intrinsically capitalist. (Castree and Rhoads, 2016) The presence of ConAgra in Omaha thus assists in making the Anthropocene a local issue, rather than a far removed one. ConAgra is still a thriving company to this day, while also expanding their domain internationally and furthering their role in the global commodification of food.(Weis, 2007) Along with this has come the idea that they can get away with breaking the law on multiple different occasions, exploiting the products they are given by other companies to make their foods. (Schlosser, 2001) This readiness to blatantly defy the regulations and exploit the environment for personal and economic gain seems to be typical for a company as large as ConAgra, helping to shape the way that people look at, and interact with, the environment. Instead of using their political prowess and national attention to encourage a healthy relationship with the food they produce and distribute, they have further exemplified the human desire for environmental domination through massive agriculture and underpaying those who provide them with livestock. (Schlosser, 2001) For example, some farmers have accused ConAgra for undercutting the actual weight of the products they purchase in order to ensure a cheap buy. ConAgra itself is already an international power that contributes to global production and distribution of food. (Bonanno, 1994) They are able to expand the reach of their influence beyond just Omaha and the United States when it comes to how people will view their environment. Due to this, they are furthering the growing tendency to refer to food in terms of nutrition and not as food in and of itself. (Pollan, 2008) Due to the naturally exploitative nature of agriculture and food production it comes as no surprise that ConAgra's global impact on the Anthropocene is reinforcing human's desire and ability to exploit their environment via capitalist agricultural practices. To ensure they thrive as a business they have met the needs and wants of people in different areas and through different times, instead of focusing on the less popular option of monitoring and preserving the environment. It seems, then, that instead of supply reflecting demand, in this case ConAgra has reshaped demand so as to fit a profitable, albeit potentially harmful, supply rather than ceding the point and turning to less exploitative agricultural methods. In order for ConAgra to become a more positive driving force in the Anthropocene they would need to participate in the restructuring of capitalistic thought surrounding food. (Tickell, 2011) Instead of simply commodifying their products to fit the exact market demand, they would have to shift their focus to be more environmentally centered and conscious. In a very direct sense, the use of GMOs in the past by ConAgra and companies like it indicates a turning point in the way people affect the ecological status of the Earth. Humans have been altering the genes of plants and animals for thousands of years, mostly through selective breeding. The advent of modern technology, however, has changed the way humans affect the genomes of plants and animals, making the effect humans have on the environment in terms of genetic modification more direct than ever. (Aagaard, 2011; Cooley, 2004; Hourdequin, 2013) While in the past genetic modification relied on organisms inheriting traits from their predecessors, humans can now directly transplant traits into nearly any organism they desire. For example, the majority of soybean growth in the United States relies on soybeans that have been genetically programmed to express their own pesticides. The same is true of corn. The changes forced on these organisms are not alone in scope or purpose; other examples abound. Other crops have been modified to fortify the diets of those who grow and consume them, like golden rice, a common staple food for much of Asia. Golden rice has been genetically modified to produce more vitamin A. (Hourdequin, 2013) While many of these changes are, themselves, benign, they pose potential ecological problems. Most of the genetic modifications given to organisms create a biological advantage for that organism. This advantage, in turn, confers a heightened capacity for reproductive potential, meaning genetically modified organisms often make incredibly efficient invasive species. This is especially true of plants who can spread over wide areas quickly and reproduce on their own. (Pipernoa, 2017) This problem is worsened by the fact that there is almost no way to control for pollen distribution. So, it seems the anthropogenic effects of GMOs exceed the simplistic explanation that tampering directly with the genetic makeup of an organism is indicative of human impacts on the environment, including also the idea that those changes have the capacity to multiply environmental impacts in the form of thewidespread and uncontrolled dispersal of those organisms. Companies like ConAgra, through their normal responses to market shifts, can affect changes in the environment further proving their status as a product of the Anthropocene. Capitalism is a main driving force behind human-caused environmental changes, as the environment is a rich source of capital for industries. ConAgra acts as a prime example of the capitalist machine through their exploitation of the environment and organisms with genetic modification. They use GMOs to increase food output, increase capital, and use that capital to rework the system in its favor. The redirecting of laws and product identification can affect environmental changes. There is, however, a counterpoint to these arguments, and that is the capacity of such companies to limit the impacts they have on the environment, pursuant to the demand of the market. In other words, while companies like ConAgra have, in the past, been a nexus of environmental change, mostly in a negative way, they can also provide the means by which environmental impacts are mitigated. (Schimelpfenig, 2017; Tickell, 2011) While ConAgra is not completely in favor of the use of human modification on the environment and food, it has been a major driving force in bringing the Anthropocene to Omaha. Businesses themselves play a very large role in shaping the mindset of how people are to treat the environment, and what kind of environment will be left behind for future generations. ConAgra is leaving a dichotomous legacy of exploitation of the raw environment through massive agriculture conglomerates and of limiting human impact on the food we eat through scaling back on their overall use of GMOs. (Schmidheiny, 1998) This raises the question of how much exploitation is too much regarding humans and their environment, and in relation to the actions of ConAgra, genetically modifying the food we will be directly intaking is where the line is drawn. While it has been questioned whether or not the world before humans is what we should strive to preserve and return to, the concern for over-exploitation has still become more apparent in recent years, especially in the case of large corporations, even with their continued use of massive agriculture. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Patrick Eiden Brittany Keath Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Aagaard, Todd S. Environmental Harms, Use Conflicts, and Neutral Baselines in Environmental Law. Duke Law Journal 60, no. 7 (2011): 1505-564. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23034804. Aldemita, R., Reaño, R., Solis, I., & Hautea, R. (2015). Trends in global approvals of biotech crops (1992-2014). GM Crops & Food., 6(3), 150-166 Bonanno, Alessandro. From Columbus to ConAgra. Kansas: University of Kansas Press. 1994. Castree, Noel, and Rhoads, Bruce. A Companion to Environmental Geography. West Sussex: John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. 2016. Cooley, D. R. "Transgenic Organisms and Some Legal Ethics." Public Affairs Quarterly 18, no. 2 (2004): 91-110. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40441374. Crutzen, P., Steffen, W., Williams, M. & Zalasiewicz, J. 2010, ‘The new world of the anthropocene’, Environmental science and technology viewpoint, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 2228 2231. Dryzek, John S. 2016. "Institutions for the Anthropocene: Governance in a Changing Earth System." British Journal Of Political Science 46, no. 4: 937-956. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). Hourdequin, Marion. "Restoration and History in a Changing World: A Case Study in Ethics for the Anthropocene." Ethics and the Environment 18, no. 2 (2013): 115-34. Janet R Daly Bednarek, “Creating an ‘Image Center’: Reimagining Omaha’s Downtown and Riverfront, 1986-2003,” Nebraska History 90 (2009): 190-207 Knudsen, Guy R. "Impacts of Agricultural GMOs on Wildlands: A New Frontier of Biotech Litigation." Natural Resources & Environment 26, no. 1 (2011): 13-17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23054894. Larson, Lawrence, Cottrell, Barbara, Dalstrom, Harl, and Dalstrom, Kay Calamé. Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. University of Nebraska Press, 2007. 342-401. Pipernoa, Dolores R. 2017. "Assessing elements of an extended evolutionary synthesis for plant domestication and agricultural origin research." Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 114, no. 25: 6429-6437. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 20, 2017). Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. Runge, Kristen K., Dominique Brossard, Dietram A. Sheufele, Kathleen M. Rose, and Brita J. Larson. 2017. “The Polls-Trends Attitudes About Food and Food-Related Biotechnology.” Public Opinion Quarterly 81, no. 2:577-596. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 8, 2017). Schimelpfenig, Robert. 2017. "The Drama of the Anthropocene: Can Deep Ecology, Romanticism, and Renaissance Science Rebalance Nature and Culture?." American Journal Of Economics & Sociology 76, no. 4: 821-1081. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2001. Schmidheiny, Stephan. Changing Course: A global business perspective on development and the environment. London: The MIT Press. 1998. Sunstein, Cass R. 2017. “On Mandatory Labeling, With Special Reference to Genetically Modified Foods.” University of Pernnsylvania Law Review 165, no. 5:1043-1095. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 8, 2017). Tickell, Crispin. "Societal Responses to the Anthropocene. "Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 369, no. 1938 (2011): 926-32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41061707. Weis, Anthony J. The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming. Canada: Fernwood Publishing, 2007. Yang, y. Tony, and Brian Chen. 2016. “Governing GMOs in the USA: science, law and public health.” Journal Of The Science Of Food & Agriculture 96, no. 6:1851-1855. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 8, 2017). Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The Durham Museum Collections Agriculture ConAgra Consumption Corn Corporatations Domestication Genetically Modified Organisms https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/296a0278f26102801617d860eb334553.jpg ccf7a5edefa676e1834d0a0787a0eb37 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: American Smelting And Refining Company Taken from Aksarben Bridge Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bostwick, Louis Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Bostwick-Frohardt, Durham Museum, Omaha, NE. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930 https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/d732722c3eaeca84e785e9576c1503c8.jpg bba2c362bdfc21578cdc3805b10c6c88 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 3: Omaha Lead Pollution Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Omaha Lead Registry http://www.omahalead.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 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=" /> 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. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 ASARCO Lead Refinery Subject The topic of the resource Louis Bostwick took this photograph in the 1930s, presenting a stark contrast to Omaha’s beautiful riverfront we see today. Lewis and Clark Landing was once home to a lead refinery controlled by the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO), which operated for over 100 years. People later learned about lead’s threat to human health and the environment. In 1997, escalated public pressure closed ASARCO, but it had already left a lasting mark on the local community. In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the area a Superfund site. A Superfund uses federal funds to aid the cleanup of hazardous areas. Since then, the EPA and local government have worked to restore the contaminated soil. Despite such efforts, exposure to lead continues to threaten local and global health. Omaha’s rejuvenated riverfront is an example of how communities can combat the lasting impacts of harmful practices and heal a toxic past. Description An account of the resource In a world where half of the population is urbanized, connecting to nature is essential for good mental health. (Bratman et al, 2015) The Midwest is a great place for people to find balance in their fast paced lifestyles by staying connected to the environment while living in a city. When the weather is suitable, downtown Omaha, Nebraska has several outdoor activities to enjoy. Many tourists and locals choose to spend time at the riverfront of the vibrant and historic Old Market. Every summer, thousands of baseball fans gather for the College World Series. On any given day it is quite common to see people enjoying a relaxing stroll through the Lewis and Clark Landing or walking across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. It is shocking to think about what the area looked like just 30 years ago (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/53" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). The park and greenspace on the riverfront disguises an unexpected and toxic history. Bostwick, Louis. American Smelting And Refining Company Taken from Aksarben Bridge”. 1930’s. Bostwick-Frohardt, The Durham Museum, Omaha, NE. Omaha is one of the many communities that experienced incredible expansion during the late 1800s. The establishment of this plant and the history that came to follow its opening, particularly at this time and location, was not coincidental. At this time, the “Second Industrial Revolution” was flourishing in Europe and the United States. Between 1870 and 1890, Omaha’s population jumped from 16,000 to 140,000. (Omaha, Nebraska Pop History) Omaha’s growth was driven by lead manufacturing, and other growing companies like the Union Pacific Railroad. (Larsen, 2007) This industrial agglomeration can be attributed to the waterfront advantage that the Missouri River provided these companies, as well as the development of the railroad enabling companies to connect resources across the country. This photograph captures the former location of one of the American Smelting and Refinery Company’s (ASARCO) lead refineries, which was taken by Omaha World-Herald photographer Louis Bostwick in the 1930s (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/50" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). (O'Connor, 2015) The plant was originally opened on the banks of the Missouri River in 1870 under the ownership of the Omaha Smelting Company. In 1882, the Omaha Smelting Company merged with the Grant Smelting Company to form the Omaha and Grant Smelting and Mining Company. This new ownership lasted for over 10 years, until another merger, including 16 companies in total, led to the formation of ASARCO. (Curry, 1949) The Omaha plant was part of a larger corporation, ASARCO, which was formed in 1899. (ASARCO) This corporation still operates today, but it does so as a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico. (ASARCO/Grupo Mexico) It is heavily involved in the mining of copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold. It is considered to be a global mining giant. Not only is it far reaching in its operations, which extends across several countries worldwide, but also regarding its total contributions to the respective metal markets. (ASARCO/Grupo Mexico) By 1925, ASARCO was the largest lead refinery in the world. It produced lead, but also radiation shields, bismuth and antimony oxide. (Rasmussen, 1992) The Omaha-World Herald reported that during 1924, the plant produced 165,000 tons of lead, 198,000 ounces of gold, 10,945 tons of antimonial lead and 148,711 pounds of refined bismuth. (OWH, 1925) While this plant was operational for a considerable amount of time in Omaha’s history, its existence was eventually met with strong resistance as the political battle for community and environmental health secretly raged in the heartland. In this discussion, we emphasize the effects of lead production and its significance in relation to the Anthropocene narrative. Lead mining and smelting is not a newly realized process. Human manipulation of lead has been traced back as far as 6000 years ago and its threat to human health was recognized dating back to 2000 BC. It’s negative impacts can be found scattered throughout history. For example, during the time of the Roman Empire, it could be found in many common household items of the wealthy such as dishes, utensils and food storage containers. In 17th century Germany, it was blamed for causing colic when litharge, a different form of lead, was used as a sweetener in wine. (Needleman, 1999) In more recent history, lead’s most common uses were in leaded gasoline, batteries, paints and plumbing pipes. Despite a plethora of historical knowledge available regarding the threat lead poses to human health, ASARCO continued its operations along the riverfront throughout a greater part of the 20th century. Starting in the early 1970s, human and environmental health risks came to light and the battle between Omaha and ASARCO began. Important environmental concerns at that time included air and potential water pollution. There was a great deal of attention drawn to the airborne threat due to the extensive exposure employees received, therefore significantly affecting their health. In one particular legal battle the company faced, three officials representing the Secretary of Labor visited the plant to investigate claims of hazardous levels of airborne lead. (LOC, 1974) The delegation found that airborne concentrations of lead in five of the seven areas tested were above the minimum threshold to be considered hazardous which was 0.2 mg/cm3. (LOC, 1974) As a result of this investigation, ASARCO received a citation with a sixty day reparation period and had to pay a fine of $600. (LOC, 1974) Another instance of this airborne threat was discovered in the elevated blood levels of workers in the plant. In 1985, the Omaha World-Herald reported that there were workers found to have blood lead levels above 50 μg/100 g blood.(OMH, 1985) These workers were sent home until the levels in their blood dropped to 40 μg/100 g blood. Additionally, these blood lead levels have significant consequences on the central nervous system. Employees reported to experience body tremors and tiredness. (LOC, 1974) Water pollution was another concern requiring investigation, specifically from the time the plant was operational to the demand for remediation. In the past, intense ambiguity revolved around the levels of toxicity and the overall impacts of the discharge into the river when the plant was in operation. In 1994, a toxicologist from the Nebraska Department of Health suggested that there had not been enough studies completed in order to completely understand how discharge from the plant affected both human and aquatic life. (Thomas, 1994) Although researchers lacked any concrete evidence that ASARCO polluted the water, there was a lawsuit in the works at the time to fine ASARCO $25,000 per day should they continue discharging waste into the Missouri River without installing a specialized filter. (Thomas, 1974) In 2001, the US Geological Survey published a technical report regarding toxic metals in the Missouri River adjacent to the plant site. (Chapman, 2001) Though there were elevated levels of lead in sediment at one of the areas studied, the sediments, pore water and river water did not reach exceed maximum acceptable levels set by the EPA. Considering the negative environmental and health consequences discussed above, it is easy to demonize the ASARCO, but its employees continued to stand with this destructive company. The ASARCO plant was recognized as a positive economic force in the Omaha area. In 1995, officials estimated that the plant annually contributed $15 million to the Omaha metro economy. (Powell, 1995) The ASARCO’s economic contributions played a significant role in the battle against site closure. It was estimated that closure would result in a loss of $22 million in taxes and wages. (Anderson, 1996) There were many people who wanted to keep the plant to prevent job loss and preserve economic profits that ASARCO contributed to Omaha. Despite the knowledge of the significant health risks imposed on employees, the reliable income ASARCO provided was enough for the union to fight to keep the company alive. (Anderson, 1996) Before the final closing of the plant, there was considerable deliberation regarding which actions should take place in order to ensure effective cleanup of the contaminant. In early 1996, the Omaha World-Herald reported that there were ten possible plans in deliberation. At that time, ASARCO wished to use a six foot cap on the soil to prevent further contamination, and would cost the company $15 million. (Anderson, Manager, 1996) On September 4, 1997, the city of Omaha approved ASARCO’s proposal to tear down the plant and cap the soil. After decades of tension, the ASARCO lead refinery was finally closed in 1997. (OPL) Throughout its long history in the Omaha area, the ASARCO was subjected to a great deal of public debate, legal battles, fines and reparations with specific scrutiny on its lead smelting activities. To this day, the Omaha metro area experiences environmental and human health effects from the ASARCO emissions of the past. The establishment of this specific region of Omaha as a Superfund site was finalized on December 15, 2004. (EPA Omaha Lead Site) The particular focus of the Superfund program is remediation of lead proliferation, which was heavily attributed to this particular ASARCO plant. A map of this area today shows that there are various sites that have experienced said remediation, but some areas have not been tested at all, and some are known to be contaminated and yet to be cleaned up (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/51">Figure 3</a>). (Omaha Lead Registry) Omaha’s cleanup efforts impact the economy from the decreasing property values in the area. (Decker, 2005) The contaminated areas experiencing a decline in the housing market is due to “Right-to-Know” laws, which require the homeowner to know the environmental hazards they are exposing themselves to. (Decker, 2005) Although ASARCO boasts a large presence on the mining industry stage, they are not alone in the collective effort to gain access to natural resources through various extraction methods. There are many other resources that are have been long mined and remain so to this day. These include: copper, silver, iron, etc. When viewing the mining industry from a broader perspective, it is important to understand the impacts that these activities have on the environment to better understand how the threat to public health is driven. Today, lead exposure continues to be a significant environmental threat to human health. Lead smelting itself has been linked to increases in ADHD in children living close to smelting operations. (Kim, 2013) Across the board, children have been seen as the primary concern in regards to elevated lead levels and the health impacts it may cause. Some reasons for this heightened threat include: children take in a higher ratio of lead versus their body weight because they are smaller, they are likely to ingest lead more than adults do simply based on the amount of times they put their hands in their mouth, and also the fact that they are still going through physical development and it makes them more susceptible to the effects of lead. (Shilu and Prapamontol, 2000) A more comprehensive description of effects of lead poisoning include harm to cognitive, behavioral and nervous system health. (Sullivan, 2015) While it is important to address the human related health issues related to mining practices, it is also important to understand the human driven force behind these operations in the first place. The Industrial Revolution and the years following it are recognized as a significant contributor to the human impacts on the environment. The increased mechanization allowed for more efficient and large scale methods to extract the planet’s natural resources. The Industrial Revolution increased human’s desire to gain capital through the continued and expanded extraction operations, particularly in the mining industry. The consequences of these extractive activities are often only recognized in response to crisis, but only when such activities and their impacts cannot be successfully swept under the rug. Examples may include but are not limited to large scale mining disasters, pipeline leaks, and public water contaminations. In such instances the companies involved often try to minimize the fallout from disasters in order to continue operations regardless of the continued impact on both environmental and community health. We have drawn attention to the Omaha area and its increased lead levels due to the presence of ASARCO and its operations. However, the critical piece of this argument is that the negative consequences caused by this specific company were not isolated. They combine with other instances worldwide to compose a much larger global issue that has gone unnoticed for hundreds of years. It is imperative to highlight the long term health effects caused by both Industrial Revolutions on a global scale. The World Health Organization published research specifically unveiling substantial long-term effects of lead on global health. Before the Industrial Revolution, estimated concentrations of blood lead levels in people were 0.016 μg/dl. (Shilu and Prapamontol, 2000) The world post-Industrial Revolution has increased the blood lead levels in even the most remote parts of the world to 0.78 μg/dl. This article also noted that the “body lead burden of today’s populations is 500-1000 times greater than that of their pre-industrial counterparts.” (Shilu and Prapamontol, 2000) As exhibited throughout this narrative, it was a long, drawn out process to decide the fate of the ASARCO site, which included many discussions and debates between the company, the city, and the public. Ultimately, the City of Omaha and ASARCO decided that the space would be transformed into a public park, which we know today as Lewis and Clark Landing. The proposed park plan was finally agreed upon by all parties on April 13, 1992 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/52" title="Figure 4" target="_self">Figure 4</a>). (Rasmussen, 1992) Examination of the history of the ASARCO site on the Omaha Riverfront has allowed us to shed light on human’s relationship with the environment. However, there is always room to improve our relationship with the environment and clearly there is more work yet to be done. Specifically, in Omaha, there are many residential sites within the Superfund site waiting to be decontaminated. (Kemp, 2016) The decisions we make when we interact with the environment can have dramatic and tangible long-term consequences on the health of both the environment and the public. While public health is an important facet of this particular case, it should not be the only driver of environmental awareness and change. We have learned that our short term motivations to keep something we profit from can be lethal in the long run. This calls for a cultural change that needs to start with the understanding that the public and the environment are deeply intertwined, especially when it comes to profit driven decisions. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Annie Klein Jenna Mucci Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Anderson, Julie. “Manager: Asarco wants to speed up cleanup plan.” Omaha World-Herald, February 1996. “American Smelting And Refining Company Taken from Aksarben Bridge.” Bostwick-Frohardt Collection, Durham Museum Archives. http://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15426coll1/id/3845/rec/11 “ASARCO Incorporated History.” Funding Universe. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/asarco-incorporated-history/. Bratman, Gregory N., Hamilton, Paul J., Hahn, Kevin S., Daily, Gretchen C., and James J. Gross. “Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112.28 (2015). 8567-8572. Chapman, Duane C., et al. “Toxicity and Bioavailability of Metals in the Missouri River Adjacent to a Lead Refinery.” USGS, January 2001. http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA408607 City of Omaha, Nebraska “Omaha Lead registry”. https://www.dogis.org/Html5Viewer/?viewer=omahaleadregistry/ Curry, Emmett, “Biggest Lead Refinery.” Omaha World-Herald, April, 3, 1949. Decker, et. al. “Residential Property Values and Community Right-to-Know Laws: Has the toxics Release Inventory had an impact?” February 1, 2005. Growth and Change, vol.36 iss.1, winter 2005, pp.113-133. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2257.2005.00269.x Dukes Lee, Jennifer. “Asarco’s Cleanup Plan Wins Approval From State.” Omaha World-Herald, September 1997. Kim, Stephani et. al.“Lead, mercury, and cadmium exposure and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.” Environmental Research no. 126 (2013):105-110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2013.08.008 Lawrence H. Larsen, “Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs”. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 185. Markel, Howard. “Remember Flint.” Milbank Quarterly, 19 no. 2 (2016): 229-236, doi:10.1111/1468- 0009.12188. O’Connor, Michael. “Who was Louis Bostwick?” Omaha World-Herald, April 2015. http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/go/revisiting-early-omaha Omaha Public Library. “American Smelting and Refining Co., Omaha, Ne.” Nebraska Memories. http://www.memories.ne.gov/rights/opl.html Powell, Joy. “ASARCO Manager Defends Plant as Economic Mainstay.” Omaha World-Herald, June 30, 1995. Rabinowitz, Michael B. "Lead isotopes in soils near five historic American lead smelters and refineries." Science of The Total Environment346, no. 1-3 (2005): 138-48. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.11.021. Rasmussen, Jim. “Refinery Wary of Gateway Concept.” Omaha World-Herald, March 1992. Rasmussen, Jim. ”Riverfront Plans Retain Refinery: Concerns on Cost Compel Redesign.” Omaha World-Herald, April 1992. “Safety Order Includes Omaha Lead Refinery.” Omaha World-Herald. July, 1985. Shilu, Tong, von Schirnding,Yasmin E., and Tippawan Prapamontol. “Environmental Lead Exposure: A public health problem of global dimensions.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78.9. (Jan. 2000). 1068-1077. Sullivan, Marianne. “Reducing Lead in Air and Preventing Childhood Exposure Near Lead Smelters: Learning from the U.S. Experience.” New Solutions, 25 no.1 (2015): 78-101, doi:10.1177/1048291115569027 Thomas, Fred. “Effect of Omaha Firm’s Emissions Unclear”. Omaha World-Herald. July 1994. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7. Interim Record of Decision, Omaha Lead Site. https://archive.epa.gov/region07/cleanup/superfund/pdf/web/pdf/ols_rod.pdf “ASARCO/Groupo Mexico Chronology”. Their Mines, Our Stories. http://www.theirminesourstories.org/?p=1225 “World’s Largest Lead Refinery is in Omaha.” Omaha World-Herald. April, 1925 Kemp, Steve. “Going Home to manage the final steps of Omaha’s historic lead cleanup.” EPA. May 25, 2016. https://blog.epa.gov/blog/2016/05/going-home-to-manage-the-final-steps-of-omahas-historic-lead-cleanup/. 501 F.2d 504 “AMERICAN SMELTING & R. CO. v. OCCUPATIONAL S. & H. R. COM'N.” Library of Congress, 1974. https://www.leagle.com/decision/19741005501f2d5041927 EPA Health Risks Invisible Pollutants Lead Mining Production https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/93c1469fdd84dd253f9ecdd5d642f912.jpg f264ba94a03e9c3f1130b423e0bdbd2c https://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/original/b4cb9117eb7015b460d9697f0810b841.jpg 24265a1902b37caeb3460427bc647c6c 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 3 Description An account of the resource Picture of the Omaha's Parlin Orendorff and Martin Plow Company from 1911. This building was used for to produce plows and other farm equipment until 1964. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Photo Courtesy of the Durham Museum Archive 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. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://durhammuseum.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15426coll1/id/22206/rec/36 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 <img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4740/38752446300_776a102fdd_o.jpg" 100="" width="100% height=" /> 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/. Subject The topic of the resource Humans spent thousands of years hunting and gathering before the development of agriculture. Scientists call this change the “Neolithic Revolution.” Many argue this was the start of the Anthropocene. Plows and hoes have been a part of this story for over 4000 years. The “single wheel hoe” on display was handmade and likely built during the twentieth century. It overturns soil, buries weeds, and mixes nutrients. Nebraska’s agriculture grew as it industrialized in the nineteenth century. Farmers looked to companies in Omaha to supply necessary tools. Agriculture became the state’s basic source of wealth, and Omaha grew alongside it. As industrial agriculture grew globally in the 20th century, environmental consequences came with it, such as during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s or the USSR in the 1940s. The single wheel hoe predates this global shift towards agriculture. This hoe reminds us that agriculture takes many forms. Description An account of the resource Reliable food sources have been a major aspect of human life since the dawn of our existence. Humans spent thousands of years hunting and gathering until a new way of life emerged; the settled lifestyle of the agriculturalist. As agriculture became a widespread practice and the populations grew, human societies needed to find new ways to cultivate the land faster and more efficiently. Plows became increasingly popular as one of the main tools used to aid in the expansion of farming. Many farmers used plows to overturn the soil leaving the fertile earth on top, bury weeds, and mix soil. Small, hand held plows developed into to horse and oxen-drawn plows, which, by the nineteenth century progressed to larger industrial plows. Plowing has left an indelible impression on global landscapes and the Nebraskan environment. In the nineteenth century, “sod-busting” became synonymous with the idealized, American frontier ethic. It represented the pioneering spirit, the “progress” of westward expansion, and improvement and mastery of nature. More recent historians have viewed sod-busting with a more critical gaze. Geoff Cunfer has gone so far as to call plowing “ecocide” due to the disastrous effects humans and the implements we use have had on the ecosystem. (Cunfer, 2005) Our object reminds us that agriculture need not be synonymous with environmental “destruction.” The plow did not inevitably “break the plains.” However, many farmers throughout the nineteenth century and still today use a variety of agricultural implements, many of which confute these characterizations. Smaller, handheld plows, for instance, used in “backyard” farms promote healthier agricultural practices. These rudimentary plows are some of the least environmentally invasive yet beneficial instruments used in farming history. The plow is an important artifact in Omaha’s environmental history due to its contribution to the agricultural foundation on which Omaha and the greater Nebraska area was built. It links Omaha’s environmental history to the global history of the Anthropocene through the worldwide shift towards farming which has changed many aspects of the world we live in. The story of the plow begins after the Neolithic revolution. Early plow prototypes first appeared nearly 4,000 years ago in Sumar and Egypt in a dry environment that required moisture in the soil. (Pryor, 1985) These plows had rudimentary structures that would be barely recognizable if compared to the plows of present day. Many advancements took place over the years including the addition of wheels and improved handles to make maneuvering the plow through the fields easier. By the nineteenth century, farmers relied on local blacksmiths to produce the necessary farm tools. (Bonney, 1981) The plows produced during this time were made with metal bolts and bars, which attached the wood handles to the cultivators and wheels. In order to make a better furrow, blacksmiths incorporated cast iron parts into the plow design during the late 19th century to decrease the amount of soil that stuck to the plow. Prior to this development, plowing with an animal such as oxen required three farmers. The first to drive the plow, another to steer, and the last to clean the dirt off the blade. John Deere provided an even greater advancement of the plow through his creation of a steel plow. With Deere’s new steel design, the soil did not stick to the hoe and it pulled with less resistance. This decreased the amount of time, labor, and number of farmers needed to plow. Even with sharper pieces on the plows to cut through the soil easier, “a farmer walking behind a plow could only plow two acres a day.” (Bonney, 1981) By the end of the 19th century, machines pulled by horses were used instead of the human driven implements and farmers could plow up to seven acres a day. In 1903 there were different types of single wheel hoes and attachments available. These advertisements were used to display the prices varying from $3.75 to $11.00. With low prices like these, hoes were not limited to mass-production farmers, they could be used in the backyard. By 1911, the single wheeled hoe with one plows, multiple wheels, two hoes, three cultivator teeth, and rakes attached was selling for as little as $5.35 (Iron Age Farm and Garden Tools of 1903) (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/57" title="Figure 1" target="_self">Figure 1</a>). The single wheeled hoe is a type of plow, but one with a fundamentally different purpose. Rather than producing food to be sold in quantity, it would have been used for gardening. Plains farmers, even those with significant acreage planted in single crops, often cultivated large kitchen gardens. Farmers growing vegetables typically use wheel cultivators to aid in their gardening (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/56" title="Figure 2" target="_self">Figure 2</a>). These smaller plows are used to “loosen the soil, allow moisture to reach the roots of crops and to keep down the weeds." (Moulton, 1997) A single wheeled hoe is useful because farmers are able to plant seeds in more narrow rows compared to the rows created by using a double wheeled plow or a plow pulled by a horse. This allows more crops to be produced in a smaller space thereby increasing productivity. The tire used in this plow resembles that of a bicycle tire contributing to our argument that this was a homemade implement. The wooden arms of the plow appear to be screwed to the cultivator teeth. This single-wheeled hoe is made of a bike tire, two wooden handles, and steel cultivator teeth. The object is useful for both amateur and professional gardeners. Recreational gardeners use it to save time and decrease effort. Professional gardeners use this object because it is more precise. It is also sturdier and can be effective though “many sessions… The hoes are used for weeding, mulching, and shallow cultivation… The cultivator teeth or ‘duckfeet’ are for general cultivation. They have a narrow neck with a wide head for turning over the weeds. The plow is rugged enough to do real plowing or furrowing.” (History of the Wheel Hoe) This object is in The Durham Museum's collection because of the many agricultural supplies produced in Omaha as well as the numerous farms in the surrounding area. One place of this production in Omaha was the Parlin Orendorff and Martin Plow Co. This building of this wholesale company was located at 707 S 11th Street in Omaha and was built in 1906 (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/55" title="Figure 3" target="_self">Figure 3</a>). The railroad and nearby river were used to distribute the agricultural tools from this building. In 1903 the main interests in South Omaha included livestock and packing. At that time, Omaha “[had] some good agricultural lands outlying." (Wills, 1995) While it is believed that this object was handmade, it may have been inspired by products made in this building. In the territorial period, farming was limited in Nebraska. Farms were only about fifty acres, and the “tools and implements” were crude and simple. Markets for agricultural products were few, and capital for investment was in short supply. But after Nebraska was linked by rail to the East by 1869, farming was transformed into the state’s basic producer of wealth - the foundation of its economy.” (Traveler's Railway Guide, 1903) Plows became more common by the 1870s. “Nebraska farmers could buy a variety of new and improved plows… [and] cultivators." (Luebke, 2005) The plows used during this time allowed farmers to produce large quantities of crops that stimulated economic growth and the personal wealth of these farmers. Due to this economic impact, the cities of Nebraska were able to develop homes and businesses that lead to the establishment of cities like Omaha”. This single wheeled hoe was used in both amateur and professional gardener: recreationally or occupationally. The Anthropocene highlights a history of human impact on the environment that is commonly seen in a negative light. Plows can easily be added to the list of man-made implements that produce disastrous environmental changes and threaten the future of the earth. Major events such as the Dust Bowl have been attributed to the overuse of plows and show the disastrous effects the plow can have on the environment. (Plow that Broke the Plains, 1936) Areas of land that are continuously plowed can quickly become useless for farming due to soil erosion and nutrient depletion from the earth that continues long after the land is abandoned. (Ciampalini et al, 2012) As the soil erodes it is carried away by water runoff or wind and becomes pollution in the air and water. Some soil and nutrients end up in nearby ponds or lakes making them dirty and reducing photosynthesis. (Lal, Reicosky, and Hanson, 2007) The pH of the soil is also affected by long-term plowing as well as the hydration of the soil which affects the soil’s ability to sustain crops over time. (Hester and Marrison, 2012; Percy, 1992) In addition to these more tangible effects, other consequences of plowing affect the earth’s atmosphere (<a href="http://steppingintothemap.com/anthropocene/files/show/58" title="Figure 4" target="_self">Figure 4</a>). Carbon dioxide and nitrogen emissions play a major role in the environmental change. As these harmful substances are released from the soil, they go into the atmosphere where they contribute to holes in the ozone and global warming. As shown in the following chart, plowing and other farming practices have had a major impact on environmental change. (Gilbert, 2011) However, single wheeled plows such as this one must be viewed from a different perspective. These smaller plows are used to participate in small scale, oftentimes organic farming that produces far fewer emissions and soil disruption than the large-scale plows. (Wu and Xie, 2011) They oftentimes do not use pesticides which helps decrease the runoff of toxins into the surrounding water and air. Smaller farms also commonly practice crop rotation which fosters healthier soil that does not require nearly as many fertilizers to grow healthy crops. The use of smaller plows such as this single wheeled hoe helps increase carbon storage and decreases nutrient depletion. (Bengtsson, Ahnstrohm, and Weibull, 2005) While the scale of these positive environmental impacts of farming with a single wheeled hoe are varied based on location and climate of the region, it is clear that this local farming avoids many of the harmful impacts of commercial farming. Additionally, urban farming does not require the removal of natural environments such as forests that oftentimes accompanies larger rural farming. This object is connected to the Anthropocene by the themes of agriculture, industrialization, and the growth of industry. The plow is deeply rooted in the history of agriculture, as it has remained a major contributor to the success of farming. The plow has been used in many cultures across the world for thousands of years. Preceded by the use of a digging stick, plows have changed the scale on which humans interact with the land. The plow’s association with agriculture assisted in creating an environmental impact that included the selection of species, indirect influences, ecosystem change, population pressure, climate change, and farming pressure. The environmental impact of the plow accelerated during the nineteenth century as a result of industrialization and the expansion of resource frontiers . via railroads, linking increasingly distant farmlands to growing cities. The farming implements themselves were also transported on these rail networks after the Industrial Revolution. As time went on, according to historian Michael Kopsidis, “demand from cities generated incentives for an intensification of agriculture. In this view, the urban dwellers that specialized in commerce, crafts, proto-industry, trade, and later on industry, were important and concentrated sources of demand for the output of farms.” (Kopsidis and Wolf, 2012) Companies were created for the sole purpose of selling this groundbreaking equipment to farmers. One of the most famous farm equipment companies, the John Deere Corporation, was founded due to their creation of a self-scouring steel plow. In addition to their popularity in the retail market, the plow’s capacity to strip soil of its nutrients has resulted in the need to quickly replace the lost nutrients of the soil. (Gregg, 2015) The plow has played a significant role in the history of agriculture as well as the emergence of the Anthropocene. Through its utility the plow has become one of the most influential instruments used in the farming community today. From the time people first began using plows, their usage had progressively increased. Farmers now rely heavily on plows to efficiently increase their crop production by burying weeds and previously planted crops and increased soil fertility. While historically most plows looked similar to this one, the farming equipment industry has exploded and today most plows are massive machines pulled by tractors used to cultivate hundreds of acres of farmland. The advancement of plows, although more efficient, have unfavorable impacts on the environment. However, plows similar to this single wheeled hoe have had a more positive effect on the environment through their promotion of organic farming methods that reduce the amount of toxins released into their environments. Our single wheeled hoe, thus, reflects a more hopeful view of the Anthropocene. Lately the focus has shifted to finding ways to use the plow responsibly to reduce its negative impacts. Recognizing the capacity of the land and shifting to the use of smaller plows such as this one could help reduce the emissions produced by large-scale farming. Farmers could also plant trees and shrubs surrounding their farms to reduce the wind erosion that is supported by the plowing 18 . These steps must be taken to reduce the impacts of the plow on the earth that can be seen through the Anthropocene. The plow has played a major role in the environmental history of Omaha through its contribution to the agriculture both within Omaha and the surrounding area. The effects of the plow must be considered with looking at the global history of the Anthropocene as it directly relates to the widespread shift towards farming which has greatly influenced our world. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Abigail Klick Michaela Peck Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Bengtsson, Janne, Johan Ahnström, and Ann-Christin Weibull. 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Title A name given to the resource Single-Wheel Hoe Agriculture Commodity Frontier Dust Bowl Erosion Greenhouse Gasses Industrialization Westward Expansion