Center for Anthropocene Studies (CMNH) Internship

https://context.capp.ca/articles/2019/feature_petroleum-in-real-life_pills

2 Modern Uses for Petroleum in Medicine 2019

3 Drake’s Well History of Petroleum 2016

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

4 Description of petroleum formation 2014

http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1752503&DocName=ES8_Oil-Gas_Pa.pdf

5 The boom and bust cycle of the oil industry 2015

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/oil-makes-a-comeback-in-pennsylvania.html

6 World Oil Statistics 2016-Current

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/climate-change-impacts-everyone/

7 List of the Effects of Climate Change on People and how to protect yourself 2019

8 International Energy Agency 2019

https://www.iea.org/articles/global-co2-emissions-in-2019

2/23/21 Article Paragraph, Blocking in Video #2, and Storyboard #3

Hannah Smith

History of Petroleum

1/26/21

The Story of Oil in Western Pennsylvania: What, How, and Why?

The short answer is because most of Pennsylvania used to be covered by an ocean. About 490 to 360 million years ago, known as the Ordovician and Devonian geological periods, most of the continents had combined to create a supercontinent known as Gondwana. However, North America was separated from Gondwana and most of it was covered by ocean. The landmass of early North America (Laurentia) combined with the land mass we know today as Europe in the Devonian to create a Euramerica supercontinent. During the Ordovician and Devonian, the land that would be today Pennsylvania was either completely or partially covered by ocean; and more importantly it was teeming with ocean life. The early invertebrates, corals, fishes, algae and plankton that lived during the Ordovician and Devonian inevitably died and fell to the ocean floor. While this was taking place, the Appalachian mountains that formed out of the ocean in eastern North America during the Ordovician were eroding sediment into western Pennsylvania. The organic debris on the ocean floor was repeatedly covered by the eroding sediment of the mountains causing increased pressure and temperature that would eventually form shale. Shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock with thin layers. These shale rock layers contain petroleum created from the organic debris. If you’re from western Pennsylvania you’ve probably heard of the large fossil fuel producing layers called the Marcellus and Utica shale. This biogeomorphic process described above is how these geologic layers formed and became major sources in the petroleum industry 4.

With Edwin Drake’s success, Titusville boomed. The same year that Drake started his first oil well, Titusville only had 250 residents. However, by 1865 the population increased to 10,000. Nearby Pithole City, now a ghost town, had 50 hotels during the oil peak of the area. This boom was short lived as other drilling companies came in the area and drilled so much that it lowered the price, losing the momentum that it created in the area, and the companies picked up to look elsewhere almost as quickly as they appeared 5. While Titusville boomed and busted, the oil industry itself was growing by the early 20th century with the increasing widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobiles — both of which relied on fossil fuels. World War I increased petroleum consumption, fueling military ships, tanks, and planes. The population explosion of the 1950’s further increased demand for petroleum. Over the course of the 20th century the world’s dependence on oil increased. As of 2016, the world consumed over 97 million barrels daily 6. So what does combusting 97 million barrels of oil a day mean for Earth?

The burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun that the earth’s surface reflects back out into the atmosphere, similar to how a blanket traps in body heat. Burning fossil fuels causes climate change by increasing the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thickening the “blanket” around the earth, and increasing the global average temperature. According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), in 2019 greenhouse gas CO2 emissions totalled 33 gigatonnes, or 1 billion metric tons, or about 182 million blue whales.8 Climate change is responsible for increased frequency and severity of weather disasters, wildfires, and flooding, to name a few. The abundant CO2 in our atmosphere equilibrates with and diffuses into our oceans, causing the water to become more acidic and eroding the calcium carbonate structures of marine organisms, like coral. Climate change does not just affect wildlife, it also affects the lives of Pennsylvanians. In Pennsylvania climate change is likely to lead to increasing home insurance rates, raised taxes to replace infrastructure, longer allergy seasons, increasing heat stroke rates in citizens, rising food costs due to crops damaged by erratic weather and higher temperatures, and decreasing water quality and availability due to large storms causing water contamination.7

[My experience]

[ I grew up in northwestern PA, and have family that live in the Titusville area. Most of my memories from childhood include playing on my grandparents dairy farm with my cousins, and loving to draw. I was also interested in rocks, minerals, and fossils, and that interest continued into adulthood where I eventually received a Bachelor’s degree in Geology from Slippery Rock University. While obtaining my degree, I volunteered in the paleontology department of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and worked as a Geocorps of America intern with the National Park Service at the Hagerman Fossil Beds in Idaho. I worked in mapping for a few years before I decided to return to school to also obtain an illustration and design degree from Edinboro University, in hopes to marry the sciences and the arts as a career. At SRU, I met my now husband who has a Master’s in Structural Geology from the University of Pittsburgh and has worked in the natural gas field for five years before making the switch to environmental geology. We are both very invested in the earth sciences and look forward to more sustainable tech preserving a better environment for the future. ]

References:

1 Early Medicinal Uses of Petroleum 2015

https://context.capp.ca/articles/2019/feature_petroleum-in-real-life_pills

2 Modern Uses for Petroleum in Medicine 2019

3 Drake’s Well History of Petroleum 2016

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

4 Description of petroleum formation 2014

http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1752503&DocName=ES8_Oil-Gas_Pa.pdf

5 The boom and bust cycle of the oil industry 2015

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/oil-makes-a-comeback-in-pennsylvania.html

6 World Oil Statistics 2016-Current

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/climate-change-impacts-everyone/

7 List of the Effects of Climate Change on People and how to protect yourself 2019

8 International Energy Agency 2019

https://www.iea.org/articles/global-co2-emissions-in-2019

[My experience]

Blocking in Video #2

Storyboards #3

2/19/21 Video Full, Article Edits, Storyboards Video #2

Video Full

Article Edits

So what is oil made from, how did it form, and how did it come to be so prevalent in society? For this story, we can look locally in western Pennsylvania.

The Story of Oil in Western Pennsylvania: What, How, and Why?

With Edwin Drake’s success, Titusville boomed. The same year that Drake started his first oil well, Titusville only had 250 residents. However, by 1865 the population increased to 10,000. Nearby Pithole City, now a ghost town, had 50 hotels during the oil peak of the area. This boom was short lived as other drilling companies came in the area and drilled so much that it lowered the price, losing the momentum that it created in the area, and the companies picked up to look elsewhere almost as quickly as they appeared 5. While Titusville boomed and busted, the oil industry itself was growing by the early 20th century with the increasing widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobiles — both of which relied on fossil fuels. World War I increased petroleum consumption, fueling military ships, tanks, and planes. The population explosion of the 1950’s further increased demand for petroleum. Over the course of the 20th century the world’s dependence on oil increased. As of 2016, the world consumed over 97 million barrels daily 6. So what does combusting 97 million barrels of oil a day mean for Earth?

The burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun that the earth’s surface reflects back out into the atmosphere, similar to how a blanket traps in body heat. Burning fossil fuels causes climate change by increasing the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thickening the “blanket” around the earth, and increasing the global average temperature. According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), in 2019 greenhouse gas CO2 emissions totalled 33 gigatonnes, or 1 billion metric tons, or about 182 million blue whales.8 Climate change is responsible for increased frequency and severity of weather disasters, wildfires, and flooding, to name a few. The abundant CO2 in our atmosphere equilibrates with and diffuses into our oceans, causing the water to become more acidic and eroding the calcium carbonate structures of marine organisms, like coral. Climate change does not just affect wildlife, it also affects the lives of Pennsylvanians. In Pennsylvania climate change is likely to lead to increasing home insurance rates, raised taxes to replace infrastructure, longer allergy seasons, increasing heat stroke rates in citizens, rising food costs due to crops damaged by erratic weather and higher temperatures, and decreasing water quality and availability due to large storms causing water contamination.7

References:

1 Early Medicinal Uses of Petroleum 2015

https://context.capp.ca/articles/2019/feature_petroleum-in-real-life_pills

2 Modern Uses for Petroleum in Medicine 2019

3 Drake’s Well History of Petroleum 2016

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

4 Description of petroleum formation 2014

http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1752503&DocName=ES8_Oil-Gas_Pa.pdf

5 The boom and bust cycle of the oil industry 2015

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/oil-makes-a-comeback-in-pennsylvania.html

6 World Oil Statistics 2016-Current

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/climate-change-impacts-everyone/

7 List of the Effects of Climate Change on People and how to protect yourself 2019

8 International Energy Agency 2019

https://www.iea.org/articles/global-co2-emissions-in-2019

Storyboards for Video #2

2/16/21 Video Edits with new Script

2/9/21 Script & Article Updates

Scripts 1–4

History of Petroleum Script #1

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is processed to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

The industries of petroleum, coal and gas were instrumental in fueling the Great Acceleration starting in the mid 20th century, a time of dramatic increase in human activity and growth that continues to this day. The Great Acceleration is being debated by scholars as the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch, which is a time period marked by massive human impact on the planet.

To understand how Petroleum made Pennsylvania a contributing player in the commercial petroleum industry, we must go back into deep-time, to an early Earth. 485–359 million years ago, during the Ordovician and Devonian, the geologic periods responsible for Pennsylvania’s oil reserves, most land on earth was merged into one supercontinent called Gondwana. Most of what we call now, North America, was underwater, separated from Gondwana towards the equator. The current land of Pennsylvania was completely or partially submerged by ocean inhabited by early organisms. How did this early ocean life lead to petroleum? And where is coal and gas in all of this? To answer these questions we need to go deep below the Earth’s surface…

Script #2

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is processed to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

How did early ocean life lead to petroleum? And where is coal and gas in all of this?

During the geologic time periods the Ordovician and Devonian, abundant marine life filled our early oceans. When these organisms died, their bodies fell to the ocean floor, where they were repeatedly covered by eroding sediment and more organic debris. Over time, this increased the temperature and pressure on the dead organisms forming sedimentary rock. With increased heat and pressure, the organic matter turned into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can take the form of either oil or natural gas. Coal forms slightly differently from plant matter in swamp like environments. PA’s geography from almost 500–300 million years ago provided its abundant fossil fuel reserves that are now affecting Earth on a global scale. How did PA become the birthplace of commercial petroleum? For this question we need to travel to Titusville, Pennsylvania to meet the “Father of the Petroleum Industry”.

Script #3

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is processed to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

Who is the “Father of the Commercial Petroleum Industry”?

Let’s start at the beginning of petroleum use in North America. Petroleum was originally used for medicinal purposes by the Seneca Indians of North America. It was also an unwanted by-product of salt wells in the 1800s. Before petroleum use, lamps were fueled by expensive whale fat. It was discovered that by refining petroleum he could create kerosene, a cheap and clean burning fuel for lamp oil, causing a need for petroleum. The Seneca Oil Company, named for the Seneca Indians, hired train conductor Edwin L. Drake to find petroleum around Titusville PA. Edwin failed repeatedly over the course of 5 months, having to innovate and experiment to learn how to drill for petroleum. Eventually he created the “drive pipe”, a pipe that would drill directly into bedrock keeping the water away from the drill, allowing petroleum to rise. On August 27th, 1859, at the depth of 69.5ft, Edwin L. Drake, successfully drilled for oil and gave birth to the commercial oil drilling industry, in what is now known as Drake’s Well.

Today petroleum is used for electricity, fuel, plastics, chemical, and pharmaceutical productions. It is a commodity used in the day to day of many peoples lives, but in this time of widespread human impact on the environment, how is this widespread use affecting Pennsylvania?

Script #4

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is processed to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

Petroleum and other fossil fuels are commodities used for day to day life in Pennsylvania, but how is this widespread use affecting the state?

The Anthropocene is our current time period used to describe how human activity is having a profound effect on the planet, marked by radioactive debris in the geologic rock layers. Petroleum is a fossil fuel, the burning of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases, which in turn absorb heat from the sun in our atmosphere, slowly releasing it over time, heating up our planet. Climate change will affect Pennsylvanians by, damaging homes, increasing insurance costs, raising taxes to replace infrastructure for climate change, increasing allergies and health risks such as longer allergy seasons and stroke, more expensive food, from crops being damaged by storms and warmer temperatures, decreasing water quality from storms causing water contamination, and decreasing the available drinkable water on our planet. However, the global and statewide trend towards renewables is offering energy options outside of fossil fuels. Currently, Pennsylvania has 27 wind farms producing enough power for 350,000 homes. It also has 19,000 solar installations, and growing, across the state. The expanding renewable energy sector in Pennsylvania is proof that humans can adapt and evolve our technologies for the betterment of the planet.

Article Update ver. 6

So what is oil made from, how did it form, and how did it come to be so prevalent in society? For this story, we can look locally in western Pennsylvania.

I am a fries on salad, haluski dinner, dairy farm heritage kind of Western Pennsylvanian. I grew up near Venango and Crawford County and had a pretty rural childhood. I went to an equally rural small school with about 300 kids in a k-6th grade school. Probably around 4th grade, I remember taking a field trip to Titusville PA. I remember seeing the familiar road signs and buildings as our bus gassed along the back roads. I had family in the Titusville and Oil City area, so it was a common route to take with my parents. If I’m being honest, I always remembered thinking that the area looked dilapidated and just, well tired. But at that point I was too young to know how this town’s geologic resources had affected the environment and economy on a global scale.

However, the purpose of Drake’s Well was to refine oil for kerosene lamps, to replace the expensive whale oil lamps of the time. While Edwin Drake is accredited for drilling for the first commercial oil well, his journey was wrought with failure. Salt wells used water to dissolve salt source rock, and then carry the water through piping to where it would be evaporated to regular salt, this method works for salt, and less for oil. Oil drilling was a new technology, and because of this, the current technology available from salt well drilling wasn’t exactly compatible for this venture. Edwin Drake had to invent multiple new drilling techniques and procedures, and on August 27, 1859 when his drill reached a depth of 69.5ft, he struck oil in Titusville Pennsylvania. While Drake’s Well was not the most productive, or largest oil well, it was globally significant because it kick started the petroleum drilling revolution that would eventually change global economies and environments. Edwin had to adapt and develop technologies throughout this drilling process. His most important innovation was the “drive pipe”, a metal pipe used to drill directly into bedrock and keep water away from the drill. While Edwin Drake lived a hard and poor life even after his discovery, he is still considered the father of the modern petroleum practices and industry 3.

The short answer is because most of Pennsylvania used to be covered by ocean. During the geologic time periods of the Ordovician and Devonian, about 488 mya — 443 mya (million years ago) and 419 mya — 359 mya respectively, most of the continents had combined to create a supercontinent known as Gondwana. However, North America was separated from Gondwana and most of it was covered by ocean. The landmass of early North American (Laurentia) combined with the land mass we know today as Europe in the Devonian to create a Euramerica supercontinent. During the Ordovician and Devonian, the land that would be today Pennsylvania was either completely or partially covered by ocean; and more importantly it was teeming with ocean life. The early invertebrates, corals, fishes, algae and plankton that lived during the Ordovician and Devonian inevitably died and fell to the ocean floor. While this was taking place, the Appalachian mountains that formed out of the ocean in eastern North America during the Ordovician were eroding sediment into western PA. The organic debris on the ocean floor was repeatedly covered by the eroding sediment of the mountains causing increased pressure and temperature that would eventually form shale. Shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock with thin laminations. These shale rock layers contain petroleum created from the organic debris. If you’re from western PA you’ve probably heard of the large fossil fuel producing layers the Marcellus and Utica shale. This biogeomorphic process described above is how these geologic layers formed and became major sources in the petroleum industry 4.

With Edwin Drake’s success, Titusville boomed. The same year that Drake started his first oil well, Titusville only had 250 residents. However, by 1865 the population increased to 10,000. Nearby Pithole City, now a ghost town, had 50 hotels during the oil peak of the area. This boom was short lived as other drilling companies came in the area and drilled so much that it lowered the price, losing the momentum that it created in the area, and the companies picked up to look elsewhere almost as quickly as they appeared 5. While Titusville boomed and busted, the oil industry itself was growing by the early 20th century with the increasing widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobiles. World War I also caused an increase in petroleum consumption, fueling military ships, tanks, and planes. The population explosion of the 1950’s also increased the need for petroleum. Over the course of the 20th century the world dependence on oil has increased. As of 2016, the world consumed 97,103,871 barrels daily 6. So what does 97 million barrels of oil a day look like for Earth?

Petroleum is a fossil fuel, the burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun and slowly release it over time, increasing temperatures and climate change across the planet. According to the EPA, in 2014 greenhouse gas emissions totalled 15.1 trillion pounds.8 Climate change is responsible for increased weather disasters, wildfires, and flooding. The abundant CO2 in our atmosphere also seeps into our oceans, causing the water to become more acidic and eroding the shells of our ocean’s shelled organisms. Climate change does not just affect wildlife, it will also affect the lives of local Pennsylvanians. Pennsylvania residents will experience climate change including, but not limited to, increasing home insurance rates, raised taxes to replace infrastructure, longer allergy seasons, increasing heat stroke rates in citizens, rising food costs due to crops damaged by erratic weather and higher temperatures, and decreasing water quality and availability due to large storms causing water contamination.7

Early organisms were buried by sediment 488 to 360 million years ago and altered into petroleum by heat and pressure. For thousands of years, Earth’s petroleum reserves were largely untouched, as early people primarily used surfaced oil for medicinal purposes. Innovator Edwin L. Drake changed petroleum’s role by successfully drilling the first commercial oil well in North America that August day in 1859. Petroleum turned into a global commodity, eventually fueling a fast paced modern life. Now in the 21st century, the burning of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, has caused an abundance of greenhouse gases causing worldwide climate change.

When I was on that field trip to Drake’s Well in 4th grade, we did not discuss the global or local implications of petroleum. This resource is responsible for the day to day conveniences that allow the modern world to exist, but it is also feeding an environmental phenomenon that will eventually force a “new normal”, whether good or bad, onto the inhabitants of Earth. I could not have fathomed that this global resource had its start in my own family’s backyard. I think that Drake’s Well is a good reminder that new innovations can happen anywhere; innovations that have the potential to affect the entire Earth. I don’t think Edwin could have predicted the scale to which his discovery would proliferate over the next 160 years, in the same way that most people do not realize how their small individual actions are affecting the sustainability of life on Earth. But while individual actions can negatively affect Earth, they can also be positive. Who knows, the next innovation that can benefit the environment may be happening in your backyard.

References:

1 Early Medicinal Uses of Petroleum

https://context.capp.ca/articles/2019/feature_petroleum-in-real-life_pills

2 Modern Uses for Petroleum in Medicine

3 Drake’s Well History of Petroleum

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

4 Description of petroleum formation

http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1752503&DocName=ES8_Oil-Gas_Pa.pdf

5 The boom and bust cycle of the oil industry

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/oil-makes-a-comeback-in-pennsylvania.html

6 World Oil Statistics

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions

7 List of the Effects of Climate Change on People and how to protect yourself https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/climate-change-impacts-everyone/

8 EPA Climate Change Indicators

2/2/21 Script Updates

Script #3

Who is the “Father of the Commercial Petroleum Industry”?

Let’s start at the beginning of petroleum use in North America. Petroleum was originally used for medicinal purposes by the Seneca Indians of North America, followed by being labeled as an unwanted by-product of salt wells in the 1800s. Before petroleum use, lamps were fueled by expensive whale fat. Chemist Abraham Gesner, discovered that by refining petroleum he could create kerosene, a cheap and clean burning fuel for lamp oil, causing a need for petroleum. The Seneca Oil Company, named for the Seneca Indians, hired train conductor Edwin L. Drake to find petroleum around Titusville PA. Edwin failed repeatedly over the course of 5 months, having to innovate and experiment to learn how to drill for petroleum. Eventually he created the “drive pipe”, a pipe that would drill directly into bedrock keeping water away from the drill. On August 27th, 1859, at the depth of 69.5ft, Edwin L. Drake, successfully drilled for oil and gave birth to the commercial oil drilling industry, in what is now known as Drake’s Well.

Today petroleum is used for electricity, fuel, plastics, chemical, and pharmaceutical productions. It is a commodity used in the day to day of many peoples lives, but how is this widespread use affecting us?

Script #4

How is the widespread use of petroleum affecting us?

Petroleum is a fossil fuel, the burning of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases, which in turn absorb heat from the sun in our atmosphere, slowly releasing it over time, heating up our planet. Currently, 97 million barrels of oil a day, about 36 billion barrels of oil a year’s worth of greenhouse gases are added to our atmosphere due to human activity. This heating causes wildfires, flooding, and increased natural weather disasters. The greenhouse gas CO2, also seeps into our oceans causing “ocean acidification”, where the increasingly acidic ocean water degrades the shells of marine life. Climate change will also affect people by, damaging homes, increasing insurance costs, raising taxes to replace infrastructure for climate change, increasing allergies and health risks such as longer allergy seasons and stroke, more expensive food, from crops being damaged by storms and warmer temperatures, decreasing water quality from storms causing water contamination, and decreasing the available drinkable water on our planet.

1/26/21 Script, Article, Schedule Update

Script #1 Update

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is used to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

To understand how Petroleum made Pennsylvania a contributing player in the Anthropocene, we must go back into deep-time, to an early Earth. 485–359 million years ago, during the Ordovician and Devonian, the geologic periods responsible for Pennsylvania’s oil reserves, most land on earth was merged into one supercontinent called Gondwana. Most of what we call now, North America, was underwater, separated from Gondwana towards the equator. The current land of Pennsylvania was completely or partially submerged by ocean inhabited by early organisms. How did this early ocean life lead to petroleum? And where is coal and gas in all of this? The next video will cover how fossil fuels were created in Pennsylvania.

Script #2

During the geologic time periods the Ordovician and Devonian, abundant marine life filled our early oceans. When these organisms died, their bodies fell to the ocean floor, where they were repeatedly covered by eroding sediment and more organic debris. Over time, this increased the temperature and pressure on the dead organisms forming sedimentary rock. With increased heat and pressure, the organic matter turned into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can take the form of either oil or natural gas. Coal forms slightly differently from plant matter in swamp like environments. It is this hundreds of millions of years process that creates the fossil fuels that we are using now in our current Anthropocene time period, a time when humans have a massive impact on our environment. PA’s geography from almost 500–300 million years ago provided its abundant fossil fuel reserves, but how did PA become the birthplace of commercial petroleum?

Schedule (tentative)

Article Update #4

History of Petroleum

Despite the confusing logo of Sinclair gas stations, you are not filling up your gas tank with dinosaurs. So what is oil made from, how did it form, and how did it come to be so prevalent in society? For this story, we can look locally in western Pennsylvania.

However, the purpose of Drake’s Well was to refine oil for kerosene lamps, to replace the expensive whale oil lamps of the time. While Edwin Drake is accredited for drilling for the first commercial oil well, his journey was wrought with failure. Salt wells used water to dissolve salt source rock, and then carry the water through piping to where it would be evaporated to regular salt, this method works for salt, and less for oil. Oil drilling was a new technology, and because of this, the current technology available from salt well drilling wasn’t exactly compatible for this venture. Edwin Drake had to invent multiple new drilling techniques and procedures, and on August 27, 1859 when his drill reached a depth of 69.5ft, he struck oil in Titusville Pennsylvania. While Drake’s Well was not the most productive, or largest oil well, it was globally significant because it kick started the petroleum drilling revolution that would eventually change global economies and environments. Edwin had to adapt and develop technologies throughout this drilling process. His most important innovation was the “drive pipe”, a metal pipe used to drill directly into bedrock and keep water away from the drill. While Edwin Drake lived a hard and poor life even after his discovery, he is still considered the father of the modern petroleum practices and industry.

With Edwin Drake’s success, Titusville boomed. The same year that Drake started his first oil well, Titusville only had 250 residents. However, by 1865 the population increased to 10,000. Nearby Pithole City, now a ghost town, had 50 hotels during the oil peak of the area. This boom was short lived as other drilling companies came in the area and drilled so much that it lowered the price, losing the momentum that it created in the area, and the companies picked up to look elsewhere almost as quickly as they appeared. While Titusville boomed and busted, the oil industry itself was growing by the early 20th century with the increasing widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobiles. World War I also caused an increase in petroleum consumption, fueling military ships, tanks, and planes. The population explosion of 1950, The Great Acceleration, also increased the need as there were more people consuming than ever. Over the course of the 20th century the world dependence on oil has increased. As of 2016, the world consumed 97,103,871 barrels every day. Even with the slight decrease in oil usage during 2020 Covid, 2021 is expected to return to these levels. So what does 97 million barrels of oil a day look like for Earth?

Petroleum is a fossil fuel, the burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun and slowly release it over time, increasing temperatures and climate change across the planet. Currently, 97 million barrels of oil a day, 35.5 billion barrels of oil a year’s worth of greenhouse gasses. Climate change is responsible for increased larger weather disasters, increasing wildfires, and flooding. The abundant CO2 in our atmosphere also seeps into our oceans, causing the water to become more acidic and eroding the shells of our ocean’s shelled organisms. Climate change does not just affect wildlife, here are a few way that climate change will directly affect people:

Damaging homes, making home insurance more expensive
Raising taxes, infrastructure will need to be replaced for climate change
Increasing allergies and health risks, warmer air causing longer allergy seasons and heat stroke
More expensive food, increased storms damaging crops and warmer temperatures causing increased food spoilage and plant diseases
Decreasing water quality, large storms causing water contamination

488 to 360 million years ago, early organisms were buried by sediment and altered into petroleum by heat and pressure. For thousands of years, Earth’s petroleum reserves were largely untouched, as early people primarily used surfaced oil for medicinal purposes. Innovator Edwin L. Drake changed petroleum’s role by successfully drilling the first commercial oil well in North America that August day in 1859. Petroleum turned into a global commodity, eventually fueling a fast paced modern life. Now in the 21st century, the burning of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, has caused an abundance of greenhouse gases causing worldwide climate change.

When I was on that field trip to Drake’s Well in 4th grade, we did not discuss the global implications of petroleum. This resource is responsible for the day to day conveniences that allow the modern world to exist, but it is also feeding an environmental phenomenon that will eventually force a “new normal”, whether good or bad, onto the inhabitants of Earth. I could not have fathomed that this global resource had its start in my own family’s backyard. I think that Drake’s Well is a good reminder that new innovations can happen anywhere; innovations that have the potential to affect the entire Earth. I don’t think Edwin could have predicted the scale to which his discovery would proliferate over the next 160 years, in the same way that most people do not realize how their small individual actions are affecting the sustainability of life on Earth.

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/ordovician/ordotect.html

https://carnegiemnh.org/research/anthropocene/

http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/barnosky/Zalasiewicz%20et%20al%20QI2015.pdf

https://futureearth.org/2015/01/16/the-great-acceleration/

https://www.drakewell.org/about-us/site-history

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-discoveries/

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/ordovician/ordovician.php

http://elibrary.dcnr.pa.gov/GetDocument?docId=1752503&DocName=ES8_Oil-Gas_Pa.pdf

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shale

https://ektinteractive.com/history-of-oil/

https://www.prb.org/humanpopulation/

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/

https://www.yourtango.com/2018313744/best-environmental-quotes-save-the-earth

https://www.enopetroleum.com/oildiscoveries.html

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/extremeoil/history/prehistory.html

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/edwin-l-drake-strikes-oil-titusville-pennsylvania

http://history.alberta.ca/energyheritage/oil/pre-modern-global-history/early-human-pre-industrial-history/default.aspx#page-2

https://context.capp.ca/articles/2019/feature_petroleum-in-real-life_pills

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/use-of-oil.php

http://www.saltinstitute.org/content/download/9072/49165/file/Solution%20Mining%20for%20Salt.pdf

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/drake_hi.html

https://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/edwin-drake-and-oil-well-drill-pipe

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/oil-makes-a-comeback-in-pennsylvania.html

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/oil-demand-outlook-2021-covid-19-vaccine-iea-forecasts-2020-11-1029795224

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/12/27/climate-change-impacts-everyone/

1/18/21 Script & Article Update & Music Update

Music Update

In our last meeting it had been mentioned that I should find different background music. Here are some that I found.

If you click on the link, and go to AShamaluevMusic you can see all of their background music pieces. The current song is “Among the Stars”, I am suggesting: (on the Instrumental Background Music for Vimeo playlist)

9. Inspirational Moment

25. Purpose

30. Success

56. Past

134. Documentary Soundtrack

183. Emotional Cinematic Ambient

199. Epic Inspiration

214. Serious Documentary

219. Documentary Piano

224. Cinematic Ambient

265. Documentary

Script Update #1

Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that forms in layers of earth. It is used to create oil, gasoline, and kerosene.

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of the commercial petroleum industry, and why is that relevant now?

Script #2

During the geologic time periods the Ordovician and Devonian, abundant marine life filled our early oceans. When these organisms died, their bodies fell to the ocean floor, where they were repeatedly covered by eroding sediment and more organic debris. Over time, this increased the temperature and pressure on the dead organisms forming sedimentary rock. With increased heat and pressure, the organic matter turned into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can take the form of either oil or natural gas. Coal forms slightly differently from plant matter in swamp like environments. It is this hundreds of millions of years process that creates the fossil fuels that we are using now in our current Anthropocene time period, a time when humans have a massive impact on our environment. PA’s geography from almost 500–300 million years ago provided its abundant fossil fuel reserves, but how did PA become the birthplace of commercial petroleum?

Article Update

On that particular occasion we were heading to Titusville PA to visit Drake’s Well. Drake’s Well was the first commercial oil well in the United States. It was named after Edwin L. Drake who successfully found and drilled the first oil well for commercial use in 1859 for the Seneca Oil Company, named after the Seneca Indians who used petroleum for medicinal purposes since the 1400s. The Seneca Indians were the first people to collect oil in North America and would skim surfaced petroleum from water bodies. The Seneca Indians did not benefit from the Seneca Oil Company and were eventually removed from their native lands in the 1700s and 1800s as settlers moved into their territory. Today we think of oil as a commodity for transportation and production, but it’s early use was completely unrelated. In the early 1800’s oil was an unwanted by-product from salt wells and before that, a traditional medicine. Native Americans and early peoples from around 980AD collected oil from natural oil seeps for medicinal purposes. There is even evidence of people drilling for oil with bamboo poles in China as early as 347AD. It was used to treat respiratory diseases, hysteria, epilepsy, scabies, and other ailments. Even today, petrochemicals made from the refining of petroleum are responsible for many of our modern medicines. Ointments, antihistamines, antibacterials, cough syrups, and even aspirin are created from chemical reactions created from petrochemicals. However, the purpose of Drake’s Well was to refine oil for kerosene lamps, to replace the expensive whale oil lamps of the time. While Edwin Drake is accredited for drilling for the first commercial oil well, his journey was wrought with failure. Oil drilling was a new technology, and because of this, the current technology available from salt well drilling wasn’t exactly compatible for this venture. Even though Edwin Drake invented multiple new drilling techniques and procedures, he failed to locate oil for 5 months straight. Drake was considered crazy and lost credibility with most of his crew. It wasn’t until August 27, 1859 when his drill reached a 69.5 ft. depth, that he struck oil in Titusville Pennsylvania. While Drake’s Well was not the most productive, or largest oil well, it was globally significant because it kick started the petroleum drilling revolution that would change global economies and environments. While Edwin Drake lived a hard and poor life even after his discovery, he is still considered the father of the modern petroleum practices and industry.

The short answer is because most of Pennsylvania used to be covered by ocean. During the geologic time periods of the Ordovician and Devonian, about 488 mya — 443 mya and 419 mya — 359 mya respectively, most of the continents had combined to create a supercontinent known as Gondwana. However, North America was separated from Gondwana and most of it was covered by ocean. The landmass of early North American (Laurentia) combined with the land mass we know today as Europe in the Devonian to create a Euramerica supercontinent. During the Ordovician and Devonian, the land that would be today Pennsylvania was either completely or partially covered by ocean; and more importantly it was teeming with ocean life. The early invertebrates, corals, fishes, algae and plankton that lived during the Ordovician and Devonian inevitably died and fell to the ocean floor. While this was taking place, the Appalachian mountains that formed out of the ocean in eastern North America during the Ordovician were eroding sediment into western PA. The organic debris on the ocean floor was repeatedly covered by the eroding sediment of the mountains causing increased pressure and temperature that would eventually form shale. Shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock with thin laminations. These shale rock layers contain petroleum created from the organic debris. Ever heard of the Marcellus Shale? The Utica Shale? This biogeomorphic process described above is how these geologic layers formed and became major sources in the petroleum industry.

ASK ASIA ABOUT WHAT TO FOCUS ON HERE*

Video Comp.

I made the underwater continents more blue as discussed and created an outline for PA and made its color match the other continents.

Since the animations will depend highly on the script and audio I am waiting on those confirmations to finish up timing and animations.

1/12/21 Video Update, Script #2, Storyboard #2

Video Update

https://vimeo.com/499660566

Script#2 draft #1(How Petroleum, Coal, & Natural Gas form)

During the geologic time periods the Ordovician and Devonian, abundant marine life filled our early oceans. When these organisms died, their bodies fell to the ocean floor, where they were repeatedly covered by eroding sediment and more organic debris. Over time, this increased the temperature and pressure on the dead organisms forming sedimentary rock. With increased heat and pressure, the organic matter turned into hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can take the form of either oil or natural gas. Coal forms slightly differently from plant matter in swamp like environments. It is this hundreds of millions of years process that creates the fossil fuels that we are using now in our current Anthropocene time period, a time when humans have a massive impact on our environment. PA’s geography from almost 500–300 million years ago provided its abundant fossil fuel reserves, but how did PA become the birthplace of commercial petroleum?

Storyboard #2 draft #1

1/08/21 Video Basic Draft

Here is the basic draft for the first video. You can tell that areas still need finessed and secondary animations need to be added, but it gives you the basic idea for how the video will look.

1/06/21 Script and Storyboard Update

Script#1

What happened to make Pennsylvania the birthplace of petroleum, and why is that relevant now?

Storyboard

1/06/21 Article & Script Update & New Style Design Video

For today’s meeting, I want to focus on the script with Asia Ward. Once a script is set in stone, the I can confidently proceed with video development in it’s entirety. I tried to direct a narrower focus in the article like Asia suggested in her edits and tried to include stewardship and after effect ideas into each phase of video outlines instead of making them their own video.

Script 1 Update:

Pennsylvania is the birthplace of modern petroleum. It is deeply integrated into all parts of our daily lives. But where does petroleum come from?

Earth is at least 4.6 billion years old. Early earth was fiery and gaseous. As the planet cooled, crusts formed, and the planet’s first life emerged. Oxygen appeared in large amounts for the first time, geologic plates began to subduct, and early corals appeared. The geologic periods the Ordovician and Devonian are responsible for Pennsylvania’s oil reserves. While most land was a part of the supercontinent Gondwana near Antarctica; Laurentia (North America) was almost completely covered by ocean near the equator. During these time periods, Pennsylvania was completely or partially submerged by ocean inhabited by early organisms. How did this early ocean life lead to petroleum?

Phase 1: Geologic History of PA

This video should cover more plate tectonics than what I stated previously. I think we should talk about cover the the geologic periods until the Devonian which is the time periods necessary to talk about petroleum layers. End when introduce ocean life.

Phase 2: Formation of Petroleum in PA

Start with ocean life, and how the high organics of the Ordovician and Devonian layers formed petroleum. A brief description of how petroleum is formed.

Phase 3: Early Petroleum History

Start with early uses, and evolve into the events of Drake’s Well.

Phase 4: Petroleum Explosion

Why and how petroleum expanded and how it improved the quality of life. Also how it led to climate change.

Article Update

On that particular occasion we were heading to Titusville PA to visit Drake’s Well. Drake’s Well was the first commercial oil well in the United States. It was named after Edwin L. Drake (who was only a train conductor at the time) who successfully found and drilled the first oil well for commercial use in 1859 for the Seneca Oil Company (now known as ExxonMobil). Today we think of oil as a commodity for transportation and production, but it’s early use was completely unrelated. In the early 1800’s oil was an unwanted by-product from salt wells and before that, a traditional medicine. Native Americans and early peoples from around 980AD collected oil for medicinal purposes. It was used to treat respiratory diseases, hysteria, epilepsy, scabies, etc. Historical documentation shows that it was even used to treat mange in livestock. However, the purpose of Drake’s Well was to refine oil for kerosene lamps, to replace the expensive whale oil lamps of the time. While Edwin Drake had successfully proven that oil could be drilled for, he failed. A lot. Oil drilling was a new concept, and because of this, the current technology wasn’t exactly compatible for this venture. Even though Edwin Drake invented multiple new drilling techniques and procedures, he still could not locate oil for 5 months straight. Drake was considered crazy and lost the credibility of most of his crew. It wasn’t until August 27, 1859 when his drill reached a 69.5 ft. depth, that he struck oil in Titusville Pennsylvania. While Drake’s Well was not the most producing, or largest oil well, it was important because it kick started the petroleum drilling revolution that would change our global economies and environment. While Edwin Drake lived a hard and poor life even after his discovery, he is still considered the father of the modern petroleum practices and industry.

When we got to the Drake’s Well Museum I remember seeing an odd looking wooden building with an awkward chimney-like structure on one side. My class was led through single file so we could all get a turn to look at the steel machinery that was used in the drill, and the pipes that dispersed oil into wooden barrels clustered in the building. In my 10 year old brain there is no way I could properly fathom that this discovery was the reason why I had most of my modern day comforts and conveniences. Why was Titusville special? More specifically, why did western Pennsylvania have this oil?

The short answer is because Pennsylvania used to be covered by ocean. During the geologic time periods of the Ordovician and Devonian, about 488 mya — 443 mya and 419 mya — 359 mya respectively, most of the continents had combined to create a supercontinent known as Gondwana. However, North America was separated from Gondwana and most of it was covered by ocean. Early North American (Laurentia) combined with Europe in the Devonian to create a Euramerica supercontinent. During the Ordovician and Devonian Pennsylvania was either completely or partially covered by ocean; and more importantly ocean life. The early invertebrates, corals, fishes, algae and plankton, alive during the Ordovician and Devonian inevitably died and fell to the ocean floor. While this was taking place, the Appalachian mountains were eroding sediment into western PA. The organic debris on the ocean floor was repeatedly covered by the eroding sediment of the mountains causing increased pressure and temperature that would eventually form the thinly laminated fine grained sedimentary rock shale. These shale rock layers now contain hydrocarbon created from the organic debris that can be drilled for petroleum. Ever heard of the Marcellus Shale? The Utica Shale? This is how both of these geologic layers formed and became major players in the petroleum industry.

But how did a collection of dead fish rock and lamp oil change our global economy and environment? There are a couple factors to this. The first was that petroleum was more flexible in its uses than coal, and had a larger variety of applications. The second and third was the increasingly widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobile in the early 20th century. Eventually, around 1920, gasoline outsold the lamp oil kerosene and the need for petroleum was evident. Living standards increased with our new technology, farming and public health practices, all fueled by oil. In the mid 20th century life became easier due to our new technology from petroleum. It wasn’t so much that there were that many new births, more so that less people were dying (however, birth rates did increase after World War I and II). But the primary driving force was that petroleum made life easier for everyone causing a longer life span.

The Anthropocene is the geologic time period where humans have a prominent effect on the Earth and its processes. How does this relate to petroleum usage? Well, less people are dying, the population is growing, and a good proportion of them are using the technology and conveniences given to them by fossil fuels. What does the burning of fossil fuels produce? Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat and slowly release it over time, causing increased temperatures and climate change across our planet as well as more frequent and larger natural weather disasters. The effects of greenhouse gases and climate change are widespread throughout my planet, and they are all connected. Earth had a human population of 2 billion in 1900. This has almost tripled to about 7.8 billion in 2020. Earth still has the same finite resources, and modern humans are still trying to live the easiest lifestyle provided to us by our technology.

When I was on that field trip to Drake’s Well in 4th grade I had no idea of the global implications that this commodity had created. I could not have fathomed that this global super powered resource had its start in my own family’s backyard.

trying to think of a good conclusion paragraph added to this ^

“You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.” — Wangari Maathai

New additional sources

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/ordovician/ordotect.html

New Video Style

I wasn’t pleased with paper images I was creating for the video and I got an idea in the eleventh hour before this meeting. I recently got a new drawing app Adobe Fresco on my iPad. I decided to try to make simple textured paintings on there to then animate in After Effects. This was me trying this style instead, while still retaining the paper texture effect and drop shadows. I am pleased with this style and I think this is what I will pursue with for the final videos. I like the large amount of texture the combination of the two creates.

The process I used was water color and chalk brushes, and then created each object on different layers so that they can be individually animated in After Effects. I think the primary animation effect I will carry through the videos will be how I did the gas around early earth. For that effect I drew two separate frames of gas and alternated between the two. I think this will help with the stop motion aesthetic I was attracted to for these. To help with this, I also lowered the frame rate from 29 to 23 for the video. I may lower it even more.

12/31/20 Script Update

History of Petroleum in PA Part 1 Script:

The Anthropocene is the current geologic period where humans have a substantial effect on Earth’s systems and processes. In the time of the Anthropocene we must see that all things are connected.

Petroleum has had a large influential effect on the world. We use it for everything from heating our homes to powering our cars. But where does petroleum come from?

Earth is at least 4.6 billion years old. We know this because of dated meteorites that were found on the Earth’s surface. The first geologic eon was the fiery and gaseous Hadean. Then there was the Archean, when our crusts cooled and our planet’s first life appeared. Oxygen appeared in large amounts in the Proterozoic for the first time, geologic plates began to subduct, and early corals appeared. After the Proterozoic eon, there were the Ordovician and Devonian periods. The events of these time periods are the reason for the petroleum preserves that PA produces. During these time periods western PA was submerged by ocean with abundant organisms. The early invertebrate life, algae, plankton, corals, and fishes would die and fall to the ocean floor. This organic matter was then covered by sediment eroding from the Appalachian Mountains. With the repeated burial of the organic matter by eroded sediment and additional dead organisms, heat and pressure would push on the rock layers creating shale and the organic matter stored in the shale would turn into petroleum. This is how the big petroleum players of Pennsylvania the Utica Shale, and Marcellus Shale, formed.

12/28/20 Update on History of Petroleum and the Anthropocene

Here is what I’ve been working on over winter break. The first week I focused on my article on the The History of Petroleum & The Anthropocene. I tried to remember everything that we had talked about when I wrote my first article during development. I also tried to make the Anthropocene a larger piece in this article. I included my own wester PA experiences, the history of petroleum, a description of The Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration, why PA has oil, and how it oil is now affecting our environment. I found three different quotes that I liked at the end, I figured we will talk about them at our next meeting.

I am a fries on salad, almost hit a deer every time I drive, haluski dinner, dairy farm heritage kind of Western Pennsylvanian. I grew up near Venango and Crawford County and had a pretty rural childhood. I went to an equally rural small school with about 300 kids in a k-6th grade school. My grade school years were pretty uneventful as far as normal childhoods go. Pizza days were awesome, sparkly stickers adorned worksheets, and field trips were king. Probably around 4th grade, I remember taking a field trip to Titusville PA. I remember seeing the familiar road signs and buildings as our bus gassed along the back roads. I had family in the Titusville and Oil City area, so it was a common route to take with my parents. If I’m being honest, I always remembered thinking that the area looked dilapidated and just, well tired. But at that point I was too young to know how this town’s geologic resources had affected the environment and economy on a global scale.

The Anthropocene is defined as the current geologic epoch where humans have a profound impact on the functioning of Earth’s planetary systems. There is some debate as to when the Anthropocene began, but there is some consensus that it began around the 1950’s with the Great Acceleration. The Great Acceleration was the point in the mid-20th century where human activity/growth drastically increased, having a large effect on the Earth’s processes. From the 1950’s to present, multiple graphs charting the sharp increase of things such as population, GDP, energy use, and water use can be correlated with the drastic increase of CO2, surface temperature, ocean acidification, forest loss, etc. Let me give an example of what happened in the Great Acceleration. Let’s say there are 100 people in an environment. These 100 people are consuming fossil fuels for their homes, transportation, and buying food grown with modern farming practices. While there is an affect on the environment, it is so far pretty minimal. Now let’s say in just a few decades the population has grown to 1,000 people, who are all living the same lifestyle as the original 100 in the same sized environment. How does this new influx of population affect our environment? Now that these important terms have been explained, let’s continue our field trip.

On that particular occasion we were heading to Titusville PA to visit Drake’s Well. For adults not from western PA and oblivious past 4th graders like me, Drake’s Well was the first commercial oil well in the United States. It was named after Edwin L. Drake (who was only a train conductor at the time) who successfully found and drilled the first oil well for commercial use in 1859 for the Seneca Oil Company (now known as ExxonMobil). Most of the history of oil before this time was anything but the transportation and production commodity that we see it as today. In the early 1800’s oil was an unwanted by-product from salt wells and before that, a traditional medicine used for hundreds of years for anything from respiratory problems to scabies. Even in the 1840’s, Pittsburgh native, Samuel Kier began selling oil by-product from his salt wells as a pain treatment. With his success he opened oil refineries in Pittsburgh to manufacture “Kier’s genuine petroleum!”. The purpose of Drake’s Well was also different from my modern assumptions, it was to refine oil for kerosene lamps, to replace the expensive whale oil lamps of the time. While Edwin Drake had successfully proven that oil could be drilled for, he failed. A lot. Drake was considered crazy and lost credibility with most of his crew. Oil drilling was a new concept, and because of this, the current technology wasn’t exactly compatible for this venture. Even though Edwin Drake invented multiple new drilling techniques and procedures, he still could not locate oil for 5 months straight. It wasn’t until August 27, 1859 when his drill reached a 69.5 ft. depth, that he struck oil in Titusville Pennsylvania. While Drake’s Well was not the most producing, or largest oil well, it was important because it kick started the petroleum drilling revolution that would change our global economies and environment. While Edwin Drake lived a hard and poor life even after his discovery, he is still considered the father of the modern petroleum practices and industry.

When we got to the Drake’s Well Museum I remembered seeing an odd looking wooden building with an awkward chimney-like structure on one side. My class was led through single file so we could all get a turn to look at the steel machinery that was used in the drill, and the pipes that dispersed oil into wooden barrels clustered in the building. In my 10 year old brain there is no way I could properly fathom that this discovery was the reason why I had most of my modern day comforts and conveniences. Titusville was also just another usual place for me, so it didn’t seem that special of a location at the time. But why was Titusville special? More specifically, why did western Pennsylvania have this oil?

The short answer is because Pennsylvania used to be covered by ocean. During the geologic time periods of the Ordovician and Devonian, about 488 mya - 443 mya and 419 mya - 359 mya respectively, western Pennsylvania was covered by ocean and more importantly ocean life. The early invertebrates, corals, fishes, algae and plankton, alive during the Ordovician and Devonian would inevitably die and fall to the ocean floor. While this was taking place, the Appalachian mountains were eroding sediment into western PA. The organic debris on the ocean floor was repeatedly covered by the eroding sediment of the mountains causing increased pressure and temperature that would eventually form the thinly laminated fine grained sedimentary rock shale. These shale rock layers now contain hydrocarbon created from the organic debris that can be drilled for petroleum. Ever heard of the Marcellus Shale? The Utica Shale? This is how both of these geologic layers formed and became major players in the petroleum industry.

But how did a collection of dead fish rock and lamp oil change our global economy and environment? There are a couple factors to this. The first was that petroleum was more flexible in its uses than coal, and had a larger variety of applications. The second and third was the increasingly widespread use of the electric light bulb and automobile in the early 20th century. Eventually, around 1920, gasoline outsold the lamp oil kerosene and the need for petroleum was evident. Living standards increased with our new technology, farming and public health practices, all fueled by oil. Do you remember the Great Acceleration and the Anthropocene that I brought up earlier? When did those begin? That’s right, mid 20th century. When life became easier due to our new technology from petroleum, it wasn’t so much that there were that many new births, more so that less people were dying (however, birth rates did increase after World War I and II). But the primary driving force was that petroleum made life easier for everyone causing a falling death rate. Less people dying, more available technology, what’s the catch?

Let’s define the Anthropocene again. The Anthropocene is the geologic time period where humans have a prominent effect on the Earth and its processes. How does this relate to petroleum usage? Well, less people are dying, the population is growing, and a good proportion of them are using the technology and conveniences given to them by fossil fuels. What do fossil fuels produce? Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat and slowly release it in time, causing increased temperatures and climate change across our planet as well as more frequent and larger weather natural disasters. But that’s not all, carbon dioxide also gets absorbed by our oceans, where it creates carbonic acid, eroding the shells of our marine life. This decreases the food supply for some of our fish stocks that are already stressed from their large scale harvesting by petroleum fueled fishing trolleys. And of course plants absorb carbon dioxide, but while we’re creating high amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere we are also destroying our carbon sink forests faster than ever with petroleum fueled machinery for meat and palm oil production. The effects of greenhouse gases and climate change are widespread throughout my planet, and they are all connected. My actions, and the actions of my fellow citizens of Earth are single handedly causing the destruction of the Earth’s natural processes and the attributes of our planet that made it inhabitable to us in the first place.

Let me start by saying that I am not anti fossil fuels, which may sound odd after my last paragraph. I think the problem is bigger than that. Do you remember my example about the community with 100 people jumping to 1,000 all trying to live the same lifestyle with the same amount of resources? Well our Earth is like that, except it’s more like a population of 2 billion in 1900 to a population that has almost tripled to about 7.8 billion in 2020. We still have the same finite resources, and we’re still trying to live the easiest lifestyle provided to us by our technology. I don’t blame petroleum or fossil fuels initially for its effect on our life, it served its purpose and provided a substantial increase in our quality of life. I think the problem now is, we know better, yet we continue to push the same technology using the same fossil fuels and the same “solutions” after all this time and proof that this isn’t fixing our imminent problem. I as an inhabitant of Earth I need to look inward and really think about how my actions are affecting my planet. I need to see less putting the economy before our planet, when there will be no economy if my planet dies. I need to be a passionate innovator like Edwin Drake who evolved and created new technology to pursue his goal, all while fighting against the judgement of his colleagues.

When I was on that field trip to Drake’s Well in 4th grade I had no idea of the global implications that this commodity had created. I was just excited about the shiny rocks at the gift shop...I especially could not have fathomed that this global super powered resource had its start in my own family’s backyard. But I’m older now, and I know better, and I also know now that a global change can happen anywhere. The next energy revolution is on the horizon in your own backyard.

Today I leave you with the words of Sir. David Attenborough and Carl Sagan,

“The truth is, the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water, and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.” - Sir. David Attenborough

“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air or drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something.” - Carl Sagan.

“You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.” - Wangari Maathai

https://carnegiemnh.org/research/anthropocene/

http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/barnosky/Zalasiewicz%20et%20al%20QI2015.pdf

https://futureearth.org/2015/01/16/the-great-acceleration/

https://www.drakewell.org/about-us/site-history

https://www.aoghs.org/petroleum-discoveries/

https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/ordovician/ordovician.php