Few childhood to adolescent memories are as enduring as vivid National Geographic photo spreads that were able to take you to places you'd never known existed and see people and events that never could have been imagined.  Even know, when anyone can navigate Google Earth and view satellite imagery of far away lands, National Geographic continues  to provide a  unique, unforgettable view of our dynamic world - and to a global audience as it reaches 50 million readers in 32 languages.  In the latest issue (March), National Geographic travels just north of us, to Canada, to expose the Canadian Oil Boom, and the environmentally disastrous oil sands. The series of photographs that accompany the article are being called, the "baby-seal moment for Alberta’s oil sands, a public relations hell that will be very difficult to overcome, no matter how reasoned the argument."
Don Martin of the National Post recently reported of when an advance copy of the magazine made its way to Premier Ed Stelmach's office - Stelmach is the Premier of Alberta, home of the worst of Canada's oil sands:

"The government spin doctors in Edmonton searched the 24-page spread, entitled “Scraping Bottom,” for a glimmer of positive coverage, but the only rainbows they found were caused by oil slicks."

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