The Environmental Case for Extraterrestrial Resources

During recent travels over the heart of our nation’s fossil fuel development and storage centers, a realization descended upon me in a new and sudden way. As I peered out of my porthole window at the landscape below, it struck me that a simple glimpse at the current state of our world is the only […]

Exploring Test Cell C with ArcGIS Online

The future is now. GIS forerunner company ESRI has recently published much of their geospatial analysis capability online… for free. Implementing the philosophy that knowledge is power and that all peoples and nations should be empowered to make smart and responsible decisions, ESRI is seeking to change the world by making powerful GIS tools available […]

Titan eclipses Mars

Titan has eclipsed Mars. Not literally, mind you, but conceptually. With active surficial geology the likes of which are known only to Earth, and considering the recent discovery of possible biochemical signatures of alien life, to me Titan has become the most interesting exploration destination in the solar system. Take the above image, for starters. Whereas […]

Scientists strike back at climate naysayers

Here it is – the long-awaited left hook I wasn’t sure would ever happen. Yesterday, against the continual volley of naysayer attacks, the journal Science published an open letter from a small army of scientists coming to the defense of current climate change research. While there is much to engender skepticism these days, what with ClimateGate, […]

Contingency Plans

A short note, today, on something that struck me while out in the east-central Nevada project area for work: Remote fieldwork = contingency planning. That’s really all there is to it. Take my latest trip this week, for example. In our project area, we’re really off the grid. What we call a road can at […]

A climate change interview

So, the most beautiful, articulate and talented writer and politics-hawk I’ve ever known (who also happens to be my wife) interviewed me for an honest breakdown on the realities of climate change. Let’s face it – the topic is now completely murky. Considering the U.N.’s data-bending scandal and the fact that politicians and commentators are […]