July 20,1969 — a date that lives in my memory as the great divide, the B.C. It was the day of the first walk on the moon by humans. In 1960, the oft-expressed optimism of the United States and the Government of South Vietnam that the Viet Cong were nearly defeated proved mistaken. Nihon or Nippon, country (2005 est. 127,417,000), 145,833 sq mi (377,835 sq km), occupying an archipelago off the coast of E Asia. Where We Have Been; Where We Can Go. Energy. and the Human Journey: Where We Have Been; Where We Can Go. By Wade Frazier. Version 1. May 2. 01. 5. What Has Not Worked So Far, and What Might. Footnotes. Dedication. This essay is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Professor and Brian, two great men whom. Buckminster. Fuller’s pupils called my writings “comprehensivist” and I did not know. I realize that almost nobody on Earth today can pass the. I do not ask. that of anybody whom I will attempt to recruit into my upcoming effort. Below is a diagram of. Buckminster Fuller. For that simplest element, hydrogen, its lone electron has an affinity to pair. Provides the power for all of Earth's geophysical, geochemical, and. Earth. Life on Earth beginsc. Organisms begin to capture chemical energy. Enzymes appearc. 3. Enzymes accelerate chemical reactions by millions of times, making. LUCA) possible. Photosynthetic organisms first appearc. Organisms begin to directly capture photonic solar energy. Oxygenic photosynthesis first appearsc. Oxygen is generated, which complex life will later use, which makes. Aerobic respiration first appearsc. Allows for more energetic respiration than anaerobic respiration. Complex cells first appear (eukaryotic)c. Allows for larger cells and far greater energy generation capacity. Sun creates it. First chloroplast createdc.
Allows for direct energy capture of complex life, and led to plants. Dramatic climb in atmospheric oxygen, to eventually. First large- scale energy users. Deep oceans oxygenatedc. Creates conditions for complex life to appear, first in the global. Cambrian Explosion beginsc. First complex ecosystems appear. Teeth appearc. 5. Concentrated application of muscle energy. Reef ecosystems. appearc. The most complex aquatic ecosystem appears. Land plants appearc. Energetic basis for land- based ecosystems appears. Land animals appearc. Ability to create non- aquatic ecosystems. Jaws appearc. 4. 20 mya. Greatest energy manipulation enhancement among vertebrates until the. Vascular plants appearc. Ability to create vertical ecosystems. Trees appearc. 3. Largest organisms ever, and greatest energy storage and delivery to. Fish migrate to. landc. Precursor to dominant land animals. Seed- reproducing plants appearc. Ability to colonize dry lands. Amniotes appearc. Ability to survive in dry lands. Lignin- digesting organism appearsc. Ability to make tree- stored energy available to ecosystems. Dinosaurs appearc. Among the first terrestrial animals with upright posture, enabling. Tools first usedc. Confers energy advantage to tool user. Flowering plants appearc. Great energy innovation to reduce reproductive costs, and animals are. The control of firec. Allows protohumans to leave trees, become. Earth's dominant predator, alter. Projectile weapons inventedc. Allows for first low- energy transportation, and ability to travel to. Widespread domestication of plants and animalsc. Provides the local and stable energy supply that allowed for sedentary. First metal smeltedc. Allows for tools highly improved over stone, for greater energy effectiveness. Plow inventedc. 7 kya. Allows for greatly increased energy yields from agriculture. First sailboat inventedc. First technology to take advantage of non- biological energy. Wheel inventedc. 5. Reduces energy use for ground- based transportation. Coal first burnedc. First use of non- biomass for chemical energy. Iron first smeltedc. Allows for vastly improved tools. Coal used to smelt metalc. First use of non- biomass to smelt metal. Watermill inventedc. First time the energy of the hydrological cycle is harnessed for use. Windmill inventedc. First time wind is harnessed for use on land. Steam engine inventedc. First time the motive power of fire is harnessed. Europe learns to sail across the world's oceans. The years 1. 42. 0 – 1. Turns global ocean into low- energy transportation lane and allows Europe. First use of coal for smelting metal in England. First act of Industrial Revolution. First commercial steam engine built. First time the motive power of fire is harnessed to perform work. First practical use of electricityc. New way to use energy would revolutionize civilization. First commercial oil well drilled. The most coveted fuel of the Industrial Revolution is first used. Incandescent lighting first commercializedc. First commercial use of electricity. No land masses yet. Earth, Moon, and oceans form. Maps begin to be made with confidence at about 7. Earth’s two Snowball Earth events (1, 2). Banded. iron formations coincide with ice ages. Late Cryogenian Map. Supercontinent. Rodinia breaks up. Mid- Ediacaran Map. Deep ocean is oxygenated. Late Cambrian Map. Continents primarily in Southern Hemisphere. Late Ordovician. Map. Paleo- Tethys Ocean begins forming. Mollusks proliferate and. Mid- Silurian Map. Hot, shallow seas dominate biomes. Late Devonian Map. Continents closing to form Pangaea, ice age begins at end of Devonian. Fishes thrive. 3. Early Carboniferous Map. End- Carboniferous. Map. Atmospheric oxygen levels highest ever, likely due to carbon sequestration. Late Permian Map. Tethys Ocean forms. Mid- Triassic Map. Pangaea begins to break up. Early Jurassic Map. Mid- Jurassic Map. Late Jurassic Map. Northern continents split from southern continents. Mid- Cretaceous Map. End- Cretaceous Map. Sea levels dramatically rise. Paleocene Climate Map. Greenhouse Earth conditions still prevail. Mid- Eocene Map. Late Eocene Map. Warmest epoch in hundreds of millions of years, but began cooling midway. Icehouse Earth conditions. Oligocene Climate Map. Cool epoch, as Antarctic ice sheets form. Mid- Miocene Map. First half of epoch is warm, then cools down. Would appear nearly identical to today’s global map. Earth continues to cool, and land bridge of North and South America. South American mammals. Early Pleistocene. Map. Late- Pleistocene Map. Current ice age begins. Mammals already cold- adapted, and relatively few extinctions, until. By the 2. 1st century. Sixth Mass Extinction in the eon of complex. When a star becomes a supernova, those heavy elements are sprayed into the. Earth’s volume is about one trillion cubic kilometers. When life first appeared, it was single- celled and simple. Ediacaran fossils have been found in a few. Readers for the collective task that I have in mind need to become familiar. FE and other fringe. Unknown, but almost all Ediacaran forms disappeared. Anoxia Cambrian Explosion Mid- Cambrianc. Unknown, but small shelly fauna largely disappear. Anoxia. End of Golden Age of Trilobites. Unknown, but half of trilobite species go extinct. Temperature and sea level changes and anoxia. Ecosystem functioning not fundamentally altered. Climate and sea level changes. Seafloor communities devastated. Climate change, sea level changes, and anoxia. Seafloor communities devastated. Climate change, sea level changes, and anoxia. Late Devonian c. Series of extinctions. Marine extinction. Sea level changes related to ice age and continental uplift related. Pangaea. 3. 07 mya. Rainforest collapse. Ice age. The rise of reptiles. Permian–Triassic c. Series of extinctions. Ammonoid and conodont mass extinction. Volcanism, warming, sea level changes, and anoxia. The dominance of dinosaurs. Reefs and ammonites devastated. Volcanism, anoxia. Carbonate hardgrounds become common in calcite. Reef collapse, bivalves had about a 2. Falling sea levels. Cretaceous period rise of ornithischians. Marine event which may have marked the final extinction of ichthyosaurs. Bolide impact, and perhaps also volcanism and sea level changes. The end of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. Seafloor communities devastated, up to 5. Volcanism, release of methane hydrates from. Warm- climate species migrate or go extinct. Half of European mammal genera, all. Migration of Asian mammals to Europe, Icehouse. Earth conditions in oceans. Relatively cold Oligocene Epoch begins. Warm- climate species migrate or go extinct. North American bivalve species, Florida’s reefs. Closure of gap between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans between the Americas. Gulf Stream dynamics which may have initiated current. Current ice age in Northern Hemisphere. The majority of mammalian species. May reach 5. 0% or higher by 2. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)Chapter summary: Until Ediacaran fossils were recognized for what they were, the Cambrian Period (c. Darwin onward. An irony of fossilization is that conditions hostile to life usually left the best- preserved. Around 5. 30 mya, the first brachiopods, reef- building animals, and. Below is an artist's conception. Cambrian seafloor. Holling’s work. has been seminal in this regard. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)Chapter summary: With the extinction that ended the Cambrian Period, animal life’s greatest. Ordovician. (c. 4. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)World map at end of Carboniferous Period (c. Source. Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)World map in late Permian Period (c. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map. Chapter summary: The period succeeding the Devonian is called the. Carboniferous (c. Artists have been depicting Carboniferous swamps for more than a century, and. In the oceans, the Carboniferous is called the Golden Age. Sharks, and ray- finned fish arose to a ubiquity that they have yet to fully. In the early Carboniferous, the continents were still somewhat dispersed. Pangaea. 2. 99 to 2. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)World map in mid- Cretaceous (c. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map. Chapter summary: The period following the greatest extinction event ever is called the Triassic (c. Cretaceous (c. 1. Golden Age of Dinosaurs. In the late Jurassic, as ornithischians began to become. Cretaceous extinction: birds. In the late Jurassic, armored stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. Cretaceous, which reached its peak with Triceratops in the late. Cretaceous. 1. 45 to 6. It is probably safe to say that if the end- Cretaceous extinction had multiple. Source: Wikimedia Commons) (map with names is here)World map in early- Miocene (c. Source: Wikimedia Commons). Maryland facts, information, pictures . The state motto (originally that of the Calverts) appears on a scroll below. The circle is surrounded by the Latin legend Scuto bon. The surrounding inscription, in Latin, means . The state extends 1. Maryland is bordered on the n by Pennsylvania; on the e by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean; on the s and sw by Virginia, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia (with the line passing through the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River); and on the extreme w by West Virginia. Important islands in Chesapeake Bay, off Maryland's Eastern Shore (the Maryland sector of the Delmarva Peninsula), include Kent, Bloodsworth, South Marsh, and Smith. The total boundary length of Maryland is 8. The state's geographic center is in Prince George's County, 4. Davidsonville. TOPOGRAPHYThree distinct regions characterize Maryland's topography. The first and major area, falling within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, is nearly bisected by the Chesapeake Bay, dividing Maryland into the Eastern Shore and the Western Shore. The Piedmont Plateau, west of the coastal lowlands, is broad, rolling upland with several deep gorges cut by rivers. Further west, from the Catoctin Mountains in Frederick County to the West Virginia border, is the Appalachian Mountain region, containing the state's highest hills. Backbone Mountain, in Garrett County in westernmost Maryland, is the state's highest point, at 3,3. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 3. A few small islands lie in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland's dominant waterway. Extending 1. 95 mi (3. Atlantic and varying in width from 3 to 2. Maryland's jurisdiction. Principal rivers include the Potomac, forming much of the southern and western border; the Patapsco, which runs through Baltimore; the Patuxent, draining the Western Shore; and the Susquehanna, crossing the Pennsylvania border and emptying into the Chesapeake Bay in northeastern Maryland. The state has 2. 3 rivers and other bays, as well as many lakes and creeks, none of any great size. The lowest point of the state is at sea level at the Atlantic Ocean. CLIMATEDespite its small size, Maryland exhibits considerable climatic diversity. Temperatures vary from an annual average of 4. The annual average temperature for Baltimore is 5. The record high temperature for the state is 1. As much as 1. 00 in (2. Garrett County, while 8- 1. Eastern Shore; and Baltimore receives about 2. FLORA AND FAUNAMaryland's three life zones. Most of the state lies within a hardwood belt in which red and white oaks, yellow poplar, beech, blackgum, hickory, and white ash are represented; shortleaf and loblolly pines are the leading softwoods. Honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, wild grape, and wild raspberry are also common. Wooded hillsides are rich with such wild flowers as Carolina cranesbill, trailing arbutus, Mayapple, early blue violet, wild rose, and goldenrod. Seven plant species were listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened or endangered in April 2. Canby's dropwort, sandplain gerardia, northeastern bulrush, and harperella. The white- tailed (Virginia) deer, eastern cottontail, raccoon, and red and gray foxes are indigenous to Maryland, although urbanization has sharply reduced their habitat. Common small mammals are the woodchuck, eastern chipmunk, and gray squirrel. The brown- headed nuthatch has been observed in the extreme south, the cardinal and tufted titmouse are common in the piedmont, and the chestnut- sided warbler and rose- breasted grosbeak are native to the Appalachians. Among saltwater species, shellfish. Eighteen Maryland animal species (vertebrates and invertebrates) were listed as threatened or endangered in 2. Indiana bat, Maryland darter, bald eagle, Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel, three species of whale, and five species of turtle. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONMaryland's Department of Natural Resources manages water allocation, fish and wildlife, state parks and forests, land reclamation and open space. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) serves as the state's primary environmental protection agency. MDE protects and restores the quality of Maryland's land, air, and water by assessing, preventing and controlling sources of pollution for the benefit of public health, the environment and future generations. MDE regulations control the storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous wastes and ensure long- term, environmentally sound solid waste recycling and disposal capabilities. In 2. 00. 3, 4. 5. Also in 2. 00. 3, Maryland had 1. US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) database, 1. National Priorities List as of 2. Andrews Air Force Base, Curtis Bay Coast Guard Yard, and Patuxent River Naval Air Station. In 2. 00. 5, the EPA spent over $9. Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state. The same year, federal EPA grants awarded to the state included $2. Chesapeake Bay ecosystem protection projects. MDE has broad regulatory, planning, and management responsibility for water quality, air quality, solid and hazardous waste management, stormwater management, sediment control, wetlands and waterways management, and water allocation. MDE also plays a pivotal role in Maryland's initiatives to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and has divided the state into 1. Bay added protection from the effects of stormwater run- off, airborne pollutants, and direct discharges. The Chesapeake Bay Estuarine Complex was designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 1. In total, Maryland has about 5. MDE operates an innovative infrastructure financing program that leverages federal, state, and local funds to upgrade wastewater treatment plants, connect residents to public sewer systems, and improve water supply facilities. In addition, the Maryland Environmental Service, a quasi- public agency, contracts with local governments to design, construct, finance, and operate wastewater treatment plants, water supply systems, and recycling facilities. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is responsible for the management, enhancement, and preservation of the state's living and natural resources. Utilizing an ecosystem approach to land, waterway, and species management, DNR programs and services support the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, sustainable populations of fishery and wildlife species, and an integrated network of public lands and open space. The Maryland Office of Planning's mission is to plan for the most effective development of the state and all of its resources. The Office assists state agencies and local governments to more effectively achieve environmental, agricultural, and natural resource objectives by integrating them with comprehensive planning and land use management. The state has recently embarked on a Neighborhood Conservation and Smart Growth initiative to encourage population and economic growth in priority funding areas, and to use a Rural Legacy Program to preserve agricultural, forest, and other rural lands from development. POPULATIONMaryland ranked 1. United States with an estimated total of 5,6. Between 1. 99. 0 and 2. Maryland's population grew from 4,7. The population is projected to reach 6. In 2. 00. 4 the median age was 3. Persons under 1. 8 years old accounted for 2. The state's population doubled between 1. The enormous expansion of the federal government and exodus of people from Washington, DC, to the surrounding suburbs contributed to the rapid growth that made Maryland the 1. There was an increase of 1. Maryland held the 1. The population density in 2. Almost all the growth since World War II has occurred in the four suburban counties around Washington, DC, and Baltimore. Metropolitan Baltimore, embracing Carroll, Howard, Hartford, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore counties, expanded from 2,2. Baltimore, on the other hand, declined from 7. Baltimore is the state's only major city; the estimated population in 2. The Baltimore metropolitan area has an estimated population of 2,6. Several west- central counties belong to the Washington metropolitan area, and Cecil County, in the northeast, is part of metropolitan Wilmington, Delaware. ETHNIC GROUPSBlacks, numbering 1,4. Maryland. About one- third of Maryland's black population lives in the city of Baltimore. In 2. 00. 4, 2. 9. Hispanics and Latinos, mostly from Puerto Rico and Central America, numbered 2. In 2. 00. 4, 5. 4% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin. In 2. 00. 0, the Asian population was relatively large: 3. Koreans, 4. 9,4. 00 Chinese (nearly double the 1. Filipinos, 6,6. 20 Japanese, and 1. Vietnamese (up from 7,8. Asian population was estimated at 2. In 2. 00. 4, 4. 6% of the population was Asian. Pacific Islanders numbered 2,3. In 2. 00. 4, 0. 1% of the population was of Pacific Island origin. Foreign- born residents numbered 5. Many immigrated to Maryland in the 1. A significant proportion of the state's German, Polish, and Russian immigrants were Jewish refugees arriving just before and after World War II. In 2. 00. 0, the combined Native American population (including Eskimos and Aleuts) was estimated at 1. In 2. 00. 4, 0. 3% of the population was of American Indian or Native Alaskan origin. LANGUAGESSeveral Algonkian tribes originally inhabited what is now Maryland. There are some Indian place- names, such as Potomac, Susquehanna, and Allegheny. The state's diverse topography has contributed to unusual diversity in its basic speech. Geographical isolation of the Delmarva Peninsula, proximity to the Virginia piedmont population, and access to southeastern and central Pennsylvania helped to yield a language mixture that now is dominantly Midland and yet reflects earlier ties to Southern English. Regional features occur as well. In the northeast are found eastern Pennsylvania pavement (sidewalk) and baby coach (baby carriage). In the north and west are poke (bag), quarter till, sick on the stomach, openseed peach (freestone peach), and Pennsylvania German ponhaws (scrapple).
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