The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.

motherjones:

mypubliclands:

What does Jurassic Park have to do with public lands? Quite a bit, actually…

Jurassic Park is based on paleontologist’s research analyzing fossils. Our extensive knowledge of dinosaurs wouldn’t be possible without this research, which is conducted by permitted paleontologists and their students. Many of the greatest dinosaur discoveries occur on your public lands in Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and New Mexico!  For example, just outside Cañon City, Colorado discoveries include the first complete skeleton of Allosaurus, the three most complete Stegosaurus skeletons ever found, as well as the first known remains of dinosaurs like Camarasaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Diplodocus.

Of course, the proper preservation and protection of paleontological resources is a vital component of BLM’s Paleontology program and is the reason that the BLM and Universal Studios created these Public Service Announcements back in 1993.  Students and scientists with BLM permits are making new discoveries every year, many of whom became excited about paleontology because of movies such as Jurassic Park. Join the adventure, click here to learn more about fossils on public lands!

—Kyle Sullivan, BLM Colorado

Watch the original PSAs here:

Jeff Goldblum

Laura Dern

Sam Neill

Michael Crichton

Note: license for footage used in these PSAs granted by Universal Studios in June 1993.

Oh man. Whoever is running the Bureau of Land Management Tumblr is doing it right.

There is nothing about the United States that I love more than the Great Lakes. I spent my college years on the shore of one of them, and I’ve spent time roaming around one part or another of the rest of them. They are a miracle of nature. They are an astonishing example of the immense natural gifts bestowed by Whoever on this continent. They were unquestionably vital to the growth of almost everything about this country, from its population, to its economy, to its work, and to its play.

And, yes, we’re screwing them up, too.

Gogebic Taconite, a mining corporation, is behind the Republican-sponsored bill that it claims will expand mining opportunities by reducing environmental protections and altering state laws affecting wetlands, navigable water, and groundwater.

Glenn Grothman (R-Obviously) said  “If something that the environmental groups think is such an environmental disaster, you would think that they would have come in to talk to me.  I’ve been waiting to hear from them.”  Mr. Grothman can be reached at 608-266-7513.   

A proposed iron ore mine would be located near wetlands in Northern Wisconsin.  

Milwaukee Public Radio:

The push to streamline Wisconsin mining laws started two years ago, when an interested Florida-based company complained the state’s permitting rules were too strict. Gov. Walker and Republican legislators tried to pass a bill to ease the process, but could not round up enough votes in the Senate last year. Now, with a larger majority, Republicans are making a second attempt. They held a single public hearing on their proposal last week at the Capitol.

“The members of those committees that were sitting there taking that public testimony had themselves received over $800,000 in campaign contributions since 2010 from these mining interests.”

That’s Mike McCabe, executive director of the government watchdog group, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. It looked at a few dozen groups that registered to lobby in favor of mining changes, and tracked their campaign contributions, as well as those from their member companies and the companies’ employees. From 2010 to last summer, the donors gave $15.6 million to Gov. Walker and lawmakers. Republicans received the bulk of the money.

State senate and state assembly committees will be meeting about the mining bill on February 6th.

climateadaptation:

Extreme weather happening around the world. Right now.

Take a look at all of the photographs in the slideshow here.

Photo: Dave McNew

From the New York Times:

When a hurricane forced the Nautilus to dive in Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” Captain Nemo took the submarine down to a depth of 25 fathoms, or 150 feet. There, to the amazement of the novel’s protagonist, Prof. Pierre Aronnax, no whisper of the howling turmoil could be heard.  “What quiet, what silence, what peace!” he exclaimed.

That was 1870.

Today — to the dismay of whale lovers and friends of marine mammals, if not divers and submarine captains — the ocean depths have become a noisy place.  The causes are human: the sonar blasts of military exercises, the booms from air guns used in oil and gas exploration, and the whine from fleets of commercial ships that relentlessly crisscross the global seas.

sarahlee310:

KHOU-TV says that two people are dead and two people are missing after an explosion at a platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition, four people have been airlifted to West Jefferson Hospital, two of them who are said to be in critical condition.

The platform is believed to belong to Black Elk Energy out of Houston. It produces both oil and natural gas.

“We cannot confirm or deny anything at this time, but we are assembling an incident command team right now,” said Black Elk Energy asset manager Kirk Trascher

He said several boats are responding to the fire, both Coast Guard and Good Samritans.

Report: Two dead, two missing, four airlifted after platform explosion in Gulf of Mexico | (via wwltv.com New Orleans)

reagan-was-a-horrible-president:

paxamericana:

Climate Silence - Romney vs. Sandy

Damn.

Wow. This is really, really good. 

underthemountainbunker:

OUR CHOICE IN NOVEMBER IN TWO GIFS

(Source: overitdotcom)

Rachel Maddow covers Mitt Romney’s investments in a Chinese state-owned oil company that does business with Iran just to spite the United States.  

You Know the Drill.

Rachel Maddow covers the oil spills in Wisconsin (one of which was caused by the same company responsible for the 2010 disaster in Michigan), as well as issues arising from fracking in Texas.

Enbridge, a beleaguered Canadian oil pipeline company, has spilled more than 50,000 gallons of light crude oil in rural Wisconsin —  shortly after the company said it had implemented safety reforms after a massive 2010 spill in Michigan. 

Note: a different pipeline leaked all over a different part of the state only one week earlier.

People can be so clever.  The Yes Men are drawing attention to Shell’s arctic drilling.