Tanner Ferguson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Never Stopped Loving You" (6 min.)

“I Never Stopped Loving You” is a sort of video collage depicting a farewell to the world as we know it. It takes a pessimistic viewpoint, featuring a cast of characters mourning the loss of the vibrancy of nature. The actors are at first forced to come face to face with the destruction they’ve been accomplice to before they regret the beauty that was cost.

The inspiration came in part by discovering the beautiful music and in part by a growing sense of hopelessness that builds with every news article or post detailing the extremes of the changes we are afflicting on the Earth. This prompted the viewpoint as a looking back from a barren wasteland and struggling to find the words to express a decent apology. Which of course at that point, there are no apologies or excuses. So the only expression left is “I never stopped loving you” as an acknowledgement of the circumstances - not offering any solutions, recognizing there are none.

Blake Brundy, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Degradation, A Movement Piece" (5 min.)

This movement piece is meant to represent the relationship between humanity and nature. It portrays the complexity of our sentimental feeling towards nature, but when it calls out to us for help we ignore it. I hope this piece will break the political labels and other belief driven thoughts when viewing so that it captures the emotional and physical connection we have to the earth. When we really take a moment to look at what’s going on around us and reflect on what humanity has done to alter our world, what do we see? Although, this piece can be viewed as a man and woman’s turbulent relationship, and other interpretations, I ask you to look at it in the context of our relationship to Mother Nature through out human civilizations time on this planet. Land degradation, agriculture and other man made systems have helped to push our planet’s boundaries to the edge. How long until nature can no longer keep up with us? This video was filmed by Jake Hansen and featured dancer and actor Molle Barse.

Aaron Hancock & Abbey Morrison, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Our Home" (1 min.)

We wanted to create something that would catch peoples’ eye and make them think. Visuals can do that. But we did not want our video to be devastating and show massive destruction, deforestation, pollution, and so on. We primarily wanted to capture the beauty of our world, to inspire onlookers to want that beauty to stay. In our video, we state facts of things that are happening to our earth that are not very positive. Think of it this way: In your own home, your own car, your own space, do you want it to be clean? Do you want to take care of yourself and your belongings? We owe everything to our earth and the myriad of extinctions, endangerments, and consequences of climate change are all around us. The earth belongs to us and we belong to the earth. It goes both ways, and we can do better. We can keep our earth beautiful. “This is our home. Treat it like one.”

Shayla Patterson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Let's Care Enough" (Multimedia)

- “Let’s Care Enough” is a short video explaining a little more in depth what is happening to our earth due to plastic waste. It has a focal point of how plastic waste affects climate change, and some negative things we can expect from climate change. It not only shows how plastic affects the earth, but how it affects wildlife.

The inspiration came from attending the play “Plastic Ocean” a few weeks ago on campus. It really touched me, and while the play focused mostly on the ocean and ocean life, I wanted to show that more than just the ocean and ocean animals are affected. I wanted to take a serious approach to this slideshow because I believe that plastic waste is a serious problem, but one that can be improved and hopefully one day a problem that can be solved. “Let’s Care Enough” is meant to show the negative impacts of plastic waste, and then give ideas on how we can decrease the use of plastics to help make our earth be a healthier and better place to live. -

Corwin Schneider, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "It's Yours To", (Curated Video)

My project titled “It’s Yours To?” I wanted to make it simple yet virtually known by the people the are in the class as well as other people in my friend group. I want it to show that we are all causing what is hurting our planet not just a select few of us that is often time blamed on. I wanted the start to be similar to the beginning in that you can identify things you like to do in the summer and other seasons and then show that even though we like those things and heavily rely on the seasons that we also need to be aware at what cost it comes.

Sadie Leonhardt, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Not Just For Us" Spoken Word

This semester was full of enlightening and heavy information. The statistics that impacted me the most was all the loss. The loss of biodiversity, forests, uncontaminated drinking water, everything that makes our current way of life unsustainable. And not just for us. We live in a world of convenience. It’s sad to me that we are so concerned about our social spheres that we don’t stop to see the impact our social spheres have on our planet and on the other species that share it with us. I wanted to do something for my final project that reflected these concerns. Because I’m a Creative Writing major, I wanted to write a poem that, hopefully, makes people think. I added the statistics of global warming and biodiversity loss, but also references to the glaciers. I also wanted to set it to a slideshow so that, as we hear the words, we see the pictures, and it should make a bigger, more memorable, impact. I hope it succeeded!

Swimming through an ocean of ink,

Drip, drap, splat.

Torn wings on bottle caps,

Choked necks on plastic caps,

Environments that drip drap and splat-

Ter on an ocean floor of glass

And plastic

And more.

We fill our cups upstream,

And dump our waste downstream,

Destroying the resources that fuel our way of life.

We’re living the American dream.

But the white fence won’t be our legacy.

It will be the biodiversity loss we’ve caused with

Our symbolic blades and knives.

We have lost 60% of biodiversity in 40 years.

These numbers don’t seem too severe-

Unless you live in the 60% wiped out by

The ‘natural’ law of life.

Until you realize that we’ve warmed the planet

2 degrees in the last 100 years when it had only warmed 12

In the past 10,000.

Let me ask you this:

Do you roll your eyes when an add comes on showing

Polar bears breaking through the ice?

Do you even care, when you see pictures that compare

The disappearing glaciers?

I’m not here to change your mind,

That much is up to you.

But for me,

It’s hard to think that these ads we see

Are another species reality.

And it’s hard to think and recognize

That our way of life is unsustainable

Not just for us,

But for the 60% all ready wiped out and the 40 we have left.

How long until we realize that something has to change?

How long until we make those changes?

Keil Nicholas, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Iceland, (Poetry & Film)

An island sculpted by both powerful volcanic activity and incredible glacier formations, Iceland demonstrates the intense influence of both heat and cold, two of earth’s influential forces. Seemingly paradoxically, the balance between these forces produces not only some of the most beautiful geography on the planet, but also an environment in which life, including human life, can flourish. This poem offers Iceland as a metaphor for the type of balance mankind must achieve in order to maintain a just, vibrant, and sustainable way of living on our planet. As consumerism threatens to tip the scales inside each individual, only a personal return to balance in the hearts of human beings will bring balance back to society, and back to earth.

Chandler Zaugg, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "A Turtle Tale", Spoken Word

This narration is based off of an incredible experience I had watching a sea turtle as a teenager. I was on the shore of a Florida beach, and happened to see one lay its eggs at night. It was so memorable, and I remember it being a profound moment where I felt greater care for them, and concern for the kind of impact humans are having on the world. Unveiling the Anthropocene has reinforced these feelings much more, and as such, I thought this would be a neat story to share in relation to what we have learned in class.

Sariah Seare, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Jakobshavn"

This piece was meant to capture a small part of what it feels like to watch the calving of a glacier. I wanted to write this piece after I watched the film Chasing Ice and watched the longest calving event ever captured on film at the Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland. Adam Lewinter describes such an event as the following:

“That calving face is 300, sometimes 400 feet fall. Pieces of ice were shooting up out of the ocean 600 feet and then falling. The only way you can try to put it into scale with human reference is if you imagine Manhattan, and all [the] sudden, all the buildings just start to rumble, and quake, and peel off, and just fall over… …and roll around. This whole massive city just breaking apart in front of your eyes.”

The piece is first set up to paint a picture of the glaciers in their majesty. How their height and structure is something that most people could not imagine. Then an unknown sound is heard and starts to grow. It grows to an unmistakable thunder and is shown forth physically in the collapse of this massive glacier. The falling and rolling continues and then dies away to an ocean recovering from turbulence.

Abigail Dean, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Once Our Planet Was Full" (Pop Music / Video)

The number and severity of problems with the Earth are currently higher than ever, yet many people sit idly by without even realizing. It is absolutely essential that people are informed of the issues happening. However, getting this information across in a way that is informative, yet interesting can be a difficult task. Music is one of the ways that ideas and opinions have been shared for years, yet it hasn’t been used nearly enough on this issue. “Once Our Planet was Full” is a cover of Lukas Graham’s song, “Seven Years.” By writing this song as a parody of a popular song, I hope that people will take the time to focus on the new words as opposed to the tune of the song since it is hopefully one that is already familiar.

The lyric video accompanying the song has two main goals. First, it aims to highlight the important words, concepts, and information in the song by only having those flash across the screen. Second, it depicts a picture of the earth in the background. As you watch the video, you do not realize the changes happening to the Earth. It seems to almost suddenly turn black and white near the end of the video. This picture was edited with the concept of exponential growth in mind. The amount the color changes doubles as the video continues – similarly to our use of fossil fuels and other earthly resources. It is a visual representation of what is happening to the earth each year that might be difficult for us to see with the naked eye and without science. The last frame of the earth picture again shows what the earth used to be. It aims to help put into perspective the drastic changes and damage being done by our actions and the way we live our lives.

Hopefully, this song and accompanying video will touch the hearts and open the minds of those who listen to it.

Caesar Perfido, Unveiling the Anthropocene | The Last O'o, (Original Composition, Percussion)

For my final project I decided to create a musical composition. My main inspiration for this composition was the bird call of the O'o bird from Kauai. The bird went extinct in 1987, with reasons ranging from the introduction of invasive species to deforestation and habitat loss. The mating call from the last male O'o was recorded before the whole species went extinct. Something about hearing the last of its kind sing for a mate that would never come was very dolorous to me. Does the last O'o know that it's the last one? Does it know that his singing efforts will be for nothing? This provided the emotional framework for the piece.

For this project, I wanted to create a soundscape for the listener to become immersed in. I was greatly inspired by Karel Husa's “Apotheosis of This Earth” for this reason. The piece creates a sense of doom, and the piece itself is to serve as a warning to the future to preserve and save our planet from our destruction. It is a very emotionally overwhelming piece.

The first movement of my composition is trying to paint the image of a thriving forest, full of life. Some of the bird calls I used were the O'o, the mourning dove, and the black capped chickadee. I also wanted to bring to light the problem of habitat destruction within my piece. In the second movement, humans being to occupy the birds' habitat. The main melodic material in this movement is the Dies Irae, which is a Gregorian chant that translates to “Day of Wrath”. When humans destroy habitats, the animals experience their own Day of Wrath. The final movement is the aftermath of the destruction of the birds' habitat. Metallic instruments are used to show human development at the expense of nature, as well as create an unsettling ambience. The O'o gives it's final mating call, unanswered, and fades into the distance and into history itself.

Trevor Christiensen, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Frailty" (Solo Performance)

My inspirations for this piece came primarily from my feelings on Climate change response. In large part society as a whole has turned a blind eye to our influence on the Earth. Because of this the natural balance is put under more stress, which is having larger and larger effects across the world. It is an active threat to biodiversity, and entire ecosystems are feeling the effects already in the form of population and habitat loss. If we continue to ignore climate change we put our home at risk, but it's important to remember that the earth houses much more than just us. Ultimately we risk losing even more beauty than we already have up until this point. This piece is meant to embody the idea of something fragile or otherwise innocent being pushed to the edge by no fault of its own. The piece evokes a sense of reality that feels obscured, which is meant to represent the facetiousness with which we treat a problem that we've caused. The piece serves as a gentle reminder that climate change presents a real threat to the beauty that occurs in the natural world - as It has no voice of its own with which to protest.

Hannah Jackson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Fire & Ice"

This piece represents the decline of arctic sea ice juxtaposed with the increase of world temperature within the last 35 years. For consistency between the graphs, the two pieces display data from the years 1980 - 2016. “Fire” uses a scale of degrees departed from the average world temperature, with an increase of almost 2° F since 1980. “Ice” shows the rapid decline of sea ice in square kilometers.

This project is inspired by the work of Jill Pelto, who uses scientific data within an artistic setting. Since the 1950s and the beginning of the Great Acceleration, the increase of average world temperature clearly correlates with the warming of the ocean, melting glaciers, and disappearing arctic sea ice. The trends suggest a continuation of these detrimental consequences if we do not make changes.

Data Source: http://wxshift.com/climate-change/

Sam McCall, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Dismal Days" (Ceramic)

My project, Dismal Days, portrays a dystopian building made from clay slabs and wheel thrown parts with a black watercolor stain. I went with something reminiscent of a skyscraper alluding to corporations being one of the driving forces behind our oil fueled society. I cut and assembled the parts loosely to give the feeling that this building or system is unsustainable and could collapse at any moment. I also designed the piece to grow exponentially as it comes up to the roof and smoke stacks to help visualize our ever increasing carbon emissions.

This idea is attempting to capture the type of dystopian future we might encounter if we are to continue on the trajectory that we are on. I wanted the structure to be seemingly abandoned and on the brink of falling into ruin, but even in the face of destruction, on the brink of total collapse, there is one remaining constant lingering from today's current society, the ignorance to continue burning fossil fuels. I want this piece to symbolize the stubbornness of humans actively looking for more oil reserves and continuing to use fossil fuels as our main energy source while we are looking down the barrel of catastrophic climate change. Technology stands by the way side ready to be implemented to try to start to slow or reverse some of the effects, yet we stand, silent and still.

Dakota Nelson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Ocean Trash"

The title of this drawing is called "Ocean Trash". I was inspired to draw this piece because of the huge impact the ocean has had on my life. I I see the ocean as the most beautiful thing on our planet. When researching what to draw I found a picture of a Sea Horse holding a Q-Tip with its tail. This inspired me to look further into ocean pollution. Single use plastics are the largest source of ocean pollution. I hope this drawing helps inspire others to be an advocate for our oceans and keeping them clean.

Christy Syndergaard, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled

My piece is a photography piece depicting a girl surrounded by garbage and waste being reclaimed by nature. Everything we do leaves behind a mess that the earth will have to clean up, long after we are gone. This piece was inspired by a discussion from my Anthropocene class on how much garbage and waste humans leave in their wake

Ana Cristina Espinoza Gomez, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled

How much plastic can you save? This project was inspired by one of the arguments we came across in my Anthropocene class. As we discussed sustainable changes we can make in our lives, we grew concerned at the thought that we are people with little power and influence to make the big policy changes that are needed.

We turned the conversation to what we have already done. The topic of plastic straws and plastic bags being banned came up and a student rightfully claimed that while this is a change, it is not enough. I remember the concern that followed centered around the question, how can something so small help change a problem so big?

This project is made up of used cardboard and Dixie coffee cup lids gathered from a small cafe over a couple days. The coffee lids represent an average amount of cups a person like me, who often enjoys a cup of coffee or two a day, might use in a month. For some people, this is a week's worth of coffee cups. Painted on the surface is the image of a thermos. The goal of my project is to encourage people to think about the plastic they can save by carrying with them a reusable bottle. There are many benefits: You help to lessen plastic demand, your reusable bottle might hold more liquid so you get more for your money, and some places even provide reusable bottle users with discounts!

From up close, this look like a piece of trash with paint on it. The bottle is only seen once the viewer steps back and takes in the big picture. This is meant as a metaphor. This small change might seem small, but over time and with a large number of participants it can become significant. This is still not enough, but it is a start in the right direction.

Nate Hardy, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "What's the Point", acrylic on plywood, 4 x 4

We are a continuum of our environment, a figment of nature’s imagination. The topographical hand represents human’s intimate integration with the natural world.

In the last century, humanity has become a force formidable enough to drastically alter the harmonies of Earth’s ecosystems and only recently have we become aware of this fact. We have just begun to point at the problems— the flaw in the plywood, our industrial and cultural framework. The streak of snowmelt, the rising temperatures and tensions surrounding toxic consumerism. Only recently have we begun to offer sustainable solutions.

I will likely add a steak of blood red in the melt to show the decay of life, both human and “not,” resulting from our culture. “What’s the Point” is part of the ongoing conversation regarding climate change we’ve had in Dr. Davies’ class on the anthropocene. I’ve had Adam’s lone hand from Michelangelo’s, “The Creation of Adam” in mind while putting this piece together. We are already pointing ourselves in the right direction. It is time for us to chart our own change. It is time for us to take responsibility for our own creation.

Madison Rowley, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Mother Nature"

Throughout the class, "Unveiling the Anthropocene", my eyes have been opened to how much we effect our planet. This has changed the way I look at almost everything. It has also affected my artwork. For the Impact Show I decided to paint a picture of Mother Nature. Upon her head rests a crown that depicts several scenes of terror going on on earth, most of which happen because of choices we've made. Mother Nature also has tears rolling down her face, and her moth slightly opened. I wanted to represent the earth as a person for this project. I think that if we thing of the earth as a living thing, or person for that matter, we are more inclined to look out for it.

Trevor Knight, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled

Disassociation is common when regarding environmental issues. What some may consider straying from environment concerns, particularly the social issues, are an integral to preservation and conservation. Equality is for all; those that contribute the least to climate change, suffer the most from it. This installation simplifies the issue to an almost satirical level. If only it were as simply as throwing a dart and then fix whichever problem the dart landed on. Instead of black and white, these issues are gray. There is no silver bullet, no one action that will cure everything. In order to fix our environment, we must not wait for a single solution because there simply isn't one.

Catelyn Schmidt, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "What we have done; What we can do"

Words have always had a profound effect on me. Books and poetry have always been extremely important in shaping who I am today. I have found that a well written book or poem can change my mind, my actions, and me. So when I wanted to express what I have learned and felt in this class, I needed to use poetry to do so. I thought that the best way to describe these complex scientific findings is through simple and short words.

I wrote a series of short poems. There are nine total, one for each corresponding planetary boundary. I kept them very short as to create a profound emotional affect while stilling holding true to the science and research behind each category.

Tyler Wray, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Infected"

For my project, I created a painting that depicts humanity’s affect on nature. The painting is titled “Infected” because humanity’s affect on the earth is like an infection that is making the planet sick. I am not an artist, but I wanted to portray in some way the negative affect that humans are having on the earth. This semester, I had the opportunity to take a class that talked a lot about current issues facing the entire planet. From Global Warming to Biodiversity Loss, many topics were covered, but one thing was very obvious; humans are one of, if not the key contributor to many of these issues.

One thing I have taken away from this class, is that it is important to become informed on local and global issues. Before the general public begins to look into this information though, it is essential that their attention be grabbed in an impactful way. I think the Impact Show was named appropriately, because hopefully pieces of art like the ones displayed in this gallery can help call humanity to action.

Sarah Sanderson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "One Home Replaces Thousands"

I created this art piece for my final project in Unveiling the Anthropocene (CCA 3070). I was inspired for this piece after learning about how much the average home size has grown over the last several years. New homes built today are 62%, or 1,000 square feet, bigger than the average homes built in the 1970’s (Perry, 2015). This is important because it would take an average of 22 mature pines to build the new average American home, which is now 2,600 square feet. If you add in extra lumber to make cabinets and wood flooring, that number grows to 44 mature trees (Spratt, 2018). If home sizes have doubled, that means the lumber required to build them has also doubled, and this creates an issue regarding the earth’s biodiversity.

According to WWF (2018), the earth has experienced a biodiversity decline of 60% over the last 40 years. In tropical forest regions, where much lumber comes from, there has been an 89% decline. Habitat loss is a large contributing factor to this issue. 20% of the Amazon forest alone has been cleared in the last 50 years, and 92 MILLION hectares of forest were lost around the world between 2000 and 2013. While forests only cover 30% of the surface on land, they house 80% of the world’s species (WWF, 2018). This makes them vital to maintaining the biodiversity of species on the planet. As house sizes continue to climb, so will the destruction of these forests that are providing homes for so many.

Next time you think you need a bigger house, ask yourself, how many homes is my one home worth destroying?

References

Perry, M. J. (2016, June 5). New US homes today are 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973 and living space per person has nearly doubled. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from http://www.aei.org/publication/new-us-homes-today-are-1000-square-feet-larger-than-in-1973-and-living-space-per-person-has-nearly-doubled/

Spratt, S. (2018). It takes a lot of trees to build a house. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from https://www.homepreservationmanual.com/how-many-trees-to-build-a-house/

WWF. 2018. Living Planet Report - 2018: Aiming Higher. Grooten, M. and Almond, R.E.A.(Eds). WWF, Gland, Switzerland

Haley Argyle, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Reflect", Water Color & Mirror

As a society I feel our priorities are displaced. Rather than looking outward to place blame, we should be looking inward to solve the problems we have created for ourselves. Yet, we choose to continue on the path we have chosen and continue to feed the disposable machine. We strive to gain more and more without acknowledging the risks. I am as guilty as the next person. I don’t mean to create guilt or shame; I strive to raise awareness and change the way we look at these issues. While attending my CCA 3070 class, I have noticed something interesting about the way we as humans look at the obstacles in front of us.

This collection of water-colored drawings was created to showcase a small fraction of the animals that have been seriously affected by circumstances outside of their control. These beautiful creatures have lost their homes, their lives, or even their species as a whole. Exotic species like the golden toad are not the only ones effected either, animals that we see and interact with daily are seeing the consequences of our consumption as well.

In the center of my exhibition, I have placed a mirror. It is my hope that while viewers look at the images I have created, they will take a moment to look in the mirror and “Reflect” on the fact that the animals are not the only ones being affected. Like the animals, we as humans suffer from the choices’ we make every day, but unlike the animals we can and must do something to change.

Ben Christensen, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Ever Rising"

I have labeled this piece "Ever Rising" in order to emulate the nature of the rising sea levels. As described in text on my piece, I've used drops of water to represent people who are currently residing in coastal cities within the U.S. These cities have been predicted, if current trends of climate change continues, to be susceptible to harsh flooding and many other negative effects. The number of people have been calculated from the number of homes that are established in areas that will be the most affected by this rise in sea level. This strikes me as relevant and real information because these people's homes is where they have established themselves and their families. I am glad to have been able to create this project to show the our actions today will affect us tomorrow.

Megan Judd, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Upsurge", матрешки

In Russia, матрешки (nesting dolls), are a common souvenir for visitors to this European country. Often times these dolls tell a story as each doll is unstacked. These dolls share a story of the growth and consumption of our society as a whole across years. From deforestation across the globe, the invention of the car, and multiple other factories that have developed- we slowly see our atmosphere decline which in turn, will eventually have detrimental consequence affecting humankind across the planet.

Lydia Tullis, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Farmland", Stained Glass

This piece of stained glass was created to represent an abstracted view of farmland.

The farmland is significant to me for many reasons. I enjoy cooking with fresh ingredients as well as growing flowers and other plants outside of my home. Growing crops is one of the basic necessities of life and to do so we need crucial ingredients such as; water, sun, and air. These are things that we as humans have always had access to. However, continuing as we are it is possible that one day we live without fresh water, fertile soil, or clean air. Making a simple image such as crops growing simply unheard of.

I have created this piece to capture the beauty of the earth in a healthy state. To serve as a reminder to myself and others who see it to take care of our world, because if we don’t we may never see farmlands like this in the future due to a toxic environment that we have created.

Macie Gillman, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "The Funeral", Text and Visuals

For my final project, I wrote a short prose piece on plastic bags. I wanted to make the story visual with a lot of descriptive details. I think emotions are highly tied with pictures. I tried to personify nature in a way that would evoke strong emotions in a reader. I added strong sensory details. I wanted people to feel and almost touch the earth’s sadness it must feel. This isn’t a happy piece, I kept it true to the destruction that plastic has caused our world. In addition to my prose, I have added a slideshow, building work off a photographer and activist, Vilde J.. Rolfson. He takes stunning pictures of plastic bags and makes them look like landscapes. His message is subtle but clear. Like we don’t understand at first that the photographs are plastic, society has a hard time understanding the effects plastic bags have on our environment. I wanted to add to his beautiful message. Although my message in my writing isn’t as subtle, I hope when combining photographs with prose, it evokes a desire to change.

Mira Kershisnik, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled, 4'x4'

Take a gander at this unique place. This ecosystem is like no other. The only place that contains a variety of 4 solid colors. Thanks to the influence of homo sapiens, this place has been established. This place provides many places for its inhabitants to rest, such as soda cup lids and straws. The water, though it may be a little different in color, shouldn’t be a problem for these creatures. They simply had to change over time, say 20 years. We enjoy the implementation of these colors as a nostalgic touch from the times before. You don’t recognize it? It’s our world now! Our world in the Anthropocene.

Camille Brown, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" (Mixed Media)

This piece was inspired by the frustration I have experienced while further discovering the political nature of the climate change issue.

Pictured is the earth, predominately America, being torn into two pieces by the democratic and republican parties. This represents the fact that because the reality of climate change has been politicized we struggle to agree. The fight has been made “me vs. you” instead of “us vs. climate change” I have chosen to name this piece United We Stand, Divided We Fall. I have chosen this because I see it as a prime example of the negative effects of division within our society. I believe if we could come together for the betterment of our planet and stop squabbling over who proposed the idea, we could really make adjustments to our dire predicament.

I believe working together is the only way we can find a solution.

Hao Tran, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Change" (Graphic Design)

“It’s easy to think about the fate of an individual species. But what is a little harder to explain.. it’s the beginning of an ecological collapse of the entire ecosystem. It’s more than the species, the genus, the family, the order. We’re talking about the possibility that entire classes of organisms would go extinct.” -Dr. James Porter

This quote gave me the inspiration for the project. If we don’t start changing our current trends, in 30 years most of the world’s coral will be bleached. My project shows healthy coral at the top and bleached coral close to the bottom. I wanted to show viewers and increase awareness on how something so colorful and beautiful can be destroyed by humans. Change starts small because all it takes is doing the small things to help fix the bleaching trend. Turning off your car when not using it, recycling your plastic water bottles and cans, reducing garbage waste and keeping your car tires inflated are all small ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide per year. We can be the generation to keep this ecosystem alive.

Scotty Fletcher, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Planned Obsolescence" (Mixed Media)

Planned obsolescence is inspired by Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff. This mixed media piece was formed from improperly disposed materials found around campus at Utah State to create a mosaic meant to be viewed on both sides. It calls on the irony of taking materials that could have been reused or recycled and giving them obsolete eternity inside the laminate sheets, there is no second chance. A single piece of paper whose purpose was to be used once and then disposed now will never cycle make into the environment. We don't have a second chance with this planet, and we are swallowing it in plastic.

Delaney Phariss, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “Postcards from Disappearing Places"

Ever wish you could have spent a day in Ancient Rome or have seen a mammoth in a zoo? History books are full of places and things that have long since disappeared and that keep us wondering what those places must have been like. We are living in a time of disappearing places now, in the Anthropocene, where humans are the dominating force on the planet. Whether it be climate change, pollution, or development, we are destroying places across the globe. The future will just have excerpts in a history book, or old postcards, to look at and wonder what these places must have been like.

Monika Lewis, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled, (acrylic on canvas)

We live in a culture that worships bargain hunters, but do we ever take the time to consider the true cost of what we are buying? Instead of focusing on the monetary value of what we see in the supermarket, I want to invite people to think about what we are really exchanging in return for our goods and lifestyles. What are the societal costs? What are the environmental costs?

Libbey Hanson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “Us" (painting series)

I decided to call this painting series “Us” to show the interconnectedness of all living things on Earth. Humans tend to have a large ego and we see ourselves as the only organism to consider. However, there are many other species here that are affected by our actions. At the end of the day, we all share this planet, and all are connected as inhibitors of Earth.

The first painting was inspired by the documentary Chasing Coral, a film about the bleaching of coral around the world due to rising temperatures in the ocean. There was a scene in the film where an area of coral turned neon. It was explained this coloring served as a sunscreen before the coral would eventually bleach and die; it was as if the coral were saying “Notice Us,” hence, the title of the piece. It is this quote that inspired the entire series and the notion of “us.”

The second painting was inspired by the documentary Before the Flood with Leonardo DiCaprio, a film examining the overall issue of human impact on the warming climate. The film dedicated time to focus on the orangutans in Indonesia who are being displaced for the production of palm oil, an oil used in most everything humans consume. As the palms are cut down for oil, the species lose their home. The title “Help Us” calls attention to this issue.

The third painting was inspired by the documentary Chasing Ice, a film documenting the quickly melting ice caps. As the ice caps melt, our ocean gets rises and land decreases. Not only this, but magnificent lands of ice are lost forever. The title “See Us” comments on our own blindness towards this issue. Because we do not live among the glaciers, we don’t see this happening; we don’t necessarily recognize the rising of the ocean and loss of ice. Before it is too late, the issue needs to be seen.

The fourth painting is the overall call to action that emphasizes our responsibly as human beings to protect our home and its residents. Only we can do something about it; only we can fix it as it is our actions that have caused it. The issue may seem big and scary, and honestly it is. However, as Greta Thunberg says, “when we act, hope will be everywhere.”

Zane Williams, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Scenes of Logan" (Photography)

Often times when people think about climate change, they imagine pictures of Icebergs melting, rain forests being cut down, or some other generalization of climate change that has been shown many times before. With this project I tried to show that it is not just places on TV that are being impacted by climate change and pollution, but also Logan and Cash Valley as well. The photos were primarily taken on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and by the Logan canal. The photos show algal bloom, trash, and extreme changes in the weather. It’s time that people realize that climate change impacts us all, everywhere we live, and on all levels.

Marissa Devey, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "(in) Disposable", (Graphic Design)

How will it be to be

when we become the ones crowded out by convenience shackled by plastic straws and six-pack rings?

Possessed by our possessions, consumed

by compulsive consumption. Evicted from home, enslaved by single-use stuff,

displaced from dignity,

our ecology unraveled.

Us, too, inevitably erased, entombed in our own synthetic salvation.

I think I'll miss

the blank_ space_

that doesn't end

with a period and begin

with a capital letter.

I’ll miss

the empty places without

concrete edges, the quiet of

dirt full of worms, no plastic, where being small

still feels significant,

where my microscopy still feels like a constellation of

cosmic composition: (in)permanent yet (in)finite, (un)remarkable yet (in)disposable, where it still means something

to be alive.

Amberlee Merrill, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Ouroboros", (Embroidery)

The image of the Ouroboros, or the snake eating itself, is used in many beliefs and cultures to represent the cyclical nature of the universe. In order for things to be created, things must be destroyed. There is a natural order to everything. The tail is cut off in this depiction to show that we, as humans, have interrupted the Earth’s natural cycles.

Brinley Adams & Mackenzie Heiner, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled, (Sculpture)

Mackenzie Heiner and Brinley Adams created this work of art from garbage and single use disposable trash. We dedicated this semester to collect trash we see in our community and on campus and transformed it into something beautiful. We handpicked certain pieces of trash to incorporate into our project so it would add color and dimension to the art piece. We arranged the piece of art the way that we did so others could see how our everyday living trash can hurt our environment. We wanted the art piece to be beautiful from afar. However, once the viewers get closer, the will realize that the beautiful piece is not only political in nature, but made from the garbage they use every day.

Madeline Liddell, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "If it were you...", (Photo Series)

This series of photographs was inspired by the idea that if we were the ones trapped in plastic, we would do something to fix the problem. If you went over to your friends house and made a mess, the polite thing to do is simply clean up after yourself. But, even if you didn't clean up after yourself, your friend most likely has the ability to clean their own house.

The plastic that we have put in our oceans has become a problem, because it as though we have gone to an abandoned house, made a mess, and left it there for no one to clean up. We need to treat ocean clean up as if friends came over to our house and left a mess, and now it is our responsibility to clean it up, because after all Earth is our collective home.

Model: Abigail Sara Smith

Kalee Tyson, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Think Before You Drink", (Practical Art)

Inspired by an increasingly more plastic world, I created a piece of practical art that combines common plastic products and one of the earth’s most precious life forms: PLANTS!!

Kayla Berryman, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Two Poems" (Creative Writing)

For my final project, I wrote two poems titled “Cinderella Tries on Environmental Footprints”, and “The Little Mermaid Lost Her Tongue Too Early”, a short collection of poems illustrating different attitudes towards environmental concerns.

In the poem I wrote titled “Cinderella Tries on Environmental Footprints”, I tried to convey the attitude that many people in our class felt when discussing environmental issues in our class—one of defensiveness, but also a sense of guilt at the same time for our lifestyle which many of us are accustomed to and isn’t our fault.

In “The Little Mermaid Lost Her Tongue Too Early” I played on the idea of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. In this poem I tried to convey the attitude of hopelessness that many students in our class expressed. A sort of “this-is-happening-and-we-can’t-do-anything-and-it’s-too-late” attitude.

My main inspiration for these poems came from the poet Jeanine Hall Gailey, who has written two chapbooks I thoroughly enjoyed titled Becoming the Villainess, and Field Guide to the End of the World, both of which deal with issues concerning gender and the environment, told through the voice of characters from mythology, fairy-tales, and pop-culture. Reading Gailey’s books my sophomore year of college is what propelled me to start writing poetry once I realized poetry could tackle serious subjects and still be enjoyable to the audience. In these poems I tried to draw mainly on the older versions of the fairy-tales rather than the Disney versions, which tend to gloss over the violence and horror found in many fairy-tales.

Abby Ensign, Unnveiling the Anthropocene | "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People " (Braided Essay)

My inspiration for this piece was initially my love and admiration of the national parks. However, as I started doing some research on the history of the parks, I came across the phrase with regard to their creation, “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” It stood out to me, and I realized it was because I found it both beautiful and troubling.

That phrase became the drive behind my idea to write a braided essay where I wove experiences from my life that attempt to demonstrate the duality of this phrase with the history of the creation of the parks. I wanted to demonstrate human’s immense capacity to be good stewards of the Earth of which we get to enjoy, as well as our ability to cause great harm. My hope is that this piece encourages those who read it to contemplate how they can be better nurturers of our home, Earth.

Angela Rodriguez, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Blackout" (Blackout Poem)

I wanted to find a way to represent the simultaneous hope and despair that one can feel when learning about the Anthropocene. As I have been learning more about the Anthropocene and climate change, I have realized how easy it is to feel despaired at the the world around us. For my project, I created a blackout poem using the first paragraph on the Utah Rivers Council Climate Change page (http://utahrivers.org/climate-change). I chose to use this piece of text because it hits close to home as the entire website is focused on Utah. The original text and graph is included with my project. I then created two separate blackout poems: one that is pessimistic and another that is proactive and optimistic. I chose to do this because often, it is easy to feel weighed down disappointed. The other poem shows that there is still hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. We can all make small changes; we can all be proactive.

Nicole King, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “There we see the signs" (Poetry)

I wrote “There we see the signs” as a response to the Unveiling the Anthropocene class. I chose poetry because I believe that words have far more power than people sometimes know. I wanted to capture just a little bit of the scope of the problems facing our planet and the people living here.

Naomi Ward, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “Down by the Cay, Where the Melomys Grow" (Story Book)

In visual representations of how climate change has affected the world’s oceans, we often see the effects on wildlife without considering how we, as land animals and as people, might feel the repercussions of changes we have caused. In this e-zine, the Bramble Cay melomy narrates how climate change affects the ocean, which then affects marine life, and then affects us. In 2019, the Bramble Cay melomy was declared the first animal to go extinct due to climate change. The title is a reference to the nursery rhyme “Down by the Bay”, for no reason in particular.

Hannah Liddiard, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “The Trouble" (Poetry)

Before I took the Unveiling the Anthropocene class, I knew that climate change was a genuine issue. I knew that it is changing our earth and has the potential to end humankind. I didn't realize that it is happening so quickly and that the fatal effects are already changing people's lives. If we keep going in the direction that we're going, the world is going to be a very different and catastrophic place and in a short amount of time. We, as a generation and country, need to start changing and changing fast to fix what we can. I think that's the most important take away from the class. If we want to save ourselves— not just our planet— we need to start changing now. That is why I wrote my poem Trouble. I hope it helps people understand the urgency of where we are today.

Amber Stearns, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Market Day", (Short Story)

I really struggled with trying to come up with an idea that would encompass a sense of the Anthropocene, and I had originally wanted to do something about the destruction of our world and what we would leave behind if we did nothing to stop it. After watching Human Flow, I decided to take my project in another direction and focus on a bit more of the refugee movements, specifically the Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank. My family is originally from Palestine, so seeing it mentioned in the movie hit hard. My aunt Amal was there when the Israelis moved in and her siblings remember having guns pointed at them in their own home as they were escorted out and sent to refugee camps.

While I do not focus on this in my very short story, I wanted to give a quick taste of what it meant for them to leave their homes in the West Bank, how even going to the market to buy groceries could be dangerous. My aunt remembers being shot at in the market and in this small piece I want to be able to convey that threat while also maintaining a sense of normalcy that juxtapose each other.

Thank you for reading,

Jacob Alder, Unveiling the Anthropocene | “Food Cycle" (Cookbook)

Vegetables taste great. Even better, they are great for your body and the earth. In this short cookbook, Jacob Alder, a student advocate for plant-based diets, introduces some of his go-to recipes. There are thousands of delicious plant-based recipes out there and this cookbook gives an idea of just a few of them.

Why would anyone want to eat plant-based foods instead of meat and dairy? For Jacob, the decision to transition away from animal-based foods came after he learned about the significant impact the modernized food system has on the world. The meat and dairy industries require incredible amounts of energy, land, and water…and pollute waterways, wreak havoc on soil systems, and weaken the ozone.

For those living in the developed regions of the world where we have access to so many delicious foods, we need to take action to live more responsibly and compassionately. Eating a plant-based diet helps me live my best life—I hope it helps you, too!

Jonah Allen, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Notes from the Dead and Dying," Essays

There is, in one way or another, a morbid whimsy to each of these stories. The ‘Union of Concerned Ruminants’ is a didactic and only slightly less juvenile response to the old ‘cow farts cause global warming’ strawman argument/joke. It is also meant as a (very) brief commentary on willful ignorance. ‘Cetacean Stranding’ is equally juvenile but slightly more morbid. I hoped for it to capture some of the absurdity and grotesqueness of nature and humanity’s impact on it.

I think that ‘The Silence Speaks For Itself’ deserves a little more explanation. For starters, it just seemed necessary to write this. When I started writing it, I knew I needed a bird that was not all that interesting visually, but had an unforgettable song. It also had to be extinct or on the brink of extinction. After a lot of research, it was no contest for the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō. It just so happens that this bird was also mentioned in the documentary Racing Extinction. It turns out, it’s hard to find a more symbolic bird for the extinction crisis.

It was nothing to behold. Utterly forgettable. Hard to even make out in the forest canopy.

But you had to listen, and then you could never forget.

The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō was last heard in 1987.

Sadie Croshaw, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "I Love the Earth", Children's Book

What has bothered me most as I’ve learned about the desperate state of our planet is that our society has turned it into a political issue. We have to accept our situation as fact and simply begin educating and acting. One big step is to build a feeling of gratitude for the earth and all that is provided for us. That’s why I wrote this children’s book. Children need to have their eyes opened to the beauty of the earth and develop a sense of gratitude for what we have so that there is hopefully an innate desire to take care of their part of the earth and be conscious of their choices.

Mike Staples, Unveiling the Anthropocene | "Where have all the ducks gone?", (Magazine, Graphic Design)

This artist project that I have created quickly became more of a research project. I had the awesome opportunity to speak back and forth through email with several biologists who game me their take on the topic. They also were kind enough to point me in the direction to where I get news articles, books, and research papers that they’ve published. I went into this project hoping to learn a lot mostly for my benefit. I’m an avid waterfowl hunter but more than anything else I train and breed the Labrador Retriever breed. I’ve noticed over the past 3-5 years that duck seasons here in UT and ID have really slowed down. People have been concerned wondering what’s happening to their typical migration patterns. Everyone seems to have their theories or ideas as to why the seasons aren’t what they used to be. This has directly impacted me and my family because less clients for dog training have come my way. When we have a litter of puppies not many people are interested. I have noticed that when it was a great duck hunting season business for me as a trainer is booming. Where have the ducks gone? Why aren’t they migrating like usual? I’ve read and seen many studies for this. My goal for this magazine however wasn’t to completely put all the facts figures and data on there. It was mostly to give someone who didn’t know anything about waterfowl a basic background or rundown of waterfowl and where the concern comes from. Hunters all across the country are in consensus that things have changed but they don’t want to look at the evidence as to what could be causing it. Global warming amongst hunters is laughed about. Maybe some more studies and research on this topic will hit home to them a little better than a line chart on CNN.

Ellery Andrew & Anna Hunsaker, Unveiling the Anthropocene | Untitled, (Stop-Motion Video)

The majority of people are very familiar with the process of recycling, its purpose, and the general benefits of sorting out their waste. Determining the recyclable value of waste can often feel difficult, or instructions seem vague to the trash-thrower. So what exactly do we need to sort, and then how is what we throw out sorted and actually recycled? What is that process and what good am I actually doing by making the effort to recycle

For our project, we have created a stop-motion video to tell the story of recycling…where our trash goes, and what the process is itself. We felt inspired by this idea because we liked the simplicity of the video, explaining to both adults and kids the recycling process through art. Our video demonstrates a teachable way for the public to understand how waste is transformed into other resources.