http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/technovel_mars_041130.html A proposal for conservation parks on Mars. I think certain areas should be preserved, but these did not make these conservationists lists. I think all the landing sites to this date on the moon and Mars should be roped off a preserved as historical parks. The authors favored instead preserving the entire north polar cap and Olympus Mons, because they are unique in some way. From my view, because they are unique in some they should be exploited. The north polar cap has volatile chemicals that will be useful and Olympus Mons is a logical spot for a space station being near the equator and at high altitude.
That's actually extremely significant. If two planets have global warming problems, that points to a potential source outside the environment of just one.
In seriousness, about a year ago, during the Mars Mania caused by the rovers, some serious left wing pundit wrote a column claiming that Halliburton was planning on drilling for oil on Mars. The facts were that NASA asked for assistance in developing a drill bit to be used on future Mars rovers. And when looking for drill bits, who has more experience than oil drillers. So a representative of a Halliburton subsidiary went to a meeting to discuss how to drill down on Mars. This was morphed by the lefty-nuts into Halliburton was drilling for oil on Mars.