Alan Gordon compiled this film of himself climbing glaciers and exploring ice caves off-shooting from the Juneau ice field. He’s lived there for years, and seen the glacier melt accelerate. “My goal for the film is to show everyone places in time that won’t be there forever. It is an opportunity that I want to take to not only explore but to capture on film these beautiful places that are constantly evolving and melting away.”

Jay Peak in Vermont has agreed to pay an $80,000 fine for filing in wetlands with debris from construction of a golf course from 2004 to 2008. The current Jay Peak owner says that the two acres of destroyed wetland and streams happened before he came on board. Ugh, the only thing worse than playing golf is golfing on filled in wetland. Couldn’t they have built the golf course on an old toxic waste site? If you haven’t bought your season pass to Jay Peak yet this year, might I suggest taking up backcountry skiing? I know a place where you can get some great gear, and I haven’t filled in any marshes or streams with debris for several years.

via Adventure Journal

Sure it made sense for Dubai to build a huge indoor ski hill. Or rather, it wasn’t shocking that Dubai thought it would be a good idea to create a massive energy sinkhole in the middle of the desert. The Scandinavians have a bit of snow that naturally occurs in their country, do they really need an indoor ski hill? Well, they seem to think it would be a good way to host ski races year round and offer consistent course conditions. They also claim that they’ll be able to make it ‘climate positive’ by producing all of their own energy from renewable resources.

Water is coming over the Elwha Dam in what must be a tremendously fun torrent for fly fishers to watch. The Elwha River Restoration Project has set up a webcam so that you don’t have to miss any of the dam busting fun. The National Park Service also created a video that demonstrates how the dam removal process is supposed to work, and oddly enough, there’s no part in the video where the water pours over that side of the dam.

Photo by IvoShandor

A U.S. court has ruled that the National Forest in western Pennsylvania can be mined for oil and gas. Why? Because the National Forest Service only has rights to the land’s surface, not what’s below it. Ahh, they got the oil and gas on technicality. So, I wonder, how will the companies mine these resources that are below the national park without putting mining equipment on the national park’s surface? Well, maybe they’ll just rent a campsite for the season and drill in the middle of a campground.

via Adventure Journal