Indiana Transformations: Human Impacts on the Hoosier Landscape

In the Anthropocene era, every inch of the Earth has been permanently impacted by human forces. As human civilization fundamentally distorts deep ecology, the vastness of the changes becomes difficult for us to visualize and comprehend. What if we could compress it into a defined space to better visualize it and perceive it globally and locally?

Indiana Transformations presents the Hoosier state as a microcosm of the Anthropocene and our interactions with it. It captures key features of this worldwide phenomenon within a regional, bounded space, collapsing the global into the local. Drone photography from more than 45 locations across Indiana provides readers with a new visualization of the environment in which we live. By documenting the current epoch within a narrow scope, author Zach Schrank and photographer Aaron Yoder convey how the Anthropocene is not an exotic feature of a landscape on the other side of the world but is present in a space as unassuming as Indiana.

Showcasing stunning imagery of humans’ profound environmental impact, Indiana Transformations helps readers appreciate the scale of change around us.

Zach Schrank is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for a Sustainable Future at Indiana University South Bend. Zach is a ninth-generation Hoosier. Aaron Yoder is an FAA-certified drone pilot and photographer from South Bend, Indiana.