It makes me very happy when a person I work for stands up and sets a fine example. I do mean “work for” in a broad sense, since I have owned my own business since 1989, but you will get my point in a minute.

On July 16, Deborah Adler Myers the president of Science Channel, testified before the House Science and Technology Committee, chaired by Arizona’s own Gabrielle Giffords. Congresswoman Giffords is someone else I admire, particularly because of her positive stance on solar energy initiatives here in our home state.

Deborah began with a brief history of Discovery (Science Channel’s parent company), went on to show support for President Obama’s challenge to “restore science to its rightful place” in our nation, and later presented a detailed overview of Science Channel’s mission: “To be the creative magnet for all people—adults and kids who share a passion for innovation and the sciences.”

Towards the end of her address, Deborah included a few sentences that really startled me: “Our television shows cover a wide range of space and exploration topics—from space travel to string theory and wormholes to black holes. We start from the Big Bang beginning and go right to the edge of what we know is possible in the future. We’ve brought back classics like COSMOS and created our own original series like When We Left Earth and Meteorite Men.”

Meteorite Men is the show I co-host with my expedition partner, professional meteorite hunter Steve Arnold. Science Channel is our network. So, in a general sense it’s fair to say that I work for Deborah Myers. And I am quite sure that was the first time anything I have done received a specific mention on Capitol Hill. As one of our producers, TV veteran Bob Melisso said, humorously: “It’s always good to be mentioned in congressional hearings when you’re not being indicted.”

With my co-host at Science Channel HQ. They have their own dinosaur.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Deborah first thing this morning and, of course, I congratulated her on her testimony. We talked about our show for a while, and about our common interest in getting kids excited about science. She told me that when someone is really successful in our kind of work it is because they are sharing their journey and taking viewers along on “an authentic quest.”

It was all very inspiring, so we are going to do everything we can to keep it real. Stay tuned.

Photograph by Ruth Rivin © Aerolite Meteorites. All rights resrved.

In my professional life I travel to a lot of weird places looking for meteorites, fossils and other natural history treasures. More often that not, we are working in remote areas, far from civilization, and regularly encounter unusual plants, animals, and environments.

A typical expedition might involve two or three 4WD vehicles, enough food and water to keep a small group active and healthy for a couple of weeks, maybe an ATV or two, and other heavy gear such as large metal detectors and digging tools. On one hand I am thrilled by the opportunity to experience aspects of the natural world that city dwellers rarely, if ever, get to see. On the other hand, I am always somewhat concerned by the impact our convoy might have on delicate ecosystems.

Taking the high ground

Recently, we have been exploring a zone that would have been quick and easy to scout on ATVs, but we decided to work on foot instead. What might have taken only an afternoon on a motorized all-terrain vehicle took days to explore the old fashioned way: boots in the dirt. During the past few weks we have run across numerous beautiful (and protected) horned toads. cacti with new, brightly-colored buds; intriguing millipedes with their hundreds of tiny, perfectly aligned legs; rare flowers; hummingbirds, and many other small living things that would be crushed in an instant by the fat tires on a quad.

When things go wrong: Our vehicle stranded in the Atacama Desert

When driving off-road in trucks, we try to stay on existing trails as often as possible, and I frequently make an instantaneous detour to avoid flattening a plant or pummeling a flying insect. Campsites are typically set up in a natural clearing and my team is always meticulous about packing out all of our trash, except for the very few things that are naturally biodegradable and will, in fact, provide food for our temporary neighbors—apple cores and orange peels for example.

When it gets tricky: While filming a documentary for Discovery Channel we needed to tow a large metal detector through high wildflowers in Kansas. Birds sleep in the underbrush during the day, so we drove very slowly to give them plenty of time to get out of the way.

If we need a campfire we either bring wood with us, or gather dead branches from the ground. Using a small portable gasoline stove prevents us from having to burn any natural materials at the site. When we are excavating, we avoid damaging plants as much as possible, and always fill in our holes. Team members who smoke collect cigarette butts in an empty bottle, and we even make a point of picking up other people’s trash (if there is any out there in the wilds). We try to leave a site just a little cleaner than we found it.

Tiny footprints in the sand: During an expedition to Siberia we came across diminutive white birds who nested on the ground. They lived on an island in the middle of a frigid river with no likely predators. The little birds attacked us, fiercely, when we got too close to their nests, and we gave them a wide berth, not wanting to step on eggs or get pecked!

Some things are unavoidable: We burn gasoline in the trucks, and we need batteries and electricity to power our equipment. Food and water are consumed. Weeds are run over by vehicles. But we do our best to be considerate visitors. I make my living by working with the natural world, so it is my duty and pleasure to respect its integrity.