“No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It’s not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there’ll be
No more turning away?”
From the song “On the Turning Away” by Pink Floyd
Written by David Gilmour and Anthony Moore
This is part 6 of my 6 part blog from 2004-2010 how the EarthBall became my symbol. I conclude these multi-part story how my April 10, 2010 photo of me with my EarthBall at Copper Harbor, Michigan with Lake Superior behind me became my favorite Earth Ball photo.
Part 1: Everglades National Park, Florida in 2004 to Crater Lake Nat. Park, Oregon in 2009
Part 2: My Pacific Northwest spring travels to living in Ashland, Oregon in Autumn 2009
Part 3: December 2009 cross country travels to spending winter in St. Louis, MO in 2010
Part 4: Seeing Door County, Wisconsin in April 2010
Part 5: Exploring the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in April 2010
Part 6: Getting my ideal EarthBall photo in Copper Harbor, Michigan in April 2010
Part 6: Getting my ideal EarthBall photo in Copper Harbor, Michigan in April 2010
On April 10th, Dan and Cherie first took me to see Haven Falls waterfall, located in Haven Falls Park. I took four photos of this 20-to-30-foot narrow waterfall that flows down a steep rocky hill like a snow sled. It was next to the road and some picnic tables, so we did not have to hike to go see it. We then walked for a while on Point Isabelle Beach, located on a lower northeastern bulge of land with eastern facing views of Lake Superior and the interior westward looking Bete Grise Bay. No other people were there as we strolled on this red clay beach interrupted by some large random stones. All three of us got lost in our thoughts in the serenity of the area. The only sound was the spring breeze making the Lake Superior water have small ripples.
We then drove a couple of miles west to see the Lac La Belle Lake with Mount Bohemia, a 1,467-foot mountain nestled on the back side of the lake. From there Dan drove many miles on a dirt backroad as far as he could get to the eastern most part of the peninsula, Keweenaw Point. It felt like we drove through many miles of forests, but we could not get to the edge because another forest stopped the dirt road before we could go any further.
We then backtracked to drive to Copper Harbor, the northern most point of the Keweenaw Peninsula and the U.P. We spent some time hanging out by the rocky shoreline admiring the Copper Harbor Lighthouse a short distance across the Copper Harbor Bay. This was a small lighthouse with a black top cupola, black gallery, beige tower and attached building with a reddish roof. I took several photos of the lighthouse zoomed in to see it more up close and zoomed out to see more of Copper Harbor and Lake Superior next to the lighthouse.
At the rocky shoreline by Copper Harbor, I decided to inflate my Earthball. I then asked Dan to take my photo holding it while I stood on the brown rocky shoreline. The dark blue waters Lake Superior and the blue spring sky was behind me. We took several photos, so I had options to choose from to create an iconic photo of myself.
When I looked at the photos afterwards, I was most pleased with the landscape photo of me at this location. It was late in the afternoon, around 5 pm. The sun was low enough in the sky to create an ideal photo of the sun illuminating me. A year later, I chose this photo for my Facebook Profile photo and as the image for my business cards. I think it is the best symbol of me. Although that photo is now almost 16 years old, I don’t want to change it. I was so happy to see Lake Superior on this trip. I like using a photo using a large body of water meeting the sky, representing that over 70% of the planet is covered with water. Yet, standing on this brown rocky ground represents the solid ground of the Earth were almost all humans live.
The only odd part of the photo is that the horizon is noticeably uneven. However, I accept that as part of the quirk of the photo. I kept it uneven for my Facebook profile photo. In my climate change presentations since then when I used the photo, I edited it to make the horizon even so it would not be distracting.
In the years afterwards, I took my photo with the Earth Ball in many of my favorite places. I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Thus, I had my photo with taken with the Earth Ball with the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis downtown skyline behind me in January 2018. The day after my wife Tanya and I moved to Portland, Oregon in February 2017, I posed with the Earth Ball on top of Council Crest with the downtown skyline of Portland behind me. Over the last 10 years, I lobbied for climate action in Washington D.C. for Citizens’ Climate Lobby. In November 2018, I held my Earth Ball in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.
Tanya is Danish American. My mother-in-law is originally from Denmark. I love traveling to Denmark with her to see her aunts, uncles, and cousins. In October 2017 in the middle of Copenhagen, held a Climate Planet Exhibit. It was a 30-seat theatre inside a large Earth Ball showing a short documentary to create more awareness about climate change. My wife Tanya took my photo with my inflatable Earth Ball with the giant Earth Ball theatre behind me.
I worked as a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park from 1992 to 2017. I used my Earth Ball for numerous ranger talks. I posed for numerous photos with it for various promotions. Tanya and I took a photo of the Earth Ball soon after engaged in December 2014. We had the Earth Ball featured in our ceremony wedding on November 1, 2015. The official wedding photographer took a photo of Tanya and I holding the Earth Ball as part of our official wedding photos. I had the Earth Ball with me when I taped my appearance on Comedy Central TV’s Tosh.o in April 2016 for the episode that aired on August 2nd of that year. On September 21, 2025, I showed up, marched, posed for photos, and even shot of quick video of me walking with my Earth Ball for the nationwide Third Act Sun Day Marches to promote solar and clean energy.
I first started using the Earth Ball back in 2004 when I worked as a seasonal park ranger giving ranger talks at Everglades City Visitor Center in Everglades National Park. Sadly, I don’t think I have of myself with my Earth Ball then. However, it has been part of my life in countless photos since then. My favorite to this day is the photo in Copper Harbor Michigan with Lake Superior behind me. The U.P. of Michigan is one of the most beautiful places on planet Earth I have seen. I have wanted to return there since then, but the opportunity has not presented itself yet.
As far as the rest of this trip to the U.P, we did a bit more sightseeing after we captured the iconic photo. I was curious to walk east down the road past Copper Harbor to see what was there. I encountered a small clear pond surrounded by a few pine trees and a gentle sloped mountain behind it. It was called Mud Pond, but the water was completely still with good clarity to see the shadow bottom. The pond was so calm that it reflected the trees and the brown tall still hibernating grasses and bushes along the shoreline. The still water also acted like a mirror showing the clear bright blue afternoon sky. We then walked by another inland lake, much bigger that did have a ripple of disturbance on the water surface. This lake was so large that we did not have time to walk around it. We had just enough time to admire the pine trees that ringed and surrounded the lake with the pine tree forest continuing up a forested long ridge.
As we left Copper Harbor, I noticed a sign indicating it was the beginning of U.S. Highway 41 and stating that Miami, Florida was 1,990 miles away. When I worked in Everglades National Park, I spent my last four seasons working at the Everglades City and Shark Valley Visitor Centers. They were located off U.S. Highway 41 and about an hour drive from Miami, Florida. I now felt like I came full circle. Everglades National Park was where I first learned about climate change, decided I wanted to dedicate my life to educate others to act, and I first started using an Earth Ball in my ranger talks. It was surreal that I was at the other end of U.S. Highway 41, nearly 2,000 miles from Everglades National Park and Shark Valley. I had no idea on this day that I would end up at the northern terminus of Highway 41. My friend Cherie Barth was working with me in the Everglades around the year 2000 when I first started learning about climate change.
My ideal EarthBall Photo Set me on my life’s path to be a Climate Change Organizer
Now I was at the other end of the road getting my perfect photo of me holding an Earth Ball to try to promote climate action. In future blogs, I will share where the road of life took me next for the rest of this trip to the U.P. of Michigan and Wisconsin. Soon after I returned to St. Louis, Missouri from this trip, my friend John Dantico help me set up the www.climatechangecomedian.com website that I use to this day. I practiced my Climate Change Comedian PowerPoint with my ranger friends at Crater Lake National Park that summer. I then showed it to other friends on my cross-country drive from Crater Lake to St. Louis that autumn of 2010.
In February 2011, I started this blog and I joined South County Toastmasters to be a better climate change public speaker. In March to May 2011, I worked at the temporary Climate Change Exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center. In August 2011, I gave my first climate change evening campfire ranger program at the Crater Lake National Park campground amphitheater. In September 2011, I attended the Earth to Sky V: NASA, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Park Service training for Communicating Climate Change in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
In November 2011, local businessman Larry Lazar and I co-founded the Climate Reality St. Louis Meet Up group, now called Climate Meetup-St. Louis. In December 2011, I attended the American Geophysical Union or AGU conference in San Francisco. My friend and fellow climate change organizer, Tom Smerling, who I first met in Washington D.C. in October 2011, encouraged me to attend the AGU conference. It was a rewarding opportunity to meet the top climate scientists of the world, such as Dr. James Hansen, Dr. Michael Mann, Dr. Richard Alley, and others and see their climate change presentations.
During the monthly St. Louis Climate Reality Meet Ups in early 2012, Tanya Couture showed up at these meetings. We struck up a friendship, started dating in 2013, and got married on November 1, 2015. Tanya has always been very supportive of my climate organizing, and a joy to be around. I was finally free of awkward dating experiences and the frustration of being single!
In April 2012, I wrote an article published in Yale Climate Communications, “Communicating Climate Change in a National Park.” In May 2012, I first became involved as a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby. In August 2012, I attended my first Climate Reality Project Training led by former Vice President Al Gore in San Franciso, California. I became a Climate Reality Leader and then a Climate Reality Mentor in August 2013. I eventually gave over 200 to 300 climate change talks in 12 U.S. states, Washington D.C, and Ottawa, Canada. Two of my most memorable experiences was speaking at the Shine of the Ages Auditorium at Grand Canyon National Park in May 2013 and speaking at my alma mater William Jewell College in October 2018.
I took many climate actions over the years. However, I will always feel like this was a key moment for me: capturing the ideal photo of me holding the Earth Ball standing on the rocky shoreline with Lake Superior behind me at Copper Harbor, Michigan.
