In late April 2024, I received an email from East County Rising (ECR), a local Portland, Oregon area social justice organization. They were hiring field organizers, also known as canvassers, to knock on doors to urge voters to support their endorsed candidates for the May 21st Oregon primary election. I worked for ECR from September to November 2022 for the midterm elections. With my alarm about the state of U.S. democracy, I was eager to knock on doors again to engage with voters to urge them to vote and be involved with the democracy process.
I knew that canvassing was not going to be easy. On April 2, 2024, I published a blog, “For Climate Action, be kind to people knocking at your door.” I enjoy canvassing to be outside on beautiful days, meeting new people in my community, having conversations with voters about candidates and issues that I care about, encouraging people to vote, and friendly cats. The hellish part of canvassing is cold rainy days, people slamming doors in my face, people showing distain in voting and the democratic process, and hostile dogs charging at me. It is not for the faint of heart to be a canvasser.
ECR had a slate of candidates it endorsed for the May 21st primary, such as Eddy Morales for Congressional District seat 03, Willy Chotzen for Oregon House District 46, Hoa Nguyen for Oregon House District 48, and a ballot measure 26-247 for more funding for the Gresham Police and Fire Departments. I canvassed full time around 5 days a week, for these candidates plus others endorsed by ECR.
Photo of Brian Ettling canvassing in Gresham, Oregon on May 8, 2024.
The most searing memories from this experience were two young women that I knocked on their doors, one in Gresham and the other in southeast Portland. They felt very uncomfortable that an older man (me) knocked on their door, knowing their full name and address. I tried to assure them that I am an ally organizing to achieve many of their values such as equal pay, a woman’s right to reproductive healthcare, safety from assault and violence, and ending gender discrimination. However, they were not buying it. No matter how I wanted to convince them that I cared about their issues and wanted to hear their concerns, my message was not breaking through to them. It is always gut wrenching for me to reach out to people, especially young women, who did not want to trust me.
The woman in southeast Portland told me that I sucked as a canvasser. She was displeased that I mispronounced her name. As I struggled to say her name correctly, I showed her the spelling of her name on my canvassing voter phone app. She was very mistrustful that I had her name and address. I gently tried to explain to her that voter registration is public information, but not how a person votes. She became angrier upon hearing this. She retorted, “Maybe I should cancel my voter registration.”
No matter how I tried to apologize for initially mispronouncing her name or any bad first impressions, it did not lessen her hostility towards me. Both occasions with these young women from Portland and Gresham felt crushing for me. I have always wanted to get along well people, and I am eager for people to like me. It is very sad as a canvasser that some people I encounter knocking at their doors will never like me. That is the heartbreaking part of canvassing.
Fortunately, like all the previous times I canvassed in 2022 and 2018, I encountered people that were kind, thanked me for my canvassing, engaged in wonderful conversations with me, and I had some friendly cats!
Brian Ettling with a friendly cat while he was canvassing in the east Portland, Oregon metro area on September 15, 2024.
Canvassing is like a knife’s edge. It can be either top of the world fulfilling or completely demoralizing. By the time of the May 21st primary election, I was ready for a vacation. I dislike canvassing on election day because most people already voted by this point. Most people who have not voted by this point are simply not interested in voting. I have known fellow canvassers who did have some success getting people to vote at the last minute on election day, but I have not experienced those moments yet.
The May 21st election day turned out to be brutal. It rained hard that day. I got soaked, despite all my attempts to stay dry using a poncho, layers of clothes, etc. I had some homeowners scream at me when I tried to approach them about voting. After I left the campaign literature at one door of someone who didn’t answer, she wadded up the information and thew it at me.
My breaking point was around 2 pm that afternoon. It was pounding rain, and I was walking around in a low-income mobile home trailer park knocking on doors. I used the overhead awnings to try to stay dry, update the canvassing information on my phone, and try to get the campaign literature out of the plastic bags without getting the materials wet. I knocked on the door of a young 20 something Latino man. When he first answered the door, I had the impression he did not speak much English, so I tried to communicate with him with a language translation app on my phone. I struggled to use the app quickly and effectively. Finally, he said in exasperation, “What do you want?”
I responded, “Today is the last day for voting. I am really hoping that you will get a chance to vote today. Did you get your ballot?”
He snarled, “I don’t plan on voting.”
I replied, “Wow! This is an important election. We are voting on police and fire department services so they can respond more quickly when you need them.”
He snapped, “I don’t give a shit! The only reason I am still allowing you to be by my door is because it is raining so hard.”
At this point, I had no interest left in canvassing for this election. I left this man, departed the trailer park, got in my car, and drove home. I then texted my boss Billy to say that I was finished canvassing that day. I reached my limit with the heavy rain, cold weather, and the nasty interactions I received from interacting with people. Billy and I agreed that I could do text banking up until the end of my shift around 5 pm. I received the information to call potential voters, and I texted folks on my iPad. I received some negative text responses not to text them anymore or more information on the Safer Gresham Police and Fire Ballot measure. I answered the text questions to the best of my knowledge, but two people who texted me back were not happy with my information I relayed about the ballot measure.
The negative responses via text were such a breeze compared to the cold rainy weather and hostile interaction I faced earlier that day. It felt soothing to text bank in warm comfortable clothes in my cozy home, in contrast to the pouring rain a few hours earlier. I finally wrapped up the text banking at 7 pm, one hour before voters had to submit their ballots to a designated drop off. Oregon is one of 8 states, as well as Washington, D.C, that allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail. Oregon voters can submit ballots in the mail on election day if they are postmarked by that day. Or they can slide their ballots inside a secured designated drop box by 8 pm on election day.
Most elections I like to attend the election victory parties. For this primary election, I just wanted to stay home and dry with a big cup of hot chocolate to hang with my wife Tanya. The good news is that the legislative candidates I canvassed for in competitive districts, such as legislative candidates Willy Chotzen and Hoa Nguyen won their primary races. Even more, the Gresham Safer Police and Fire Department funding measure passed! My supervisor with ECR was very happy with all my canvassing efforts. He felt like all my door knocking made a difference with that local ballot measure winning.
When I was growing up, my dad used to advise me: “Don’t ever get a job where you have to work with the general public!”
Knocking on doors to urge voters to support candidates and ballot measures is very tough. On my worst days canvassing, I laugh thinking maybe this was a case of ‘Father knows best.’ On the other hand, our climate and democracy feel too threatened for me to stay home and not engage with people, even the folks I encounter that hate what I am doing.
At the end of the day on May 21st, I was exhausted, sad, traumatized from some of these nasty voter interactions from canvassing for the 2024 Oregon election primaries. I was desperate need of a vacation to get my mind off the last two months. Just a day later, my wife and I left for a four-day trip to southern Oregon to go snowshoeing at Crater Lake National Park. I was so glad my canvassing was finished for the spring. Yet, I felt proud I made a small difference for our democracy, planet, and for climate action!
Brian Ettling at Crater Lake National Park. Photo taken on May 24, 2024.
Riding in small airplanes, Skydiving, Parasailing, and Surfing for Peak Thrills
Around the time of my 40th birthday in July 2008, I went through a mid-life crisis. I had worked successfully as a seasonal park ranger in the winters in Everglades National Park, Florida and summers at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. After seeing the documentary about Al Gore in the summer of 2006, An Inconvenient Truth, I knew I had to do something as a career to promote climate action. However, I had no idea how to pursue this passion. I knew of no organizations or individuals pursuing this passion at that time. I loved my job of giving ranger talks in the national parks. In my restlessness, I started pursuing thrill-seeking opportunities in my spare time.
In the spring of 2007, I wanted to see a bird’s eye view of the Everglades. The highest point in Everglades National Park was about 8 feet above sea level. The lower third of the park of this 1.5-million-acre park is the shallow sea of Florida Bay, which is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and sporadically connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Keys. Another third of the park is mangrove trees, which live in the brackish mixture of fresh and salt water barely above or at sea level. The upper third of the park is the freshwater slough of sawgrass with hardwood hammock islands and pine tree ridges mixed in between. That area was just a few feet above sea level. The Everglades has no steep tall mountains providing grandiose scenic vistas.
Thus, my friend Jackie and I found a way to take a short airplane ride in March 2007 to get aerial views of the Everglades and south Florida. We booked a pilot to take us on a 45 minute flight in a small 4 seat plane that flew in and out of the Everglades City Airpark, a tiny airport located directly behind the National Park Service Visitor Center where I worked in Everglades City. While that flight was fun, but I wanted more.
I decided I must go tandem skydiving in April 2007 to get even higher views of south Florida. I wanted to experience jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to live to tell about it. I deeply enjoyed that skydiving experience so much that I wanted to do it again when I worked at Crater Lake, Oregon in the summer of 2007. I talked a group of friends to go tandem skydiving with me in August 2007. It was even more of a thrill than the first time, but damn scary since I am afraid of heights. After two times, I got the skydiving adrenaline experience out of my system.
I still longed to do more thrill-seeking experiences. In October 2008, I visited friends on the Big Island of Hawaii. I achieved a life goal to see all 50 states, plus I turned 40 years old in July. Even more, I did not know if I would ever return to the Big Island. Therefore, I was determined to make the most of this trip. I first bought a ticket from UFO Parasailing so I could parasail above the Pacific Ocean.
Parasailing felt magical to feel like I was drifting in a parachute that was attached a couple hundred feet above the boat that was pulling me along. It was a bit freaky seeing how tiny the boat was below me and how my seat rocked back and forth a bit as I was pushed around by the wind. My bare feet were dangling, and I clung tightly to my parachute harness and wires, nervous I could still fall into the water from this great height. Yet, I loved how quiet it was when I was high up parasailing with just the sound of the wind. The view of the Big Island and the Pacific Ocean from up in the parasail was spectacular. I had a fantastic time. With my fear of heights though, I could check this activity off my bucket list. I did not feel much need to do it again.
Photo of Brian Ettling parasailing off of the Big Island of Hawaii near the city of Kailua Kona. Image taken on October 26, 2008.
The next day, I signed up for a surfing lesson. I had no business surfing since I am not a strong swimmer and I don’t have great balance. Furthermore, I always had a fear of swimming in water where I cannot touch the bottom. I learned quickly when I showed up for my lesson that morning that those are to requisites to surf successfully: strong swimming skills and a good sense of balance. Gulp! I was going to have to swallow my fears to achieve success there.
Once we got out into the water, it took several attempts to try to catch a wave and balance myself properly on the surfboard. My surf instructor screamed at me in a very beneficial way each time I tried to climb on board the surf to ride the wave back to the beach. He worried a strong wave would push me into nearby jagged rocks, not the soft sandy beach where I needed to land. He was a great instructor because he did not give up on me. He was determined I would achieve standing on the board, properly balancing, and surfing the wave smoothly to the beach.
After several failures, a part of me was getting tired and I thought about giving up. However, my surfing instructor was not going to allow me to fail. He was determined I would succeed and I was not going to let him down. Finally, I caught a wave! I stood fully on the board, and I balanced myself with my back crouched forward with my knees bent, one leg in front of the other. I did it! I was so proud of myself! I achieved a peak life experience, like nothing I did before. I hopped off the board in the shallow water at the beach. My instructor was so proud of me and this accomplishment for him that day. I must have been one of the hardest clients he had ever taught to surf. He looked tired from all his efforts to coach me that day. I made sure to tip him well and thank him for his efforts.
I have heard that surfing is one of the hardest recreation activities one could try. Having tried surfing, it felt like a big challenging endeavor for me. I felt worn out and I just wanted to chill out at the beach and hotel for the rest of the day. No need for me to try surfing again. Check! I got that need out of my system.
Brian Ettling surfing on the Big Island of Hawaii near Kona on October 28, 2008.
Zip Lining near Vail, Colorado in May, 2010.
After my Hawaii trip, I was not finished with my adventure seeking. Around this time, zip lining became a popular recreation activity in tourist locations. I looked online for any zip lining near Crater Lake in southern Oregon in 2009. However, none of the local businesses offering zip lining appealed to me. When I spent my winter in St. Louis, Missouri in the winter of 2009-10, it was too cold to zip line. I did not see any zip lining outfitters nearby. When I planned my cross-country trip from St. Louis to Crater Lake in May 2010, I noticed a zip line outfitter near I-70 in the Rocky Mountains near Vail, Colorado. When I checked in April 2010, it was very early in the season for their operation, but they were able to take my reservation for a zip line.
When I arrived at the Zip Adventures on May 3, 2010, I was basically the only car in the parking lot. The owners were very happy to see me because I was their only customer that day. It was an overcast somewhat cold day in this high elevation area in the Rocky Mountains. Not really the typical clear summer day that one pictures to do an activity like zip lining. However, I was dressed in a turtleneck, warm sweater, and winter jacket, so I was prepared for the chill in the air, plus any breeze I would experience while zip lining.
The only rule I remember is that they never wanted me to touch the overhead cable while I was moving on the zipline. First, my hand could get ripped up while I traveled on the cable. Even worse, hand could get mangled by the pulley wheels attached to my harness as I moved down the cable. The business was so light for the owners that they traveled on the zip line several times while I was there for the fun of it.
With my fear of heights, my heart was in my throat as I moved on the zip line from one end of the deep box canyon to the other side. However, I loved the thrill of traveling on the zip line. The owners secured me well on the zip line so I did not necessarily have to hold onto the bright yellow harness with both hands while I zipped down the zip line. But, my fear of heights forced me to always hold tightly onto the harness with both hands like my life depended upon it.
Photos of Brian Ettling zip lining near Vail, Colorado. Images taken on May 3, 2010.
One of the owners offered a fun activity while I ziplined. I could grab a rock before I started to hold in one hand. During the zip line, I could attempt to throw inside an open barrel that was about 50 feet to the side and under the zip line. If I got the rock inside the barrel, I would win a chance for a free zip line at their location in the future. I felt too squeamish with my fear of heights over the canyon, the weird sensation of dangling from a harness, plus the speed of the zip line moving downline. I was not in a comfort zone to throw a rock into a barrel while zip lining, but I was happy I tried the experience of zip lining. Half the fun was hanging with the two owners in their 30s who delighted in owning this business, zip lining themselves, and showing others like me a good time zip lining.
This was another experience that felt fun for me, but I did not feel a need ever have to do it again. I still had other thrill-seeking items that I wanted to do, such as riding in a hot air balloon.
Inviting my friend Lise Wall to ride in a Hot Air Balloon with me
When I arrived at Crater Lake in mid-May 2010 to work as a seasonal park ranger, I had the privilege of working with Lise Wall. We worked together in the spring of 2009 for the Classroom at Crater Lake. We led ranger talks for high school, middle school, and grade school snow shoeing field trips at Crater Lake. Lise and I enjoyed working together and we became good friends.
She invited me to visit her the Illahee Fire Lookout, Oregon in August 2009 where she worked as a fire lookout observer. In November 2009, I was housesitting in Ashland, Oregon and Lise spent her winters living in the tiny town Idleyld Park, Oregon, a 30-minute drive east of Roseburg, Oregon. We decided to meet up in the Roseburg area to go to the Wildlife Safari Park. We had a terrific time driving in my car to see the wildlife roaming there, such as zebras, bison, giraffes, camels, rams, musk ox, reindeer, leopards, wild turkeys, elk, llamas, rhinoceros, black bears, and other animals.
Lise Wall was an attractive woman who was slender to the point of delicate. She was shorter than me had long flowing brunette hair down to her waist and a soft whispering voice. She frequently had a twinkling smile around me, waiting to hold back the laughter until I said something funny. She delighted in my sense of humor and the ease that I told jokes around her. We seemed to have an attraction for each other, but we never knew how to pursue it, so we always stayed on the friendship level.
She enjoyed hearing about my thrill-seeking to sky dive, parasail, surf in Hawaii, hike up and down the Grand Canyon, zip line, etc. She liked my zeal to try new adventures. When I chatted with her one day when we were working at Crater Lake, I mentioned that I wanted to go up in a hot air balloon sometime soon. Lise expressed an interest to join me if I did this. I don’t mind doing these thrills by myself, but it is more fun to have a friend with me. Lise and I frequently laughed when working or hanging out together, so I knew it would be good to have her join me.
Brian Ettling and his friend Lise Walls riding in a hot air balloon over Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010.
I looked online and I found the His Sky Balloons in Grants Pass, Oregon. I arranged with my Crater Lake supervisor Eric Anderson to get a specific day off in June so I could make a reservation for this balloon ride. Lise was still working seasonally at Crater Lake into June. Eric arranged it so both of us could have the day off on Friday, June 11th to do this balloon ride.
Grants Pass is a two-hour drive southwest of Crater Lake. Lise needed to go home the day before to take care of her cats before joining me in Grants Pass. Our balloon reservation was for 8 am the next day. I booked a room for both of us at the Shilo Inn so we could get a good night sleep and not be rushed to drive several hours from our residences that morning.
I arrived at the motel on Thursday evening, June 10th an hour and a half before Lise showed up at the room. It took her so long to get to the motel that I was a bit worried if she would make there ok. When she arrived at the room, she looked lovely with her long flowing brunette air and lovely smile, she looked happy to hang out with me. I will admit I hoped a romantic intimacy might happen that evening.
However, as soon as Lise was comfortable in the room, she grabbed the TV remote, turned on the TV, and was giddy to see what shows were on TV. Lise lived in a remote rural mountainous area without TV reception. She prided herself as an aspiring writer. I somehow thought she had a negative impression of TV like me. I was shocked to see her marveling at the sight of TV, to the point of almost ignoring me. I think she was hoping that I would be amazed by the availability of TV. At that time, neither one of us had access to it in the remote mountains at Crater Lake or at her home in the deep secluded forests at Idleyld Park.
Sitting on my bed, I finally sighed and observed, “I can’t believe you are watching TV!”
Lise responded, “Well, what else is there to do?”
Me: “I can think of a lot of other things to do.”
She did not get the hint. She continued to happily watch TV. It felt like there was an attraction between us. I probably could have sat next to her on her bed to see if anything progressed from there. I don’t think she would have minded, but I was just too shy. I was also still in shock how much this liberal minded, mountain living, nature loving, independent woman was loving watching TV. It was bizarre to me. The TV viewing was a mood killer for me. That might have been her intention. Who knows!
She eventually turned off the TV. We had a pleasant conversation about work, life, and the upcoming hot air balloon experience the next day. Nothing romantic happened. I did not want to make our cherished friendship awkward by going beyond that. If you had bugged or videotaped our motel room that evening, you would have been bored with two friends chatting until they fell asleep on their own beds that you would have fallen asleep too!
Riding in a Hot Air Ballon above Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010
When we woke up the next morning, we quickly realized we overslept. It was after 7:36 am and our balloon ride reservation was at 8 am. We each quickly changed from our sleeping clothes to the clothes we planned to wear that day. We left the motel room fast throwing our overnight bags in our cars and raced to try to make it to the balloon in time.
When we reached the hot air balloon, it was already a couple of inches off the ground. It was right around 8 am. The pilot of the balloon allowed us to instantly jump into the balloon basket. He then sternly remarked, “If you had arrived any later, we would have left without you!”
Photo by Brian Ettling of getting ready to ride in the WWJD hot air balloon over Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010.
Lise and I felt embarrassed and relieved we had cut it so close to barely make it on it. We noticed three other patrons on this balloon basket, which was only about as big as a small elevator. There was not much room to maneuver or turn around in the balloon.
In our rush to get to the balloon. We barely had time to notice how stunningly beautiful the balloon was. It had a multi-color checkerboard pattern of squares of blue, yellow, red, and green. In the middle of the balloon was a giant yellow stripe that went from the top to the basket. Inside the yellow stripe were the vertical letters WWJD. I had no doubt the pilot would tell us what those letters meant at some point.
As soon as Lise and I stepped inside the basket, the balloon started quietly lifting towards the sky like a very quiet elevator. The only sound that broke up the noise was the infusion of the propane blasted like a flame thrower into the balloon, officially known as the envelope or bag.
The view was mesmerizing. We took off from a suburban part of Grants Pass. As we got higher, we could see more rows of these middle-class homes with lots of tall trees dispersed between the houses. While we were up in the air over Grants Pass, another hot air balloon was airborne. It was colored with red on the top third, white in the middle with a large Remax logo and a cobalt blue color in the bottom third of the balloon. It was fitting to see another balloon in the sky on this morning to give us more perspective on this hot air balloon experience.
With my fear of heights, I dared not to look down at the ground as it appeared further away from us. It also felt freaky to me to see all this blue sky and open air around the ballon as we hung out in the sky anywhere from 500 to 1,000 feet above the ground. I tried not to think how there was six of us huddled together inside this small balloon basket, just floating around in the sky. When I did think about it, it felt very weird and I felt vulnerable being this high in the sky. At the same time, I was loving the views of Grants Pass and the mountains surrounding Grants Pass. This felt different than any previous life experience or adventure.
Photo by Brian Ettling of the Remax hot air balloon taken from the WWJD hot air balloon hovering over Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010.
At times it seemed like the balloon was floating in the air, almost as light as a feather. At other times, it felt like the balloon was a white-knuckle ride as it would decrease in altitude, nearly missing the tops of trees or the flood lights of a nearby high school football stadium.
When we were at our highest elevation above the ground, about 1,000 to 2,000 feet, balloon pilot shared why it had the initials WWJD. He told us that it stood for “Walk With Jesus Daily.” The initials also stand for “What Would Jesus Do.” I should have known that abbreviation having a connection to Christianity since I had seen that in popular and religious culture for decades. However, it did not grab my attention when I made online reservations for the balloon. I barely noticed it when Lise and I showed up that morning and saw the balloon for the first time.
The pilot expressed his Christian faith is important to him. He shared where he attended church and hoped we would join him. I did not like going to church when I was a kid, and I still don’t. I am not comfortable with religion, especially organized religion, because I saw too many famous people, especially politicians, express how religious they are. Yet they treat people, particularly the most vulnerable in our society, awful, inhumane, and cruel. Suddenly, I felt like the balloon basket was way too small. I wanted to get off the balloon, but there was no place to go. At the same time, the scenery and experience was so fantastic that I chose to ignore him.
Besides Lise and me, the other folks on the balloon did not seem to mind that he was witnessing his religion. They seemed to agree with him and reacted positively to what the pilot shared about his faith. Lise just ignored the whole thing. She seemed to love every second of this balloon ride. She smiled with delight when we looked at each other several times during the flight.
It was not enough for the pilot to talk about his Christian faith. He then pulled out a religious card about his balloon business that was roughly about the same size as a baseball card. He deliberately let go of the card while we were a couple thousand feet above the ground. The card then flittered in and out of the balloon basket like a butterfly. The wind carried the card differently than it would have on the ground. The jittery free motion in the air of this religious card sent me into a panic. It reminded me how high we were above the ground in a tiny balloon basket. If anything failed at this height, we were falling to our deaths. This realization caused me to duck inside the balloon in a spot where I could not see the floating religious business card or the broad view of the Grants Pass area.
I am glad I overcame my fear and momentary panic attack. The pilot pointed out some locations in Grants Pass that I had not heard about before. He pointed out a Rolls Royce junkyard. Rolls Royce cars that were totaled in an accident or that no were no operational were brought to this junkyard. They were then stripped of their good parts to be sold to auto mechanics and Rolls Royce owners needing to replace parts on their vehicles. The pilot stated that this was one of few Rolls Royce junkyards in the United States. The balloon pilot even found a way to maneuver the balloon about 50 feet off the ground so we would get a good view of the junkyard.
We continued to see the red, white, and blue REMAX balloon ascend and descend from a distance from us in Grants Pass. It was great to be in the sky around the same time as another hot air balloon to get aerial photos at the same level as us, above our altitude and below our elevation. I liked seeing the shadow of our balloon on the ground. It felt we were part of our own balloon eclipse. I would not see a solar eclipse for another 14 years. I have seen a few lunar eclipses over the years, but it was still a fun sight to see the dark temporary shadow of our WWJD balloon on the ground.
Photo by Brian Ettling of the shadow of the WWJD hot air balloon while flying over Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010.
After about an hour, it was time for the balloon to land safely on the ground and for the balloon ride to be over. With my fear of heights and the uneasy sensations I felt at times during the balloon ride, I was happy to be the first person off the balloon.
It was great to take photos of the balloon outside the basket. Lise and everyone remained on board to provide weight so the balloon operators and staff could start deflating it. They needed their weight to hold the balloon down so it would not float away. When the balloon was deflated enough that the envelope or bag started to look droopy, Lise and everyone else then exited the basket. The basked was then tipped to the side so the balloon would fully deflate, and they could carefully fold it up for future trips. It was a delicate operation to fold it up to make sure the thin nylon materials that make the balloon would rip and make the balloon inoperable.
After several minutes, the balloon envelope or bag was folded up into a large, enclosed pick-up truck. I then only had my memories and digital photos from this experience.
The aftermath of this Hot Air Balloon Experience and my thrill seeking
This was the last time I went out on an excursion with Lise. Just a month later, I started dating Lesley. I dated Lesley until the end of 2010. In 2011, I felt heartbroken after Lesley broke up with me. For nearly all of 2011, I felt too sad and depressed to want to date anyone else. Lise wrote me some letters when I spent the winters in St. Louis. Lise and I remained as friends. I appreciated her friendship in that dark time in my life after Lesley ended our relationship.
In July 2011, I was still grieving that Lesley and I were no longer dating. It was brutal on my emotions because we worked together as fellow interpretation/naturalist rangers at Crater Lake National Park. I knew I needed to do something to pull myself forward to enjoy life again. For years, I wanted to put together a climate change evening program at Crater Lake National Park. My Supervisor Eric Anderson encouraged me to do that since I expressed an interest in the summer of 2008. The lead naturalist David Grimes supported my interest in putting together a climate change campfire evening program.
In previous years, I was scared to put together a climate change evening program. I felt like I did not know enough. Even more, I worried that visitors who denied the scientific evidence and reality of climate change would want to get into a fierce argument with me about it. By July 2011, I knew I needed to stop procrastinating, hiding behind my fears, and just do it. I needed to start enjoying life again and following my passion for climate action, especially my calling to be “The Climate Change Comedian.”
I started to say to myself: I overcame my fear of swimming in deep water with surfing in Hawaii in 2008. Even more, I overcame my fear of heights with skydiving twice, parasailing, and riding in a hot air balloon. Thus, I could create a climate change evening program.
I spent my free time at Crater Lake in July 2011 creating this climate change evening program. I debuted it in August 2011. To my surprise, the park visitors at Crater Lake gave a positive reception to this ranger program. Very few visitors argued with me about it when I gave it during the summers of 2011 to 2017.
David Grimes videotaped it in September 2012, and I uploaded it on YouTube a few months later. As I enjoyed giving this climate change evening program, it led to many other public speaking opportunities to talk about climate change.
In 2011, I joined South County Toastmasters to be an active member during my winters in St. Louis. I gave 20 speeches about climate change to this group from 2011 to 2017, 8 of those speeches I was voted by my fellow Toastmasters as “Best Speaker.” I miss my involvement with that club in St. Louis. A friend who is still involved says that the group still talks about me and the speeches I gave about climate chance.
The same year I joined Toastmasters, I co-founded the Climate Reality St. Louis Meet Up group, now called Climate Meetup-St. Louis. My life changed when Tanya Couture showed up at one of our Meet Ups in 2012. We started dating in 2013. We got married in 2015, and we moved to Portland, Oregon in 2017.
I will always appreciate my friendship with Lise and the fun times we had hanging out together, such as riding in a hot air balloon together. I simply can’t imagine my life without Tanya. She has always been 100% supportive of my climate organizing.
Brian Ettling and Tanya Couture. One month after they were engaged on January 26, 2015.
Around the same time I became friends with Tanya, I began volunteering with Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) in May 2012. A few months later, in August 2012, I attended a Climate Reality Training in San Francisco, CA led by former Vice President Al Gore. He trained over 800 volunteers, including me, to become Climate Reality Leaders to give his climate change presentation. As a park ranger, Toastmaster, CCL volunteer, and Climate Reality Leader, I ended up giving over 200 to 300 climate change talks from 2012 to 2022 in 12 U.S. states, Washington D.C. and Canada. I gave my Crater Lake climate change evening program for an audience of over 200 people at the Grand Canyon National Park in May 2013.
I discovered my life’s passion do want to do something about climate change when I was working in Everglades National Park in the winter of 2007-08. However, for years I did not have courage to speak publicly about it. It was only after I accomplished my thrill seeking of skydiving, parasailing, surfing, zip lining, and, yes, riding in a hot air balloon that I discovered my determination to speak publicly and take climate action.
My advice is to find something that scares you. It could be as simple as public speaking. Find a way to overcome that fear in a fun way. Then use the courage and the thrill of victory you receive from overcoming your fear to change the world in a good way.
If you do that, let me know how it goes.
I still believe that Helen Keller said it best, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
Photo by Brian Ettling after he rode in the WWJD hot air balloon over Grants Pass, Oregon on June 11, 2010.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
“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?”
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 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.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
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.
Photo of Brian Ettling in front of the Climate Planet Exhibit in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 20, 2017.
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.
Photo by Brian Ettling on April 10, 2010 at the sign by Copper Harbor, MI indicating the northern start of U.S. Highway 41 and the distance to the southern end of Hwy 41 in Miami, Florida.
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.
Photo of Brian Ettling (without the EarthBall) taken at Copper Harbor, Michigan on April 10, 2010.
Photo by Brian Ettling of the flight tracker of the Delta flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Portland, Oregon on April 23, 2019.
As a climate organizer for almost two decades, I have thought about Greenland over the years.
According to the website AntarcticGlaciers.org, “The Greenland Ice Sheet is one of two continent-scale ice masses on Earth, with the other being the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere…Almost 80% of Greenland’s landmass is covered by the ice sheet.”
A recent NPR article stated that “Greenland is the world’s largest island that is not a continent, covering more than 836,000 square miles.” Greenland about three times bigger than the size of Texas. At its thickest point, the Greenland Ice Sheet measures almost 2 miles thick and contains about 696,000 cubic miles of ice. The Greenland Ice Sheet holds about 10-12% of the world’s glacier ice, making it the second-largest body of ice on Earth after Antarctica.
Greenland first came to my attention in 2006 when I saw Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In that film, former Vice President Al Gore spoke passionately about the need to address human caused climate change. He ran the alarm bell how fast Greenland’s ice sheet is melting because of burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. He stated “If (the Greenland ice sheet) melted or broke up and slipped into the sea – or if half of Greenland and half of Antarctica melted or broke up and slipped into the sea, sea levels worldwide would increase by 18 to 20 feet.”
Gore showed striking visual images of the resulting sea level rise with south Florida disappearing, the water in San Francisco Bay greatly expanding, and most of the Netherlands underwater. Furthermore, he had visual images of the impacts on Bangladesh; Calcutta, India; Beijing and Shanghai, China; and lower Manhattan in New York City. I never forgot the gasps in the studio audience in the documentary and the gasps in the movie theatre when I first saw those images.
The movie was a wakeup call. We must do everything we can to act on climate change and stop burning fossil fuels to prevent the loss of the Greenland Ice Sheets and the catastrophic impact it would have on coastal areas worldwide.
Photo by Brian Ettling of flying over Greenland on April 23, 2019.
After the film, many people, including me, wondered what they could do to use less fossil fuels to tackle climate change. For years after the film was released, many people talked about reducing their individual carbon footprint or emissions they produce. Incidentally, the fossil fuel industry, particularly BP or British Petroleum, that created the concept of the personal carbon footprint. They wanted to shift the attention to make the individual consumer feel guilty for their sole carbon emissions rather than the responsibility of the fossil fuel industry for their role in extracting, selling, distributing, and making the global society overly dependent upon their products. Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann reports about this BP deflection campaign in his 2021 book, The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet.
Since I moved to Portland Oregon in February 2017, I almost exclusively take public transit and do not drive my car to reduce my carbon emissions or footprint. Over the years, many sources, including Columbia University Climate School, reported on ways you can reduce your carbon footprint. One of their 35 tips was to “If you fly for work or pleasure, air travel is probably responsible for the largest part of your carbon footprint. Avoid flying if possible; on shorter trips, driving may emit fewer greenhouse gases.”
That’s good advice to avoid flying if possible, because of all the carbon pollution from commercial airline travel contributing to climate change. Sadly, individual guilt to reduce personal carbon footprints led to carbon shaming or even flight shaming, which is just as bad as fat shaming. Dr. Mann wrote about the problem of carbon shaming in his book, The New Climate War.
Carbon shaming involves carbon advocates shaming others doing activities such as flying in airplanes. In December 2011, I flew from my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California to attend the American Geophysical Union Conference, one of the largest annual scientific conferences in the world. I went to see climate change presentations from the world’s top climate scientists. Plus, I wanted to meet other climate change communicators and organizers. After the conference, a Facebook friend kept carbon shaming me for taking a commercial flight to this conference. The shaming was so hurtful that I blocked and unfriend this person. His beliefs were extreme because he would not even fly in an airplane to visit his grandchildren.
I will admit that I like to fly commercially. I fly once a year to Washington D.C. to lobby Congressional offices to urge members of Congress to pass strong climate legislation. My wife Tanya and I have lived in Portland, Oregon for nearly 9 years now. However, my elderly parents, her parents, our siblings, and my adult nieces and nephews all live in the St. Louis area. Thus, we fly back to St. Louis about twice a year to visit them.
My wife is Danish American. My mother-in-law is originally from Denmark. My wife likes to fly to Denmark every two to three years to see her aunts, uncles, and cousins. I traveled with my wife to see Denmark 4 times over the last 9 years. I love to see Tanya’s relatives, stay at the family summer house that is on the Baltic Sea, walk around the nearly old Danish towns and small cities, and experience the Danish culture. My wife intended to go to Denmark on these vacations, with or without me. However, she wanted me to go with her, and I love going to Denmark.
The only downside for me is that it is a 9-and-a-half-hour flight from Portland, Oregon to Amsterdam, Netherlands, plus another short flight to Denmark. That is a long time to be couped up like cattle in the economy class of a commercial jet. It is hard to sleep in those very cramped airline seats. Even worse, with the lack of sleep on the airplane, plus the 9-hour time zone difference, the jet lag is brutal once I arrive in Denmark. It takes several days for me to sleep normally. Thus, part of me is great with flying to Denmark every 2 to 3 years.
On the way back from Denmark on April 23, 2019, Tanya I had an early morning flight from Amsterdam to Portland. I lucked out with a window seat on this flight. Most of the time, Tanya and I are seated in the middle section, since they were the only seats available on the transatlantic flights. No clouds were in the sky when we flew that April morning. The video screen in front of my seat had an option of movies and TV shows for me to watch. In addition, it had a flight tracker map to show the airplane route from Amsterdam to Portland. It indicated we would be flying right over the middle of Greenland.
I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to visit Greenland during my lifetime. It does not seem easy to travel to since it does not have any large cities, frequent flights, or other convenient ways to travel there. This might be my only opportunity to see it. I became eager with anticipation as the flight went across the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Then I saw it. This massive sheet of bright white ice everywhere. Greenland looked enormous as the flight took 2 to 3 hours to cross it. The land looked so different than anything I had seen in my life. Just a glistening white ice sheet with rolling deeply snowed rounded mountains rising in between the ice, especially near the coastal areas. The brightness of the ice contrasted greatly with the dark blue sky and Earth’s daytime atmosphere.
Photo by Brian Ettling flying in a commercial airplane over Greenland on April 23, 2019. According to Brian’s iPhone, the image was over the western edge of Greenland by Sugar Loaf Bugt.
It looked like an area that needed to be left alone, even protected as much as possible. It felt premoral, an icy area left over from the last Great Ice Age, also known as the Pleistocene epoch, dating from about 2.6 million years ago and ended 11,700 years ago.
Greenland gave the impression we don’t want to melt with climate change. Scientists have warned us for decades that melting it could raise global sea levels up to 20 feet if we continue to burn fossil fuels with business as usual for the foreseeable future. Greenland looked like it belonged to no one, but it belongs to all of humanity. It was a sacred part of Planet Earth that I was so lucky to see from a jet airplane window at over 33,000 feet in elevation on that clear sunny day. It’s not a place in January 2026 for President Donald Trump to threaten to invade and conquer just because he can or his excuse of national security.
As I reflect now of that aerial view of Greenland from April 2019, I can’t stop thinking about those memories since Greenland is in the news so much these days. Today, in January 2026, all of us must do what we can to protect Greenland from climate change, honor the sovereignty of indigenous people who have lived there for thousands of years, and refuse to allow it to be conquered by an egomaniac world leader like Donald Trump.
Photo by Brian Ettling of the flight tracker of the Delta flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Portland, Oregon on April 23, 2019.Photo by Brian Ettling of flying over Greenland, Grønlands Nationalpark, possibly the eastern edge of of Greenland on April 23, 2019.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
“I’ve seen the world, been to many places Made lots of friends, many different races I’ve had such fun around the world it’s true African skies with a Nairobi mood, ooh I fell asleep in Tuscany and dreamed The one thing missing was you…” – from the song “Runaway” by Janet Jackson
This is part 5 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 5: Seeing the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the First Time
On April 8th, Dean Shumway and I went to a diner in Sister Bay, Wisconsin to meet with a friend of his for breakfast. It was snowing lightly with some of it sticking on the ground to form a fresh white cover. It was another reminder from Mother Nature that she did not want to give up her winter hold on this area yet. I felt a bit uneasy that morning hoping the roads would be safe as I traveled north into Michigan on the next part of this adventure. I ate a hearty breakfast of pancakes and Bernie packed a lunch for me for the road. After a good conversation with Dean and his friend over breakfast, it was time for me to hit the road to see new places that day.
As I drove south to try to leave Door Peninsula, the snowy weather persisted. I wanted a beautiful sunny day for this road trip, but Mother Nature insisted that it should snow throughout that morning. I had to drive south to go around Green Bay, Wisconsin. It felt odd to drive south to Green Bay. This is the home of the Green Bay Packers National Football League team. Their mammoth football stadium, Lambeau Field, dominates the Green Bay skyline. With the deep cold weather that the Packers play during their football season in November into January, Lambeau Field, has the nickname of “the frozen tundra.” With the snowy weather I encountered driving through the city of Green Bay on April 8th, that nickname seemed appropriate to me.
From Green Bay, I drove an hour north to Marinette, WI to cross into Michigan. The road paralleled within a few miles of the northern shore of Green Bay. During that hour, it was interesting to see northeastern rural Wisconsin. At the same time, I was full of anticipation to cross into Michigan to experience the Upper Peninsula or U.P. As I drove through the town of Marinette and crossed the Menominee River, I finally saw the sign I was eager to see. It was blue sign shining brightly on this overcast snowy day. It proudly beamed the words “Pure Michigan.”
Photo by Brian Ettling of entering the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the town of Menominee MI on April 10, 2010.
I did it! I crossed into the U.P. of Michigan. I reached a new goal for this trip. I had been to Dean and Bernie’s house before in Door County. Now I felt like a traveler experiencing uncharted territory for first time. Fortunately, Michigan Highway 39 hugged the Green Bay shoreline for the next hour or 64 miles up to Gladstone, Michigan. I then headed straight east on U.S. Highway 2 through the Hiawatha National Forest to Manistique, Michigan. I don’t remember the forest driving through this part of the U.P. However, I looked forward to seeing Manistique since it was nestled on the north shore of Lake Michigan. The view did not disappoint. From the highway, I could spot a bright red lighthouse that seemed to stand out on this overcast snowy day. The lighthouse only connected to Michigan with just a narrow strip of land.
The scene was ideal for me to pull into the Carl D. Bradley Lakeview Memorial Park to take multiple photos of the lighthouse with Lake Michigan behind it. The snow on the ground and on the vegetation made the view even more spectacular. I was glad to see winter was not over in this part of the country. It was another cold blustery day on this spring break trip. Yet, I was thrilled to see what nature wanted to show me of the winter scene of this area. I ate my lunch inside my cold car while I enjoyed the view. While I was there, I went on a 20-minute walk to get as many photos and views as I could enjoy before I felt the need to explore further east that day.
I then had a 45-minute drive through the interior of the U.P to get to Naubinway, Michigan, which lies at the northern most point of Lake Michigan. From Naubinway eastward, I had views of Lake Michigan as the road stayed close to the water’s edge for the next 44 miles or 50 minutes. The road twisted with the lakeshore all the to Saint Ignace, Michigan, the northern shore where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron met. This was my next destination to see what the view was where these two Great Lakes met. As I journeyed along Highway 2 towards St. Ignace, the road would climb up tall cliffs giving me wide birds eye views of the forest behind me with Straits of Mackinac in the most northeastern parts of Lake Michigan in front of me. The scenery was too awe inspiring to drive. I had to pull over at some of the overlooks to just take in the views and capture the beauty in photographs.
At a pullout a few miles west of St. Ignace, a bridge started coming into view. It had two tall crème colored spanning towers like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City. It was the Mackinac Bridge. I loved bridges like this since I was a child. I had picture books of the Golden Gate Bridge as a young kid that I looked at frequently. I was enthralled to see that bridge when we drove across it on a family vacation to San Franciso when I was 9 years old in 1977. Three years later, my dad drove our family across the Verrazano Bridge when we traveled to New York City in 1980. This bridge looked just as majestic as those bridges. Unlike those bridges, it did not have a big city skyline on one side of it. The Mackinac Bridge just had Lake Michigan on the west side and Lake Huron on the east side with the forests and small towns of the Upper and Lower Michigan peninsulas at either end of the bridge.
The goal of this trip was to see the U.P. of Michigan. However, I had to drive across this bridge just to experience it. As I drove south across it, I did something dangerous of taking a couple of photos with my point and shoot digital camera while driving my car. Looking back, it takes full concentration to drive across that bridge with the other traffic and the winds of the Straits of Mackinac tugging at your car. The photos while driving on the bridge turned out well. However, I shudder to think of all the things that could have gone wrong driving a car while trying to get photos with my digital camera at the same time.
After I drove south across the bridge, I stopped at Michilimackinac State Park on the shore of Lake Michigan, just off I-75 in Mackinaw City. There was a lighthouse there I did not even notice. I was on a mission to take more photos of the Mackinac Bridge from the southwest shoreline sandy beach. This was my only time in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan during this trip, which was just for a few minutes. I then drove across the Bridge again, admiring how Lake Huron was on one side of the Bridge and Lake Michigan was on the other side of the bridge. I tried to take in the whole view of the area while driving as safely as I could to make it to the other side.
Photo by Brian Ettling of the Mackinac Bridge. Image taken at Michilimackinac State Park in in Mackinaw City, Michigan on April 10, 2010.
When I reached the U.P. on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge, I then drove an hour on I-75 to spend the night in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I easily found a hotel on the east side of town. I would have liked to have crossed the St. Mary River to see Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. However, I did not have a U.S. Passport at that time. Thus, I was going to have to enjoy staying in the U.S. and experience as much as possible in the U.P. of Michigan. This was a full day with a lot of driving and spectacular scenery. Now I was full of anticipation for the next day to drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Houghon, Michigan on the western part of the U.P. I would be seeing Lake Superior and the northern shore of the U.P. for the first time in my life. As country singer Willie Nelson sang years ago, ‘I could not wait to get on the road again.’
Seeing Lake Superior for the First Time
I woke up on April 9th similar to the anticipation of opening gifts on Christmas morning. This was the pinnacle for this trip: the possibility to look at Lake Superior for the first time. I saw Lake Michigan several times as a child when my parents took trips to Chicago. I viewed Lake Ontario on a family vacation in 1983 when we visited Toronto, Canada around the time of my 15th birthday. But I was curious for decades afterwards to see Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. It is bigger by volume of water than all the other Great Lakes combined. It has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in the world. Even more, Lake Superior holds around 10% of all the fresh water in the entire world. I longed to see this gigantic freshwater sea.
I was meeting my friends Cherie Barth and her boyfriend Dan for dinner and staying with them. They lived in Houghon, Michigan, on the northwestern part of the U.P. Thus, I had to make the most of the day and the daylight. It was going to be a 4-and-a-half-hour drive without stopping to get to Cherie’s house, so I had to get up early to make the most of this day. From the beautiful sights I experienced that day, it was one of the most memorable days of my life.
My first destination was Whitefish Point, Michigan. It was an hour and a half drive west of Sault St. Marie, Michigan. The land around Whitefish Point juts out like a shark fin for the eastern U.P. Whitefish Point sits at the very top edge of the protruding land. The way it sticks out into Lake Superior this location would give me a panoramic view to see the lake for the first time in a more meaningful way. It snowed about an inch overnight. The ground was covered white with the snow, but it was too warm for the snow to stick to the payment. Thus, it was an ideal day to drive to take photos of the U.P still impacted by winter, but warm enough to not worry about driving in icy or snowy slick covered roads.
On my way to Whitefish Point, I drove through the town of Paradise, Michigan. The name acceptably fit the area with its quiet location. I saw no one or no traffic as I passed through this rural bedroom community. I stopped to take photos of the picturesque view of the snow on the ground, no leaves on the trees, and gazebos looking out into Whitefish Bay, the eastern most part of Lake Superior. From Paradise to Whitefish point, the road stayed close to Whitefish Bay, giving me my first glimpses of Lake Superior. It looked impressive, but not much different than the previous memories I had of Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario.
I could not drive any further at Whitefish Point when I got to the parking lot of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. When I pulled up to the parking lot to take photos, I was listening to Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” several times on my iPod connected to my car stereo. At one spot driving up to Whitefish Point, I had the song playing as I quickly left the car running to run out to get a quick photo. If the locals saw me, they probably thought I was another stupid tourist. Lightfoot’s song commemorates the November 1975 tragic sinking of the American cargo ship the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The Edmond Fitzgerald happened not far from here. As Gordon Lightfoot sang in the song, “The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er.”
When I arrived at Whitefish Point, it was just me and a couple other cars with visitors in the parking lot. In front of me was a white lighthouse with a white residential house next to it with an orange roof. The orange roof stood prominent with the snow on the ground, the lighthouse keeper’s house and lighthouse were white, and it was a mostly cloudy day with some blue sky. The inside of the lighthouse and the Shipwreck Musuem were not open. The summer tourist season was still many weeks away for these buildings to be open to welcome visitors.
Photo by Brian Ettling of Lake Superior taken at Whitefish Point, Michigan on April 11, 2010.
Behind the lighthouse, I had to walk on a long beach to get to the edge of Lake Superior. From the edge of Whitefish Point, Lake Superior looked massive. The winds blew strongly bringing a frigid chill to the air. I bundled up in my winter coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. The winds created numerous whitecaps on the water and small breaking waves on the shoreline. The winds churning up the water of Lake Superior gave it a grumpy appearance that morning. My first impression of Lake with the white caps and shoreline tidal waves is that the lake seemed to be saying to me, “Don’t fuck with me! I am not in a good mood today!”
With the cold winds and choppy disturbed water that day, Lake Superior demanded respect. It was not a day to irritate her with swimming, boating, sailing, fishing, or any activity on her waters. I dared not to do anything foolish to make her angrier that day. I was elated to see Lake Superior for the first time from the safety of the sandy beach. I found another visitor to take a photo of me with my digital camera to capture the moment.
From Whitefish Point, I drove 40 minutes southwest to Tahquamenon Falls State Park to see the waterfalls there. I read beforehand that Upper Tahquamenon Waterfalls, over 200 feet wide, is one of the largest in the eastern United States. After I parked my car in the parking lot, I walked on the short trail to see the falls. It was one of the most splendid waterfalls I saw in my life.
Because of the river’s brownish hue is due to tannins from the surrounding swamps, the water looked like Coca Cola going over the waterfalls. Soda, such as Coke or Pepsi, was a treat my parents bought occasionally when I was a kid. I still love the taste a cola soda, even though I don’t drink much soda now because of all the sugar content. I loved the natural beauty of this area. At the same, the tannin in the river and seeming a bit bubblier going over the waterfalls, made me crave a Coke. I was not having a Coke though because I did not bring one. Even more, there was no concession stand, store or restaurant open in this park this time of year. Besides that, it was too cold to drink a Coke or any kind of soda that day.
Photo by Brian Ettling of Upper Tahquamenon Waterfalls in Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan. Photo taken on April 11, 2010.
With its 50-foot drop and steady partial horseshoe flow, Upper Tahquamenon Waterfalls looked like a mini–Niagara Falls. I walked on the forested paths with no leaves on the trees to see the lower and upper falls with an inch of snow blanketing the ground. It felt refreshing to be in nature that day. I still had a three-and-a-half-hour drive west to Houghton MI to meet Cherie and Dan for dinner and stay with them. However, I did not want to leave this park. As I write this 16 years later, I long to return to see these waterfalls and hike in the forests again.
In the parking lot, I spotted a red fox. I worked 25 years in the national parks, but this was one of my top wildlife experiences in my life. The red fox looked bewildered. I was basically the only car in the parking lot. It looked used to having the area to itself. I took numerous photos of it with my digital camera. It was like it was posing for me like a fashion model. Maybe it was fed by humans the way it observed and was curious about me. At the same time, it was leery and it did not want me to get close to it. I was lucky to take many photos of it with my digital camera. A middle-aged woman in the parking lot also saw the red fox and took several photos. We both marveled seeing the red fox. I shared with her that I worked 18 years in the national parks and had never seen an animal pose like this for me. She was too caught up in the moment to acknowledge when I shared my national park background with her.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park was small compared to national parks I visited, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, North Cascades, etc. It is close to 50,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. However, seeing the large waterfalls, hiking on the trails, and photographing the red fox, ranked up there with the experiences of some of the national parks I visited. This was the only time in my life I visited this park, but I wanted to return ever since then.
Photo by Brian Ettling of a Red Fox staring at him at Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Michigan. Photo taken on April 11, 2010.
From Tahquamenon Falls State Park, I had a close to a two-hour drive to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The National Park Service managed it. It is known for its towering cliffs with amazing views of Lake Superior. Heading towards seeing the lakeshore cliffs, I was impressed seeing robust waterfalls flowing in the park, such as Miner Falls, which drops over 50 feet. When I reached the Miner’s Castle overlook, I had a blue sky with no clouds to get a broad view of Lake Superior. The winds lessened much since I visited Whitefish Point that morning. Lake Superior looked like a bright blue freshwater ocean extending to the horizon to join with the light blue sky. Below and in front of me was with the white sandstone round rocks of Miner’s Rock. This shoreline rock with the expansive waters of Lake Superior behind it is the ultimate iconic photographic location for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the U.P. of Michigan.
This was the clearest weather I had so far on this trip to Wisconsin and Michigan. There was still a chill in the air, but it felt like spring was starting to get a toehold in the U.P. I am so glad the weather cooperated at this location. I wanted to spend more time at Pictured Rocks hiking in the woods, seeing the waterfalls, and admiring the views of Lake Superior from the vantage points on the tall cliffs. I was running out of time that day to make it to the home of my friends Cherie and Dan in Houghton.
After leaving the Miner’s Castle Overlook, I then stopped by to see Munising Falls, another 50-foot waterfall. I walked a paved 800-foot trail to see it. This waterfall is located at the very southwest corner of the park, next to the small recreational town of Munising, Michigan. From there, I still had a 3-hour drive to Houghton to connect with my friends Cherie and Dan. I reached their home as it was getting dark close to 7 pm. From her 10 years of knowing me, Cherie figured I would do a lot of sightseeing from Sault Ste. Marie to Houghton. Cell phone signals were limited that day, but I might have tried to call from Munisang or elsewhere to give Cherie my estimated time of arrival. Or, maybe I didn’t call in advance. I don’t remember.
The main point was that I made it safely to Cherie and Dan’s house that evening. They were happy to see me. After I visited Cherie and Dan at Sequoia National Park in March 2009, they found jobs working at Isle Royale National Park later in 2010. Isle Royale is in the northern part of Lake Superior. Even though the island is closer to Canada and Minnesota, it is part of Michigan. The only way to access Isle Royale is by ferries or by a sea plane during the summer season. The transportation to the island would not be running for a few weeks yet. Otherwise, Cherie and Dan might have been able to assist me to get access to the island. I would have loved to have seen Isle Royale, but on a different trip. This trip, I was focused on seeing the U.P. of Michigan for the first time and friends in Wisconsin.
Like when I visited all my fellow ranger friends working in national parks, it was fun to swap park stories and learn more about the park where they lived and the area where they resided. Cherie and Dan agreed with me that there was a lot to see in the U.P. of Michigan, even if they expressed regret that they could not show me Isle Royale. Both of were off work the next two days to explore around the Keweenaw Peninsula. Houghton lies in the middle of the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is a land area connected to the northern most part of the U.P. of Michigan. The Keweenaw Peninsula looks like a bent index finger sitting on top of the U.P. of Michigan. Thus, it is a smaller peninsula connected to a much larger peninsula.
I hoped to achieve a quality of photo of me holding my Earthball with Lake Superior behind me when we explored the Keweenaw Peninsula the next day. Stay tuned for Part 6 of this blog to find out what happened the next day.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
Hearts afire creates love desire Take you high and higher to the world you belong Hearts afire creates love desire High and higher to your place on the throne
We come together on this special day Sing our message loud and clear Looking back, we’ve touched on sorrowful days (well) Future, past, they disappear
You will find (you fill find) peace of mind (yeah) If you look way down in your heart and soul Don’t hesitate ’cause the world seems cold Stay young at heart Ah, ’cause you’re never, never old at heart
That’s the way (that’s the way) Of the world (of the world) Plant your flower (gonna plant your flower) And you grow a pearl Child is born with a heart of gold Way of the world (gonna plant your flower) Makes his heart so cold
Hearts afire creates love desire Take you high and higher to the world you belong Hearts afire, love desire High and higher Yeah, yeah, yeah Hearts afire, love desire Ah, higher
We’ve come together on this special day Sung our message loud and clear Looking back, we’ve touched on sorrowful days While future disappear
You will find (you fill find) peace of mind (eh, eh) If you look way down in your heart and soul Ah, don’t hesitate ‘Cause the world seems cold Stay young at heart ‘Cause (’cause you’re never, never, never) You’re never, never, never
That’s the way of the world Plant your flowers and you’ll grow a pearl Child is born (child is born) With a heart of gold (listen now, with a heart of gold) Way of the world (way of the world) Makes his heart so cold (makes his heart so cold)
– “That’s the Way of the World” sung by Earth, Wind, and Fire. The track was produced by bandleader Maurice White, who also wrote the song along with his bandmates Charles Stepney and Verdine White.
This is part 4 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 4: Seeing Door County, Wisconsin in April 2010
Around this time, everything was aligning for me to visit Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan in April 2010. My friend Cherie Barth and her partner Dan at that time shared a house in Houghton, Michigan near the northern tip of the UP of Michigan. My friends Dean and Bernie Shumway lived in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, near the end of the Door County peninsula. Ty and Carna Manthey were in the process of moving to Baraboo, Wisconsin. They planned to be settled in my April 2010. All these friends were excited for me to come visit.
On April 5th, I would first drive from St. Louis to Sister Bay, Wisconsin to spend a couple of days with Dean and Bernie in Sister Bay, WI. I then would head to Green Bay, WI to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to see if I could get glimpses of upper Lake Michigan. From Sault St. Marie, I would go to Houghton Michigan to see what I could of Lake Superior and visit Cherie and Dan for several days. From Houghton, Michigan, my next stop would be Baraboo, Wisconsin to see Ty and Carna Manthey. From Baraboo, I would return to St. Louis on April 14th. I would be on the road for about 11 days. Somewhere along this trip, I hoped to get a photo of myself holding the EarthBall with a scenic view of nature behind me that will promote taking care of our planet.
With my trip to Hawaii in October 2008, I had traveled to all 50 states. Since then, I was interested in visiting what I called ‘the nooks and crannies of America’ that I had not seen yet, such as the U.P. of Michigan. When I was a child growing up in St. Louis, my parents took my sisters and me on a couple of trips to see Chicago Illinois. It was a huge megacity compared to St. Louis. I was equally impressed with the size of Lake Michigan. It looked like the ocean compared to the small lakes I in Missouri. After seeing Lake Michigan, I developed some intrigue about the Great Lakes. I especially wanted to see Lake Superior, the largest by far of all the Great Lakes.
I planned to start my cross-country drive from St. Louis to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon at the end of April. I would be working at Crater Lake from May until probably the beginning of October. After that, I had no idea what I would do next. The stars were aligned for me to visit the U.P. of Michigan and see Lake Superior then. I did not know when I would get another chance like this. With having my friends living in Houghton Michigan, this trip would fulfill a lifelong dream to see Lake Superior. As I started preparing for this trip in March and April 2010, I could not wait for this adventure.
Meeting Dean and Bernie Shumway and staying with them in Sister Bay, WI in 2005
By 2010, I knew Bernie and Dean Shumway for 7 years. I met them during my first winter working seasonally in Everglades City, Florida for the National Park Service (NPS). This was my first job working as an Interpretation/Naturalist Guide Ranger in the national parks. They were volunteers mostly working at the Visitor Center Desk answering questions to tourists planning their visit to Everglades National Park. Dean was an opinionated old curmudgeon who saw the world in simple black and white terms. He was a retired FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) agent who spent his career in law enforcement. He was quick to fire off his beliefs, but he still wanted the best for everyone. Bernie was the opposite of Dean. She was reserved, slow to criticize, and let Dean do most of the talking. She nearly always had a smile and wanted to share kindness with the world.
In Everglades City, there were about 8 of us rangers plus volunteers working out of the NPS Visitor Center (VC). The NPS had 3 seasonal housing units a half a mile up the road from the VC. I can’t remember if Bernie and Dean lived in their own RV (Recreational Vehicle) or in one of the seasonal housing units. Either way, I enjoyed working with them at the VC desk and when we would socialize monthly with our employee potlucks. Dean was more on the conservative side. Working at the bookstore in the VC was primarily Wendy who was a progressive feminist atheist and outspoken in her opinions. Dean and Wendy would get into shouting matches about politics, feminism, and their views on the world. The funny part was that both of their views veered sometimes towards conspiracy theories. It was tough to know who to root for in their nonsensical arguments during our social gatherings, while being entertaining at the same time.
Brian Ettling in the center of the photo surrounded by his fellow park rangers, volunteers, and supervisors that he worked with in Everglades City, Florida from December 2003 to April 2004. Bernie and Dean Shumway are pictured in the upper right corner of this image.
Dean would apologize to everyone the next day that he got too spirited in his comments. Wendy would never back down from her beliefs. Throughout the season, Dean and Wendy held some grudges against each other because their strongly held views were so different. Working in the national parks develops bonds like family. We work and live in the same area and had a love for the national parks. We socialize over holidays since we are not with our own families. Long term deep friendships are built. Over the season, I felt a special bond with Dean and Bernie, along with my other co-workers.
Dean and Bernie delighted in talking about their home in Sister Bay, Wisconsin in Door County. Their home sits from a short distance from Lake Michigan with Green Bay on the other side. In the national parks, the employees like to talk about our hometowns when we are not talking about work, park management, our day off excursions in the park or in town, or what’s going on in the world. The way Bernie and Dean talked with fondness about their home in Sister Bay and Door County, I had to get out a map of Wisconsin to see where they lived. I saw that it is that skinny peninsula that sticks out from Wisconsin jutting into Lake Michigan. Sister Bay was near the northern tip of the Door Peninsula. I loved seeing Lake Michigan growing up. On the map, with Door County surrounded by water from Lake Michigan and Green Bay, they had me very curious to see their home and Door County. When I shared that that I would like to come up to see their home in Sister Bay, they enthusiastically responded, “Come visit us anytime, Brian!”
Dean and Bernie worked in Everglades City for only one season, but we stayed in touch and exchanged a few letters in from 2004 onwards. In 2005, I dated a woman Marie that lived in Chicago, Illinois that I met when we were working at Crater Lake that summer. After she left the park near the end of August to return to her teaching job, we had a long-distance relationship that felt miserable for me. The good news was that I was dating someone. The bad news is that we would get into heated arguments on the phone. We liked each other, but our relationship was not jelling well. When I left Crater Lake for the season in October, my plan was to drive across country to visit Marie in Chicago for several days. I would drive down to St. Louis for a few weeks to see family before heading to Everglades City for the winter.
On my 2005 cross-country drive from Crater Lake to Chicago, I planned to stop in Madison, Wisconsin to visit my friend Hilary that I met in 2004 at Crater Lake. Hilary and I were strictly friends. We exchanged a few letters. She invited me to go back packing with her in South America in 2005, but I planned to work at Crater Lake and the Everglades. Hilary was enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin. I wrote to see if I could visit her in Madison and she said yes. When I arrived in Madison, I was stunned by the beauty of the city sitting between two lakes with the white dome of the state capitol building in the middle of the urban land bridge between the two lakes. I enjoyed walking around the city with Hilary and having a pleasant conversation about our families, life, and hopes for the future. We had dinner at a local Thai restaurant and watched a rented movie at her apartment. I slept on the fold out couch.
The next morning, Hilary said she felt no chemistry between us, not even on a friendship level. She did not want to stay in contact with me, and she wanted me to leave. I was flabbergasted that she did not want to be friends with me. I never had a woman do this to me before this. It stung bad. Between all the drama with Marie and Hilary deciding out of the blue that she didn’t want to be friends with me, I needed to go somewhere to clear my head. I was not due at Marie’s house for another day. However, I was in no mood to see her, at least not yet. I wanted to go somewhere, but I was not sure. I then remembered that Dean and Bernie lived several hours away in Door County. I called them up to ask if I could stay with them. They were excited and told me to “Come on up! We are looking forward to seeing you!”
This was mid-October. The fall leaves were at their glorious vibrant yellow peak. Door County was an area known for the “Leaf Peepers,” people who like to travel to scenic wooded areas in the autumn and photograph the fall foliage. I happened to be hitting Door County at a peak time for leaf peeping. I was so grateful to see this and spend time with my friends Dean and Bernie. I shared what happened with Hilary and how I was miserable in my relationship with Marie. They were like loving parents or grandparents interacting with me giving me advice and cheering me up. I then went down to Chicago to have a rocky visit with Marie. The turmoil of our relationship was too much. She broke up with me a month later. I didn’t know how to end this stressful relationship with Marie. However, my body was so relieved, I comfortably slept for long hours for days afterwards as the tension dissipated.
My relationship with Marie ended, but my friendship with Dean and Barbara endured. I saw their home in Sister Bay in October 2005. Now I was eager to see it in April 2010.
Seeing Door County in April 2010
April 6th was my first full day in Sister Bay on the upper part of the Door County Peninsula. The weather was overcast and blah with temperatures in the upper 40s. The area still seemed more in moody weather of winter with little to no signs of spring yet. Bernie and Dean took me to see local sights, such as a small rocky cliff looking out into Lake Michigan, with a rock out cropping that jutted out just a few feet above the waters edge. We then walked along a sandy beach area in Newport State Park. After that, we had lunch in a small wooden café in the Bailey’s Harbor.
Brian Ettling standing on a rock outcropping in Door County, Wisconsin on April 6, 2010.
Just a few miles from Baileys Harbor, Dean and Bernie eagerly took me to see Mud Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The freshwater marshes reminded them of Everglades National Park. I could see the similarity when we were there. It was too wet to hike there with all the standing water of the marsh. The wetlands looked like a shallow lake that stretched into the distance. Fortunately, a long wooden boardwalk gave us great views of the area. A Great Blue Heron stood at the water’s edge hoping to catch fish, which reminded me of the Everglades. Winter still made its presence here with some ice still on the ground in the grassy edges of the marsh.
Dean and Bernie then took me to see Cana Island Lighthouse. It looked abandoned this time of year with zero tourists, except for the three of us. The lighthouse was the north facing view from the parking lot. The south side of the parking lot had a beach with a mixture of sand, hard rock shoreline, and some hardy brown plants determined to thrive in between the sand and rocks. The overcast sky and frigid temperatures with the light wind blowing across the water seemed like winter did not want to give up its grip on Door County yet, even if it was April, according to the calendar.
The overcast frigid weather stubbornly hung around the next day as we took a car ferry to Washington Island, off the north tip of the Door County Peninsula. We took the 30-minute ferry ride in the morning to spend a full day on the island. We were all bundled up in our warmest winter clothes, especially for the ferry ride. The movement of the boat and the light wind across the water made it feel frigid, like it was a better day to just be inside by a warm fire than to do exploring outside like a tourist. When we arrived on Washington Island, it looked deserted and lonely. It was way too early in the season for any tourists or the few residents of the island to be joining us. Yet, it was peaceful to have the island nearly to ourselves.
As the ferry arrived on the island, a humble and small white lighthouse greeted us that reached barely above the forest of trees. As we drove onto the island in Dean and Bernie’s car, we had a white wooden sign “Welcome to Washington Island” in front of us to welcome just the 3 of us to the island that day. Such a lack of people that day that it felt like the beginning of a Stephen King novel to an abandoned vacation island where trouble awaits. During our visit we walked by the appropriately named Bitter End Motel. It was a simplistic looking white wooden quaint motel ready to be written about for a horror novel or film.
We first found a beach with many pebbles to walk along. We made sure to get photos of ourselves dressed bundled up in multiple layers for this brisk winter like day. It was too cold for the sun to come out. Another overcast day for my Door County visit. The wind was strong enough to push small waves along the shore at a steady pace that Lake Michigan gave a tidal noise like it was a small ocean. We ate lunch at a local pub in town. We finally saw a few other human inhabitants on this island. A few locals and a bartender content to stay inside on this chilly day. It was a beautiful island of mostly tall trees with zero spring leaves and ringed by a picturesque shoreline to view Lake Michigan.
After lunch, we climbed the steps to the top of a tower in the middle of the island. It gave us a panoramic view of the forests broken up by fields and Lake Michigan surrounding us in the distance with far horizonal views of the land of Door Peninsula to remind us that we were still connected to Wisconsin. When we when walked to a sandy beach, I took advantage of the opportunity to get my photo with my Earth Ball. It was a good photo, but not the perfect promotional photo I wanted to promote myself as the “Climate Change Comedian.”
However, it was still great to capture the joy of this day to experience this island on this blustery day. It was one of those days as a tourist that you just wanted to stay inside a warm car to see the sights. Yet, in spite of the cold temperatures, you still wanted to be outside enjoying this day in this northern natural setting.
Soon afterwards, we loaded the car onto the ferry to head back to Door County to warm up in Dean and Bernie’s cozy and comfortable two-story home in Sister Bay. It was about a 20-minute drive from when we got off the ferry in Northport to their house. From my excitement of experiencing Washington Island, I probably dozed into a comfortable nap during that car ride back. We then had a lovely dinner at Dean and Bernie’s home. They had a large room in their upstairs attic for me during their visit. I felt so at home in this space and spending time with them that I did not want to leave. At the same time, I was eager to set off the next morning to see the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
“If I could tell the world just one thing it would be That we’re all okay And not to worry ’cause worry is wasteful and useless in times like these I won’t be made useless I won’t be idle with despair I will gather myself around my faith For light does the darkness most fear.”
– from the 1998 song “Hands,” written and performed by Jewell
This is part 3 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.
My December 2009 cross-country adventure driving from Ashland O to St. Louis MO
On December 10, 2009, I left Barbara’s house for my cross-country traveling adventure to spend the winter in St. Louis MO. I started this journey with a variety of emotions tugging at me. I loved living in Ashland, Oregon for two months, yet I felt so lonely there living most of the time in a two bedroom house all by myself. I felt I had made a commitment to Barbara to housesit for her for the winter. Yet, I felt betrayed that she came home from her RV excursion in early November. She now wanted me to leave her house after I planned to stay there for the winter.
I came to Ashland OR at the beginning of October uncertain what to do with my life and how to follow this climate change passion. I was now departing Ashland with a firm idea of pursuing this Climate Change Comedian role. My friend Naomi advised me that receiving this new vision for myself, I got what I needed from my time in Ashland. It was time to move onto the next thing. My parents were eager for me to come home for the winter to spend time with them in their new home. I missed family living by myself in Ashland, so I was looking forward to seeing them. Even more, Naomi and I felt I would be more productive in St. Louis for the winter developing my Climate Change Comedian PowerPoint, website, and marketing for myself.
I had partaken in many cross country drives in my life, so it seemed like a bit of a drag to have to do this again, when I was not expecting it. I loved spending my summers working and living in the Pacific Northwest. It was always a bummer for me to leave Oregon in the autumn each year after my seasonal job ended at Crater Lake. On the other hand, I looked forward to seeing friends on this journey and experiencing new U.S. locations I never traveled to before. I had some new places I chose to drive to see, such as the central California Coast. This trip might offer some unexpected thrills that might happen. You never know! Let the adventure begin!
Leaving Ashland OR, the sky was blue with some fresh snow on Mt. Shasta as I drove around the mountain on Highway 97 and Interstate 5 by Weed, California. The mountain dominating the landscape with its high rising cone summit and Little Shastina volcanic butte nestled against the west side of it. With this clear view of the Mt. Shasta, it felt as if it wanted to say goodbye to me as I left the Pacific Northwest to head home to St. Louis for the winter. I had several hours ahead of me to drive to get to San Francisco. However, I stopped at a pullout to admire Mt. Shasta and take a couple of photos of the mountain. I wanted to wish it a farewell since I would miss seeing snowcapped mountains when I stayed in the Midwest for the winter.
Photo of Mt. Shasta taken by Brian Ettling near Weed, California on December 10, 2009
As I left Weed CA to merge onto I-5 to head south, I noticed a large deer jumped onto the interstate hoping to somehow cross this very dangerous highway with a steady stream of cars, pick up trucks, and large 18 wheeler trucks. Even more, a concrete divider was in the middle of the freeway, which made a safe passage for the deer even more slim. Sure enough, I saw a large truck hit the deer, killing it instantly. It was one of the most gruesome scenes I witnessed in my life. The carcass spun around several times heading not far the direction I was driving. Somehow, I avoided getting into an accident or the remains damaging my car. It was a reminder to me that these cross country drives are dangerous. I must continue to be vigilant for potential dangers when I drive and I was fortunate for all the times I drove across the U.S. safely.
I stopped in San Francisco to stay with my friend Dana Ostfeld. She was another female friend that I had a crush on for years, but we always kept our friendship on a platonic level. I first met her when we worked as rangers at Crater Lake National Park in 2002. Dana and I, plus two of her friends went to an evening holiday celebration at the California Academy of Sciences downtown San Francisco. The museum had an excellent climate change exhibit. It was another indication that I needed to pursue this path. Two years later in the summer of 2011, I applied for a job there. I told the manager interviewing me that I loved their climate change exhibit. Sadly, she told me that they were going to be getting rid of the exhibit soon. The other bad news: they decided later to hire someone else as a museum docent position that I interviewed.
The next day, on December 11th, after I said goodbye to Dana and left her home. I needed to start my road trip down the central California Coast. However, I was not ready to leave San Francisco yet. I serendipitously choose to I hike up a nearby tall hill to get an expansive view of the city skyline of San Francisco. It was a foggy overcast cool day in this city but it still had its charm standing on this high hill. The high rise buildings rose in the distance with numerous houses, apartment complexes, and businesses highly packed together under the scene of this hill. The fog barely allowed any look of the tower spires of the Golden Gate and the Oakland Bay Bridges behind the tall downtown buildings.
In the late morning, I departed the San Francisco metro area. I drove on Highway 1 south stopping in Monterey, California to walk on a beach. I then continued driving further south about 15 miles south of the last developed city on this route Carmel-by-the-Sea. I pulled over to see and photograph the iconic Bixby Creek Bridge. I saw it in numerous photographs over the years that I yearned to see it in person. The bridge hugs close to the mountain it is on while straddling high above the beach and ocean with its underside white arching concrete supports. I stopped and parked my car to admire the bridge and snap lots of photos. Several young men were jumping off the bridge with parachutes. One asked, half joking and half serious if I wanted to jump off the bridge with a parachute. I have a fear of heights, so the answer was an easy, “No!”
Besides, I could see me donning a parachute and jumping only to land aways out in the Pacific Ocean. Thus, jumping off the bridge was not happening for me.
Brian Ettling by the Bixby Bridge on Highway 1 on the central California coast. Photo taken on December 11, 2009.
I then drove down spectacular scenic Highway 1 with tall coastal mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. There were no towns the 70 mile drive from Big Sur to San Simeon. The road was basically on a high cliff, with a dramatic drop off to the Pacific Ocean just to the right of me as I drove south. Even with the guard rails next to the highway, it was an intense driving experience. I loved the sweeping ocean views, but I was glad I made it safely to San Simeon, California to spend the night.
The next day, I achieved another life goal seeing Heart Castle, the former home of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. It was a gloomy, rainy, foggy, blah December day. As impressive as the architecture was for the home, it was not conducive to take outside photos that day. It had the feel of an American attempt for a European style castle. The tour was memorable for the stories of the grandiose personality of Hearst, especially how he had a special door to slip in when he hosted dinner parties so he could be the center of attention in his own way.
The following day, I headed east across California. I saw a sign at the intersection where California State Route 41 and Highway 46 converge near Cholame, California. The sign noted the spot where movie star James Dean hit another car and died in a fatal car crash. He lived way before my time. He only made three movies, but my parents talked about him now and then when I was growing up since he was a well-known actor of their teenage years. It was a sad reminder that life is temporary and fleeting.
The next stop on my trip was Death Valley National Park to visit my friend Stephanie Kyriazis. I worked in Death Valley in the spring of 1994. I like living around trees and water, so I felt very uncomfortable living in a desert with almost no plants, trees, rivers, and lakes. I could not leave quick enough to head back to Crater Lake for the summer. It was interesting for me to visit Death Valley a couple of times since 1994 to appreciate the subtle beauty of the brown and tan desert. I especially like hiking in Golden Canyon where a couple of scenes from the original Star Wars was filmed in 1976. Stephanie took me to an isolated box canyon to hike that had some steep terraces to climb. I appreciated her hospitality on this long road trip.
After Death Valley, I spent the night in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had an interesting time walking down the Vegas strip in the evening to see the neon lights of the mammoth towering casinos. I had not written a roller coaster in years. I took advantage of the opportunity to ride the Big Apple Roller Coaster that circles around the exterior of the New York New York Casino.
My next stop was Flagstaff, Arizona to visit with my friends Steve and Melissa. Flagstaff sits at almost 7,000 feet above sea level. Steve and Melissa’s neighborhood had a couple of feet of snow piling up all around their streets, which made it hard for me to try to find a place to park. It was a little over a week before Christmas, so their area looked like a winter wonderland in the holiday spirit. Melissa gave birth to their son Heny just six weeks before I visited. They took me hiking to a desert slot canyon south of Sedona during my stay. However, it was hard for them juggling taking care of a new baby, plus Steve’s sister was there to meet Henry for the first time.
Out of the blue, Steve asked me if I wanted to hike down the Grand Canyon. Steve worked at that time as a backcountry law enforcement ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. He could easily set me up with the gear to hike to the bottom, plus make arrangements for me to stay at the ranger station at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch. I am always game for a new adventure, so I immediately said yes!
With less than a week before Christmas, I went on a two-day overnight hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was a sublime peak life experience to walk to the floor of the canyon. The top of the canyon was sprinkled with snow, giving it a holiday winter look. I wrote an entire blog to my Grand Canyon visits. All I can say is that the canyon is so huge and all-encompassing to be there that I have longed to return to this day.
Photo of Brian Ettling from the upper portion of the South Kaibab Trail at Grand Canyon National Park. Photo taken on December 20, 2009.
When I finished hiking in the Grand Canyon, I only had about four days to make it home to be with my family to celebrate Christmas. I got an oil change in Flagstaff before the long drive. I ran into heavy snow showers as I drove across Missouri on Christmas Eve. I made it to my parents’ home that evening. They were thrilled to see me and excited for me to see their new home. I was exhausted from the long car ride.
Spending 2009-10 winter in St. Louis to work on my Climate Change Comedian persona
After spending the holidays with my parents, it was time for me to start thinking about developing this Climate Change Comedian thing. I spent weeks putting together my own climate change PowerPoint presentation. I utilized taking photos of my nieces and nephews to put them in my PowerPoint. When my 13-year-old niece Rachel and my 9-year-old nephew Andrew came to visit my parents when they were off from school on Presidents’ Day in February 2010, I was in the middle of creating my first climate change PowerPoint. I struggled trying to think of a way to illustrate the greenhouse effect at the beginning of my talk. One of the best examples I heard putting more fossil fuel pollution in the air was like putting more blankets around the planet.
Thus, I took photos of them sitting on the couch comfortably. Then I photographed them freezing on the couch pretending the Earth had no atmosphere. Then I took subsequent photos of them where I piled on blankets in each photo and looking more unhappy to demonstrate the greenhouse effect or impacts of burning fossil fuels to create climate change. They were the perfect willing fun models to show climate change in an easy and understandable way. I snapped photos of them that I used at the end of my climate change talk for years afterwards. I envisioned ending my climate change talks on a positive and uplifting note. My nephew Andrew held my Earth Ball and my niece Bailey held a sign that read, “Thank you for saving our home.”
Near the end of my PowerPoint, I had a photo with all four of my nieces and nephews, Andrew, Bailey, Sam, and Andrew, plus me, to show that our kids future was at stake with climate change and that was my reason for giving this talk. I spent several months from January to March 2010 creating this PowerPoint by researching the science as I knew and attempting to sprinkle humor throughout this talk. I gave it the title, “Let’s Have Fun Getting Serious About Resolving Climate Change.”
Andrew Hunt and Rachel Hunt, posing for a photo for their uncle, Brian Ettling. This was the concluding photo in his climate change talks for years from 2010 to 2017. He concluded his talks urging the audience, ‘If we do a good job saying the planet from climate change, some day our kids might say to us, “Thank you for saving our home.”‘
During the winter months of 2010, my sisters Mary Frances and Lisa kept me busy by booking me to give brief talks about what it is like to be a park ranger at my nieces and nephews’ schools. My very first talk outside of the national parks was at my nephew Sam’s second grade class on February 5, 2010. To try to make it more relatable to the students, I had a couple of images of Sam in the PowerPoint. Afterwards, Sam came up to me to meekly and half heartily say that I embarrassed him a bit. At the same time, he seemed to take it in stride and soon forgot about it. The highlight of the program was that I made 20-foot fountains with 2-liter cokes and 7 Mentos in the backyard of the school to show how volcanoes, such as Crater Lake erupts.
One month later, I gave a similar program but upped the complexity a bit speaking to my niece Rachel’s 7th grade class. I had a few images of her in my presentation like what I had for the talk I gave at Sam’s school. Toward’s the end of the talk, Rachel raised her hand to ask, “Can you please share that you are my uncle because no one here knows how you know me?”
I thought everyone knew that and possibly recalled the teacher introducing me as Rachel’s uncle at the beginning of my talk. However, Rachel’s friends kept asking her who I was during the talk. Like Sam’s talk, the highlight for the students, teachers, and me was the combustible fountains of 2-liter cokes and Mentos in the school’s backyard. Climate change is a complicated subject to engage with kids before middle school and high school. However, giving a presentation at my nephew Sam’s second grade class and Boy Scout troop, speaking to my niece Bailey’s Girl Scout Troop, and speaking at my niece Rachel’s 7th grade class, I was able to share about the importance of protecting nature.
In the spring, my first climate change PowerPoint was ready to give to someone or anyone. I first shared it with a family friend who knew me my whole life, John Dantico. He did not think it was that funny. He was still quite skeptical if the science of climate change was real. At the same time, he gave me a lot of tips to help me improve my talk.
In March 2010, I knew I needed promotional images of me with my Earthball to promote my talk. When I attended Oakville High School in south St. Louis County in the 1980s, my best friend was Scott Manthey. I admired his parents Ty and Carna Manthey. Scott and his father Ty were excellent photographers. Ty and Carna lived in Oakville Missouri in March 2010, but not much longer. They were in the process of moving to Baraboo Wisconsin, the town where they both grew up. When I contacted them in early March 2010, I offered to help them pack up some of their belongings. At the same time, I asked Ty if he could take some outside publicity photos outside in nearby Bee Tree Park of me holding the Earth Ball. Ty was happy to oblige taking promotional photos of me in return for my assistance helping them pack.
Ty did a terrific job of getting serious and goofy photos of me holding the Earth Ball for future publicity photos for a website, promotional ads, etc. However, I knew these photos were not enough. I wanted a dramatic photo of me holding the Earth Ball with a spectacular scene of nature behind me in the photo. I was not sure where I wanted this photo yet.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
“It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it.” – Nelson Mandela
This is part 2 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.
My Pacific Northwest spring travels in at the end of May and the beginning of June 2009
In the last week of May and the first week of June, I had a two-week vacation from Crater Lake National Park. I visited friends in Salem, Oregon. On Saturday of Memorial weekend, my friends Gary and Melissa Martin, as well as their daughter Shelby, took me on an excursion to Silver Falls State Park, located on a 35-minute drive east of Salem. I was eager to hike on the 10 Falls Trail to see the numerous tall waterfalls in that park. Some of the falls you can hike behind on the trail. It was a goal of my mine for years to see this park since I saw pictures of it in scenic photography coffee table books about Oregon.
The length of the 10 Falls Trail is around 8 miles with an elevation variation of almost 1,600 feet. It took most of the day to complete, especially to take photos and admire each of the waterfalls. This trail was up there with the scenic grandeur of any national park trail. In fact, after I visited Silver Falls, it felt overlooked that it was never made into a national park.
From Salem, I spent a day driving up to see best friend from high school, Scott Manthey. He lives across from Seattle in Grapeview, Washington. I stayed a couple of nights with him and lovely wife Nikki. I then headed to the Port Angeles area on the Olympic Peninsula. I camped a for several nights the Heart O’ the Hills Campground at Olympic National Park. The campground is located just 7 miles south of Port Angeles at the northern Hurricane Ridge entrance in Olympic. I camped there for two nights to fulfill my plans to see Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh Rain Forest, and other sights in the Olympic area.
It was May 27th and I planned to stay in national park campgrounds while visiting Washington State during this two week vacation. I figured it would probably still be chilly at night to camp, so I bought a cold weather sleeping bag. Oddly, the weather was unseasonably warm and clear for this trip. It was perfect weather to photograph mountains with their spring snowpack and spend my days hiking. I quickly had to return my cold weather sleeping bag and use my summer sleeping bag to sleep more comfortably for this trip. The weather felt like summer, but it was not the summer tourist season yet. Thus, I had this Olympic Campground all to myself.
A highlight was seeing Hurricane Ridge with the panoramic view of the Olympic Mountains. These mountains are not tall compared to the Cascade Mountains, Rocky Mountains, or the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Southern California. Some of the mountains in those ranges are over 14,000 feet tall. The highest mountain in the Olympics is Mount Olympus, just under 8,000 feet tall. Yet, since these mountains lie next to the Pacific Ocean, they get hammered with snow. The winter snowpack clung strongly to the mountains at the end of May. It gave me a terrific opportunity to admire and photograph these mountains from Hurricane Ridge.
View of the Olympic Mountains from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center at Olympic National Park. Photo taken by Brian Ettling on May 27, 2009.
The next day, May 28th, I crammed in as much as I could to see the highlights of Olympic National Park. Just west of Port Angeles, I drove into the Elwha Valley Entrance to see another partial view of the Olympic Mountains and view the Madison waterfalls located near the park road. I was surprised to see manmade dams in a national park. They were so ugly in this otherwise pristine mountain valley that I did not photograph them. The good news though was the wayside signs announcing the dams would soon be removed to restore the natural habitat. The damns were later deconstructed in 2011.
From the Elwha Valley Entrance, I had a two hour drive south and west on the Olympic Peninsula to see the Hoh Rain Forest at the western edge of Olympic National Park. It was a sunny clear day when I visited the rain forest. No mist, fog, or rain for me to see that day that is present there much of the year. However, the robust moisture and mild year round temperatures allowed the Sitka Spruce, Red Cedar, Big Leaf Maple and Douglas Fir to thrive. The ideal growing conditions there allowed the trees to be giants in their height and width, almost similar to a Redwood Forest. The long and winding park lot there that was almost empty was an indication that summer brought huge crowds of tourists to this area. However, the opportunity was nearly all mine to absorb this peaceful, quiet, lush green, vibrant area all to myself.
It was well after 3 pm that I left the Hoh Rain Forest and I had about a two and a half hour drive back to my camp spot in Olympic National Park near Port Angeles. Fortunately, the summer solstice was over 3 weeks away, the daylight is nice and long this time of year at the end of May for sightseeing. After the Hoh Rain Forest, I drove almost 3 hours, getting stopped several times for road construction. My next destination that day Sol Duc Valley Entrance, at the northwestern entrance to Olympic National Park. With the robust Douglas Firs and other evergreen trees in the Sol Duc area, the location felt a little dark and menacing with the limited amount of daylight peaking through the trees in this area. This was especially true since I arrived in this area around 6:30 pm, with the sun much lower in the sky. The Sol Duc waterfalls were impressed as they roared and cascaded over the rocks of this small river.
From this diversion to Sol Duc, I still had over a 2 hour drive back to my campsite at the Heart O’ the Hills Campground. It was after 8 pm with the sun setting soon when I arrived at the pullout for Marymere Falls off of Highway 101. It was a 1.8 mile round trip trail to see this slender waterfall with a 90 foot drop. Even though I had very little daylight left to enjoy the sight of this waterfall, it still felt worth it to cap off this very full sightseeing day.
The following day, on May 29th, I took a ferry that morning from Port Townsend, Washington to Whidbey Island. It was another clear and sunny day during this Washington State trip, a perfect day to take the 36 minute ferry ride with calm ocean water in the Admiralty Inlet. As the ferry left the coastal town of Port Townsend, known for its charming 19th century Victorian architecture for its downtown buildings, I could see the snowcapped Olympic Mountains coming into full view. Since the campground I stayed was basically at the base of the mountain range, I felt like I got my best views of the mountains on the ferry. They appeared to be waving goodbye to me as I left them behind to head towards Whidbey Island and then onward to North Cascades National Park. As the ferry carried my car and I to the other port, the white ghost of Mt. Baker appeared in its winter glory. I hoped get excellent views of Mt. Baker later that day. I was glad to see that the mountain was indicating to me that I may get good views of her and other North Cascades Mountains later that day.
Once I drove off the ferry, I was mesmerized just a few miles up the highway by the tall and long Deception Pass Bridge that connected Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands. I then drove to the Mt. Baker Ski Area to fulfill a lifelong dream to see Mt. Shuksan in North Cascades National Park. I spent a night camping in a forest service campground near the Canadian border in Glacier, WA. I next journeyed on Washington Hwy 20 through the middle of North Cascades National Park. I spent two nights at the Colonial Creek campground off Hwy 20 in the middle of the park and hiked to the top of Thunder Knob.
Photo by Brian Ettling. Photo of Mt. Shuksan by Picture Lake taken on June 1, 2009.
The next day I continued my adventure east driving to see the eastern jagged Cascades Mountains in the eastern side of the park. The weather was unseasonally clear this entire trip, so I intended to immerse myself in seeing the North Cascade Mountains. From the eastern park boundary, I drove east WA Highway 20 all the way Winthrop, Washington. It was a town that looked like it could be a set in an old western movie, I was so blown away by the beauty of North Cascades National Park that I did the reverse route of Hwy 20 through the park to see all the splendid snowcapped mountains in North Cascades. For the second time in a week, I camped at the Douglas Fir Campground outside of Glacier, Washington.
Mt. Shuksan enticed me to return before sunset to get more views of the jagged pointy mountain with a healthy winter snowpack and lots of glaciers clinging to it. It is considered one of the most photographed mountains in the world, and I was drawn to take numerous photographs of it. The next day I snowshoed around the Mt. Baker Ski Area to take in views of Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Baker and the nearby mountains. It was a bright sunny day. I wore sunglasses, but I still got some snow blindness from the bright sunshine on that clear day reflecting off the snow.
The next couple nights, I camped at Mt. Rainier National Park to enjoy photographing that mountain and walk on some of the hiking trails in that national park. While I was at Paradise in Mt. Rainier, the sky was overcast, but the clouds were generous to be high enough to be all to see all the mountain in its full winter snowpack glory. This was my first time seeing Mt. Rainier up close. The previous times I went to Mt. Rainier, it was raining and the clouds were too socked in to see the mountain. The sun was not shining on the mountain, but the winter snow and glaciers clinging to the mountain looked like a glorious sight.
For the first time, I wanted to get a photo of myself with the mountain behind me in the photo. I asked one tourist to get photos of me with the mountain over my shoulder. However, he just took some photos of me. It was not what I wanted. Finally, I was able to find another park visitor to get a good photo of me with Mt. Rainier also framed in the photo.
Brian Ettling at the Paradise view in Mt. Rainier National Park on June 4, 2009.
This was my third time visiting Mt. Rainier. Unlike the previous two visits, the weather cooperated enough to be able to see the mountain. The snow, towering rocks, and ice from the glaciers of the mountain dominated over the area. This two-week vacation also felt like a victory to be able to fully admire Mt. Rainier inside the national park. I find I frequently experience serendipitous moments when I visit national parks. Not far from the Paradise Inn, a fluffy red fox stared and observed the visitors. With its hint of red fur on top of his head and shoulders and black fur on its neck, breast, underbelly, and legs, it looked like it was putting on its own fashion show for the park visitors. It looked too calm and unafraid to be totally wild. It looked like someone might have fed it at some point because it had an interest to be around people.
In the second week of June, I headed back to Crater Lake National Park to work for the summer. In between giving ranger talks for the summer, I traveled to Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California in the last weekend of July. Lassen is a four-hour drive south of Crater Lake National Park in northern California. It has an impressive 10,457-foot volcanic mountain that dominates the park, Lassen Peak. One can hike up to the summit of this volcano in the summer. It has active steam vents and boiling mud pots, so it feels like a miniature Yellowstone. Lassen Peak is still an active volcano. It had an explosive eruption in 1914 and then more sporadic volcanic outbursts for the next 7 years.
My friend Lizzy, who worked at Redwoods National Park, California came up for a weekend to visit me at Crater Lake in the second week of August. She proudly grew up as a ‘river rat’ swimming in the cold mountain streams in Three Rivers, California, near Sequoia National Park. Her top priority was taking a swim in Crater Lake when she came to visit me. Gulp! I hate swimming in cold water. However, when she wore a tiny bikini to swim in the lake, even on a cold windy summer day in the upper 60s, I had to put on my full swimming suit and go swimming with her. I also hate swimming in deep water where I cannot touch the bottom. I jumped off the jumping off rock at the bottom of the Cleetwood Cove Trail after she did to show that I was a macho guy. However, I probably did not look that attractive failing around in the water with water coming out of my nose. Still, it was fun to take her hiking to see my favorite parts of the Crater Lake rim.
For years afterwards, I joked with park visitors that Crater Lake water is so cold, just a few degrees above freezing all year, that I only swam in it once. I would elaborate that a beautiful ranger friend came up to see me wearing a tiny bikini to jump in the lake. Therefore, I had to jump in the lake also. This story always got a chuckle from the audience.
The next weekend I visited Lizzy in the Redwoods. She lived by herself in a park house off U.S. Highway 199, surrounded by Redwood Trees. We hiked a short distance from her ranger house to see nearby gigantic redwood trees in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, located in the northern end of the Redwoods National Park. We swam to hang out on a large rock in the middle of the Smith River.
Lizzy and I talked at length during these weekend trips how both of us were alarmed about climate change. She impressed me that she created a climate change evening campfire program at Redwoods National Park. I wanted to create a climate change evening program at Crater Lake, but I did not feel brave or knowledgeable enough to create such a program at that time. She took time to show me her PowerPoint slides during the Redwood trip and generously allowed me to have a copy of her talk. I used her talk as one of my templates when I finally assembled my own climate change evening program at Crater Lake National Park in August 2011.
I hoped to pursue her romantically on this trip. However, she gave me dreadful news that she just started to a relationship with a man in Portland, Oregon. Thus, any kind of romantic interlude between us was not going to happen. I felt down like I would never end up having a girlfriend or romantic fling.
One week later, I visited my friend my friend Lise Wall who worked at the Illahee Fire Lookout. It was a steep long gravel road to drive up there. It was one of the most remote locations I have been in my life. When I arrived at the fire lookout, which stood erect at least three stories above this 5,300-foot mountain, it was just Lise and her friendly cats. There was not another person for miles around. From the lookout, the view was 360 degrees of evergreen mountains with a few prominent mountains with patches of snow poking out in the distant horizon. I was awestruck to be surrounded by this much wilderness with ridges upon ridges of mountains going into the distance. No signs of human civilization was visible from the bird’s eye view on top of Illahee Rock, except for the lookout tower itself. No sounds of civilization either, just the light wind blowing through the trees now and then.
I did not want to go to sleep at night. The light pollution from any nearby Oregon cities was minimal, so the stars and Milky Way gave a spectacular dazzling show when it got dark. Way too many stars to count. It was jaw dropping and stunning to admire all the heavenly stars with trail of the Milky Way clearly visible on this moonless cloudless night. I didn’t want to miss the stars, nor the ever-brightening glow of the eastern dawn, and the first rays of the sunlight peaking over the distant mountain edge horizon. It was such a sublime wilderness experience that I slept terribly not wanting to miss a thing.
On top of that, Lise and I seemed to have an attraction to each other, but neither of us said anything or pursued it. Sometimes you just don’t want to mess up a good thing with a cherished friend. That was another factor that made it hard to sleep. Even more, after Lizzy told me the previous weekend she was in a relationship. I just could not bear Lise telling me the same thing, we kept things on an unspoken platonic level.
Discovering my Climate Change Comedian Title
When I was at Crater Lake in between my weekend travels, my friend Graham talked me into housesitting in Ashland, Oregon for the winter at his mom, Barbara’s house. I had no plans that winter, except to possibly return to St. Louis to stay with my parents. When I arrived in Ashland, Oregon in early October, the autumn colors were spectacular. I took many photos on long walks around town of the trees with the bright red, orange, and yellow leaves. It was a joy taking care of his mother’s cat Poppy. The cat was very loving with its very long poofy hairy. It would touch my face with its claws extended in the mornings to demand the fresh tuna it was in the habit receiving from Barbara. It insisted to go out into the garden each morning to get a hit from the wild catnip. The cat bonded well with me. I took many photos admiring its beauty and serene personality. It liked to curl up on my lap in the afternoons and evenings.
At the same time, I was restless and bored housesitting. I needed a job, but I was not sure what to do. I tried working at the Ashland Co-op supermarket. It was a disaster. I did not make it past my first day. The new supervisor and I had terrible chemistry. On the first day of work, he insisted on giving me very long lectures to explain all the procedures of the job. However, he would not allow me to ask questions or repeat any responses to make sure I hear him correctly. He kept saying, “Don’t interrupt me!” when I wanted to say anything.
I lost all interest in learning that job and quit at the end of the day. He seemed flabbergasted that I quit. At the same time, he was oblivious to my seething anger throughout the day that he just wanted me to stay quiet while he talked at me about the job. It felt liberating to quit, yet so damn demoralizing that I did not have a job. I went to Taco Bell and ordered a bunch of tacos to consol myself with food that evening. My dad worked 40 years part time in a grocery store and he loved it. That experience soured me from ever wanting to work in the grocery industry.
While I was living in Ashland, my friend Tess who lived in Phoenix, Arizona was in regular contact with me. It felt like we had a great chemistry between us. I was becoming more attracted to her even though it would best be a long-distance relationship. I sent her an email a day before asking if she would like to do a date with me sometime where we both see the same movie around the same day or two and discuss it afterwards. She said she would think about it. I emailed her when I got the job at the Ashland Co-op and she was happy for me. I then contacted her when my first day at work was a disaster and felt I had to quit.
Tess immediately called me to tell me in a very terse tone that she was not interested in dating me. I was in disbelief how curt and abrupt she sounded on the phone. She was always caring and kind in my previous conversations with her. I felt stung and like I had been kicked in the stomach. She did not seem to want to be friends with me anymore. At the same time, she was cold and negative when we chatted. She gave me a very unpleasant feeling talking to her that I did not want to be friends with her either. I had never seen that side of her before that it caught me off guard. Losing my Co-op job and Tess’s phone call was nearly too much to bear for one day. It reminded me of the old expression, ‘To add insult to injury.’
The autumn colors in Ashland, Oregon. Photo taken by Brian Ettling on November 2, 2009.
With no job and feeling lonely, I needed to find something productive to do while living in Ashland. I went stir crazy just sitting in Barbara’s home and strolling around town photographing the fall colors. I walked to Southern Oregon University, which was a 10 block walk from where I lived. I was curious to learn what academic programs they had. Before I knew it, I was registered in their master’s program in business management and attending a class. It seemed too rash and crazy for not knowing what I jumped into. The idea seemed great for a day. My undergraduate degree is in Business Administration. However, I quickly realized this was not what I wanted. I made sure to unregister from the grad program as fast as I had registered.
I felt like I dodged a bullet almost committing myself to a master’s program in management, but I really needed to figure out something for my life while I was housesitting in Ashland. I still knew I wanted to do something about climate change, but I had no idea what to do.
I decided to go to SOU and meet Dr. Greg Jones, an SOU professor and climatologist. He specializes in the study of climate structure and suitability for viticulture. Specifically, he studies how climate variability and climate change influence grapevine growth, wine production, and quality. At that time, I was interested in attending grad school to learn more about climate change. I was eager to see if he had any advice for me. Even more, I was curious to see if maybe I could get my master’s degree studying under him at SOU.
My meeting with Dr. Jones did not go well. I shared my background of seeing climate change in the Everglades, plus watching the 2006 documentary about Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth. He immediately let me know he did not like Al Gore. He believed Gore was a bad spokesperson to explain to the public about climate change. That did not sit well with me because it was Al Gore and his advocacy that brought me to meet with him in his office. I left this awkward meeting I not knowing what my next step would be to pursue my climate change vision.
My one-day job at the Ashland Co-op, one day of enrollment in the business master’s program at SOU, and my meeting with Dr. Greg Jones were all a disaster. I felt depressed and uneasy about my lack of a clear life direction, especially to do something meaningful to reduce the threat of climate change. I loved the beauty and small college town urban hippie vibe of living in Ashland, but I hated feeling so adrift being there.
A scenic view taken on a ridge above Ashland, Oregon with Grizzly Peak in the background. Photo taken by Brian Ettling on October 22, 2009.
Besides traveling, giving ranger talks, housesitting, and trying to find a girlfriend, I wanted to find meaning to my life. I went to see my friend and spiritual advisor Naomi to brainstorm about what I should do with my life. We had a heated discussion about my hemming and hawing about what I really wanted to achieve in my life. She kept pressing me for an answer.
I finally snapped, “Fine! If I could do anything, I would like to be The Climate Change Comedian!”
She fell off her chair laughing. She responded, “I want you to go home and grab that website domain now!”
I followed her orders and did just that. I bought the website domain, www.climatechangecomedian.com. Naomi then advised me to develop a website, work on creating my presentation, and think about ways to market myself.
In late November, I met up with Lise Wall at the Wildlife Safari in Roseburg, Oregon. We had a terrific time driving in my car to see the wildlife roaming there, such as zebras, bison, giraffes, camels, rams, musk ox, reindeer, leopards, wild turkeys, elk, llamas, rhinoceros, black bears, and other animals. It was a joyful day hanging out with Lise and admiring the animals.
I was tempted to hold hands with her or even reach forward to kiss her, but I did not want to ruin our friendship. I still felt sensitive after the awful phone call with Tess that happened just a few weeks before. I could not bear Lise rejecting me either.
Even though we had a great friendship bond, but I was skeptical how we could ever make a romantic relationship work. Lise spent her summers working at the fire lookout at Illahee Fire Lookout and winters in a remote area of Idleyld Park, located almost 30 miles east of Roseburg. I was too bashful to ask and discuss with her if we were compatible to date. Like many men in these situations, I might have totally misread the signs. Maybe Lise just wanted to be friends, and I was reading signals that were not there. Too often I misread the signs with women and got my heart broken. My life was at a very turbulent place at that time. The last thing I needed was a broken heart when I was making decisions about my life.
With trying to find my passion with climate change and pursue a life path in that direction, I was not in the mindset of dating someone at that time. At the same time, I was desperate for a girlfriend. I felt too unstable on my life path to be in a relationship at that time. Lise and I stayed as friends over the years. I was so blessed to hang out with her as a friend during that period of uncertainty in my life. I did not feel like I found true, lasting, sustainable and compatible love until I met Tanya in 2012 and we started dating in 2013. Tanya and I then got married in 2015.
It was not long after that life changing conversation with Naomi that Barbara came back to her home for the winter in early November. She was not cut out for traveling in an RV across the U.S. At first, she told me I could stay at her home for the winter until I returned to work at Crater Lake National Park the next summer. Then she told me she needed me out of her home by early December. This was infuriating and depressing since Graham and Barbara had initially talked me into staying in Ashland for the winter.
The good news was that my parents moved to a new home in St. Louis, Missouri. They wanted me to come visit them for the winter and stay in a new room in the basement they set up for me. It felt like a bit of a downer to go back to live with my parents, but my expenses would be minimal, and I could work on developing the Climate Change Comedian thing.
Brian Ettling by Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Lake Superior behind him. Photo taken on April 10, 2010.
“I see skies of blue And clouds of white The bright blessed day The dark sacred night And I think to myself What a wonderful world” – From the song “What a Wonderful World” Song by Louis Armstrong Songwriters: Harold Adamson / Jan Savitt / John Watson
This is 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.
Since 2004, I consider the inflatable EarthBall as my symbol for protecting the environment and tackle climate change to reduce its threat on planet Earth. In 2004, I led ranger programs at the Everglades City Visitor Center in Everglades National Park. One day, the lead ranger in Everglades City, Sue Reece, brought out an inflatable Earth Ball that she said park naturalists and I could use for our ranger talks. I immediately started using it for my outdoor ranger talk or Chickee Chat called “Keep the Water Flowing” that I gave from 2004 to 2008.
Towards the beginning of my talk, I used the quote from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who was known as “The Mother of Everglades National Park.” This was the first sentence in her landmark 1947 book, The Everglades: River of Grass:
“There are no other Everglades in the world. The are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them…”
This ranger talk focused on the ecological damage with draining the Everglades and the federal and state efforts to restore it. I ended my talk with the Joe Podger quote:“The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we get to keep the planet.”
I proudly held up the EarthBall in the opening and closing segments of my Everglades talks. For nearly all the first decade of the 21st century or the “aughts,” I was angry with the United States. I felt the U.S. Supreme Court decision, poor counting of votes in Florida, and the spoiler third party candidate Ralph Nader robbed Al Gore of winning the 2000 election over George W. Bush.
I was livid that the President George W. Bush and his administration ignored the warning signs of 9/11. President Bush and his top officials used 9/11 as a bogus excuse to declare war on Iraq. The invasion and occupation of Iraq turned into a mess, especially with the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military guards at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. I thought George W. Bush was a dumb annoying egotistical liar. It crushed me that he was re-elected in 2004. I sat in my car and cried my eyes out when I heard the news on the radio in November 2004 that he won re-election. I felt numb in the years 2001-2007 and not patriotic. Officially, I was supposed to be non-political as a park ranger. The EarthBall gave me something to hang onto.
At that time, I liked to say that my patriotism was for the planet and did not stop at the Canadian and Mexican border. I came up with my own expressions around 2000 narrating the boat tours in the Everglades. My first was
“Think Globally, Act Daily.”
It was my own spin on the common environmental expression, “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Although I became active in the local Miami Sierra Club and attended a couple of Friends of the Everglades meetings, I did not really connect with thinking locally at that time. However, I could get jazzed though about ‘acting daily” to make a difference in the world.
The other expression I created with my time narrating the boat tours in the Everglades and reflecting on my time there was
“Each and every one of us can change the world. We can do that by: 1. The things we do 2. The products we buy 3. The attitudes we share with each other.”
The Earthball fit perfectly with my outlook at that time. It still is my symbol today. With my lack of patriotism in the 2000s, my favorite quote at that time was American Founding Father Thomas Paine: “my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.”
Brian Ettling talking to park visitors before his narrated tram tour at Shark Valley in Everglades National Park in April 2008.
Besides the Everglades, I used the EarthBall in 2006 when I began giving ranger talks in Crater Lake National Park. I would hold it up when I talked about how Crater Lake was the 9th deepest lake in the world. Plus, it is considered one of the cleanest and purest bodies of world in the world. I delighted in using my 18-inch EarthBall because it always grabbed the attention of the audience and fixed their eyes on me whenever I held it up.
Around 2006, after the Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth premiered in theatres, I became obsessed to do something about climate change. For years, I did not know what to do. By 2008, I decided to quit my winter job in the Everglades to try to figure out some way to organize for climate action. I had no plan of action at that time.
Too distracted by traveling and wanting to date to pursue my climate change passion
I continued with my summer naturalist ranger job at Crater Lake National Park in 2008 and 2009. In between I traveled to Hawaii in October 2008. I worked at REI in November and December 2008 while visiting my parents and family in St. Louis. In February 2009, I received an offer to work at the Classroom at Crater Lake Ranger Program to provide snowshoe hikes from March to May 2009 for school groups visiting the park.
In the second week of March 2009, I started my cross-country journey from St. Louis to Crater Lake, Oregon for my seasonal ranger job. My first destination was briefly visiting my friend Tess in Phoenix, Arizona. We met when she worked as a boat captain at Crater Lake in the summer of 2005. After she left Crater Lake, we found a way to stay in touch as she worked on cargo ships in the ocean. In 2008, she got a job with the Phoenix Police Department as an Investigator. She worked evening shifts, so she was excited when I stopped her north Phoenix home and we went out for a cup of tea. We had a lovely rapport and stayed in touch after this visit. I was curious about dating her. But I am not sure how it would work or how to approach her about this since I spent my summers at Crater Lake and winters in St. Louis while she lived in Phoenix.
After I left Arizona, I camped a coupled nights in Joshua Tree National Park, California. In my years of working in the national parks, I wanted to see other national parks, especially on my various biannual cross-country journeys. Growing up in the 1980s, I remembered the Irish rock band U2 with their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. The album’s theme was their fascination and love/hate relationship with the United States, American music and culture. The front cover had the band members staring at various directions on the left side of the photo with a desert on right side. The cover photo was photographed at Zabriskie Point at Death Valley National Park. No Joshua Tree appears on the front cover, but the image of the band standing by a solitary tree in the gatefold sleeve would become memorable.
The lead singer for U2, Bono, discovered a single Joshua tree standing by itself during a short road trip of desolate California locations to shoot photos for the album cover. At that time, Bono thought the Bible mentioned Joshua Tree. In fact, Mormon travelers in the mid-19th century gave the tree its common name as they traveled across the Mohave Desert. They believed the tree’s unique shape symbolized the biblical story of Joshua raising his hands in prayer.
I found the trees to have a unique picturesque beauty. They were not huge or magnetic like a Redwood or Sequoia tree, but they looked like an Oak Tree with having yucca fronds at the end of the branches, instead of leaves. I thought they made the Mohave Desert come alive and they were fun to photograph. It was another park for me where hiking and exploring brought a sense of serenity to me. A highlight for me was driving my car up to the Keys View to get a wide-open dramatic view of the desert with nearby mountains with snow on top and a view of the cities of Palm Springs and Palm Desert underneath the mountains.
Two years later, I put together my climate change evening program at Crater Lake. By then, I knew the research suggesting that by the year 2099 climate change could eliminate nearly all suitable habitat for Joshua trees in the park and its reduce habitat in the Southwest by 90 percent. I used one of my photos from Joshua Tree National Park in that PowerPoint program.
Brian Ettling’s photo of a Joshua Tree taken at Joshua Tree National Park on March 15, 2009
After I left Joshua Tree National Park, I had a day long drive to Three Rivers, California to stay a few days with my friend Cherie Barth who worked nearby Sequoia National Park. I knew Cherie for over 10 years. I met her around 1999 when we were both worked in Flamingo in Everglades National Park, Florida. I worked as a naturalist guide narrating the boat tours. Cherie was an interpretive ranger working out of the Flamingo Visitor Center for the National Park Service. She gave various ranger programs such as early morning guided bird walks, canoe trips, evening campfire programs, and answering visitor questions at the Visitor Center information desk. Both of us were avid bird watchers, so we enjoyed hiking and bird watching together.
When we worked in the Everglades, I had a bit of a crush on Cherie, but she always saw me strictly as a friend. Both of us stopped working in Everglades National Park around 2002, but we stayed in touch. For several years, I would visit Cherie for a couple of days when she worked in Canyonlands National Park in Utah during my cross-country drives from St. Louis, Missouri to my summer job at Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. When I visited Cherie at Sequoia in 2009, she was dating Dan who was a law enforcement officer there.
One late afternoon, Cherie and I went to a local tavern in Three Rivers for a drink and early dinner. While we were there, an attractive slender young 20 something gal walked up to a bar stool with some friends. She had a fun bubbly uplifting personality as she conversed with her friends and the bartender. Cherie noticed that the woman caught my eye and I found her attractive. Cherie loved to play matcher. She informed me that “Her name is Lizzy Bauer, and she will be working as a seasonal park ranger at Redwoods National Park that summer.”
My heart skipped a beat. Redwoods is only 4-hour drive from Crater Lake. Cherie offered to introduce us, and I gladly took her up on that. Lizzy was friendly and welcoming when I chatted it her. When she learned that I would be at Crater Lake that summer while she was working in the Redwoods, she was enthusiastic to exchange phone numbers with me. Success! Thank you, Cherie, for being a potential matcher!
As far as Sequoia National Park, I traveled there previously in October 1996 on a cross-country drive from Crater Lake to St. Louis. This would be my first time seeing the Sequoia trees in the winter. The trees looked fantastic with their massive orange girth of the bark on their trunks offset by foot or less of winter snow surrounding the base. Add in the blue sky and the bright green needles on the trees, and it was a colorful delight to see and photograph. I wore myself out hiking as much as I could to enjoy being around these enormous trees.
One of the best parts of having ranger friends is that they know where the best trails are in the national parks where they work. Cherie’s job at Sequoia was a full-time backcountry ranger issuing permits. Part of her job duties was to hike on the wilderness trails so she had familiarity for advising visitors obtaining backcountry permits. During my Sequoia visit, Cherie suggested that I drive my car to hike at South Fork, located at the southwest corner of Sequoia.
The next day, I followed Cherie’s advice to hike at South Fork. It was a long winding steep uphill Forest Service road from the Three Rivers area that led to the parking lot. From the South Fork parking area, I chose to hike on the Lady Bug Trail three miles one way to the Garfield Sequoia Grove. I did not see anyone else on this trail. It was a true hidden gem to immerse myself in this wilderness forest and admire this hidden Sequoia grove. I am not sure now why I did not take any photos that day. Maybe I just wanted to enjoy the solitude of the wilderness and the majestic beauty of the Sequoia trees. I saw very few people that day and the Garfield Sequoia Grove felt like a natural sacred temple with mammoth columns of these bright orange trees. I could not wait to meet up with Cherie that evening to tell her about this experience and thank her. She was thrilled for me because it was one of her favorite areas in the park.
Brian Ettling’s picture of the General Sherman Tree at Sequoia National Park. Photo taken on March 17, 2009.
I arrived at Crater Lake National Park on March 21, 2009. The calendar said it was the official start of spring, but it was 3 more months of winter at Crater Lake. It was fascinating to see the tremendous amount of snow on the ground, enough to completely cover some of the buildings at Crater Lake Rim Village. I led snowshoe walks for school groups as a park ranger in that spring. I did not like the directive by the Classroom at Crater Lake Director to teach the students how to use GPS electronic devices. However, I loved teaching the students all about the snow, showing them how to sled down hills on their backs, and challenging them to try to hit me with snowballs at the end of my programs. Overall, it was one of the most fun jobs I ever had.
I had a great team of ranger colleagues working with me at Classroom for Crater Lake, Ross Studlar and Lise Wall. Ross was very tall, lanky, soft spoken, but with a great sense of humor. He was a very talented cartoonist, illustrator, and artist. Lise Wall was also slender but shorter than me had long flowing brunette hair down to her waist and a soft whispering voice. She was proud of her Norwegian heritage and advised that her name Lise be pronounced with a soft S sound. Her name was definitely not pronounced Lee-za or Lease-za.
Lise relished and appreciated my sense of humor. I could always count on her to laugh at my jokes. Or, at least, grimace at me with a painful smile when she did not think I was funny. There seemed to be a latent attractive chemistry between Lise and me. I did not want to pursue her romantically though since we were colleagues working in a very small group. I felt like I made a friend for life though. Lise would talk about how she spent her summers working at the Illahee Fire Lookout, located on an hour and a half drive west of Crater Lake. She described it in such glowing terms that she had me curious to see it. I asked her if I could visit her there during the summer. She was delighted with the possibility that I would come visit her that summer.
The three of us would regularly get together for dinner. We enjoyed each other’s company and our teamwork to make Classroom at Crater Lake a success for the spring of 2009.
The worst day of my job was when I led a ranger snowshoe hike on the Crater Lake Rim with a small group of rural high school students and their adult chaperones from Red Bluff, California. The adult leaders of the group and I got into a heated argument about the reality of climate change as well as allowing guns in the national parks. The students did not know what to think as we debated global warming and other issues.
One guy missing several teeth from what looked like poor dental hygiene habits kept insisting that I was wrong about everything. Another group leader and I had a huge disagreement about the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. I had just read a 2008 book, You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet by author and journalist Thomas M. Kostigan. It was frightening to read in that book and with other news stories of that time about the environmental threat and damage of the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
The adult leader refused to accept the Pacific Garbage Patch was real because he could not see it on the Google satellite images. The adults believed that humans cannot harm the planet. They thought it was too big and we are too insignificant to do that. My knowledge about climate change was very limited at that time, outside of seeing the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth and reading the companion book. I also watched the 2006 HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle: Global Warming Is the Most Urgent Threat Facing Humanity Today. The HBO documentary interviewed several climate scientists about the threat and consequences of climate change. When I worked in Everglades National Park, a friend recommended the 2006 Elizabeth Kolbert book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. I probably had read other books about climate change at that time.
Yet, I felt I was not knowledgeable and had the weak responses when they kept pushing me that climate change was not real. I knew then I needed more training, knowledge, and organizational support to be more comfortable talking about the science, evidence, threat, and solutions to climate change. Yet, I did not know at that time where to get this information or any groups to join to become a better climate advocate. All I could do at that time in 2009 was to keep working as a Crater Lake park ranger and keep my eyes and ears open for any opportunities.
Brian Ettling giving oral testimony to Oregon Joint Committee on Transportation on August 31, 2025. Image source: Oregon Legislature Information System (OLIS) video recording.
“Testimony, testimony Declare yourself – I will testify Testimony, testimony Speak the truth, I will testify” – from the song “Testimony” written and sung by Robbie Robertson with U2 in 1987
I wrote and published the Part II blog on February 26, 2025, one day before I started giving oral testimony in 2025. This year I gave oral testimony 9 times. I feel like I need a break before I give oral testimony again. It is depressing now because all the bills I testified to support died in committees. These bills did not make it to receive a floor vote in the Oregon House or Senate. In my March 22nd testimony to the Legislative Joint Ways and Means Committee, all those bills that I advocated died without funding. The transportation package that I gave testimony on August 31st passed the legislature on September 29, 2025, but that was a pyrrhic victory. It was a short term budget fix, not a long term transportation package addressing the climate crisis. Now that package will likely be put on hold in 2026 by a petition led ballot measure for the November 2026 election where voters will decide to accept or reject the transportation tax increases.
1. My Testimony for the CEI Hub Bill – HB 3450 on February 27, 2025
In late 2024 and early 2025, I first learned about the problem of Portland’s Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub. According the the Multnomah County Government website,
“The CEI Hub is a six-mile stretch of industrial development along the west shore of the Willamette River. More than 90% of all liquid fuel in Oregon is stored at facilities in the CEI Hub. This includes the gas and diesel supply for the Portland metro area, as well as all the jet fuel for the Portland International Airport. Other hazardous materials are also stored at the CEI Hub.”
As Oregon Public Broadcastingreported on March 18, 2025,
“Portland is particularly vulnerable to the 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake that scientists predict could happen in the next few decades, based on historical geographic data. The city’s six-mile hub of fuel storage and shipping terminals along the Willamette River is expected to crumble due to an earthquake phenomenon called liquefaction, a type of riverside quicksand effect that could release millions of gallons of fuel.”
If that happened, “It could be a spill that matches the volume of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, but rather than occurring out in the Gulf of Mexico, it would be occurring in the heart of a major American city,” Multnomah County sustainability director John Wasiutynski told councilors during a Monday work session.
Thus, it is a priority of the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and various environmental groups such as 350PDX, MCAT (Mobilizing for Climate Action Together), Climate Reality Portland Chapter, etc. to work together to lessen the risk of these fuel tanks turning into an environmental and human catastrophe caused by a high intensity earthquake, wildfire, or other causes.
In the third week of February, 350PDX asked for volunteers to give oral testimony to support the package of 4 CEI Hub Bills (HB 3450, HB 2949, HB 2152, & HB 2151) for a hearing scheduled for Thursday, February 27th to the Oregon House Committee On Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans. I heard about this opportunity to testify from the Portland Climate Reality Chapter. They offered to write up a statement representing our chapter for me to read as my oral testimony for the hearing.
This was a relieve for me not to have to draft my own testimony. I could simply read the statement they sent me by email. My only actions were to find a ride to Salem to testify and to sign up in advance to testify for the hearing on the Oregon Legislature Information System website.
Here is the testimony that I read to the Oregon House Committee:
“My name is Brian Ettling. I live in Portland I am a member of the Climate Reality Portland Chapter, which has members who live and/or work inside the “blast zone” of the CEI hub. As an organization focused on climate justice and public health as well as a just transition to clean energy, we support near-term action to mitigate pollution and emergency-related harms to communities and longer term phase-out of dangerous combustion fuels.
So Climate Reality strongly supports HB 3450, the CEI Hub Transition Plan. We thank Rep. Thuy Tran for this legislation and urge all House and Senate Members to become co-sponsors. The bill calls on Oregon Department of Energy to study and develop an “energy storage transition plan” for the CEI Hub to include:
Benchmarked short-, medium-, and long-term goals
A risk bond study;
Engagement of industry stakeholders, technical experts, researchers, affected
Community members, state and local govts. agencies, and others;
May contract with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University.
This bill is urgently needed. Oregon needs a wholistic plan that moves us from bemoaning the dangers of the CEI Hub to solving the problem. HB 3450 gives Benchmarked goals to allow for easier steps to begin sooner. Benchmarked goals can support a safe and equitable transition to renewable sources of energy by recognizing that any flammable, combustible, or toxic materials stored in the CEI Hub zone poses a danger. An inclusive planning process should ensure that all interested and affected parties will be at the table; an essential tenet of environmental justice.
Thank you for your time.
The Committee Chair, Rep. Thuy Tran, set time limit for oral testimony at 2 minutes. It felt stressful to squeeze in all the words in time, but my testimony was right at 2 minutes. It always feels beneficial for me to give oral testimony to Oregon Legislative committees to support climate and environmental bills. This was the first of my 9 times giving oral testimony in 2025. I felt like I was off to a good start.
Unfortunately, HB 3450 and all of the CEI Hub bills died during the Legislative session. All of them, except for HB 2151, were passed out of the House Committee On Emergency Management, General Government, and Veterans to be sent to the Joint Ways and Means Committee. HB 2151 died in the committee. The Legislature determined that it would cost money to enact these CEI Hub bills. Because the state economist predicting the state would have half a billion dollars less than formerly expected to budget, the Joint Ways and Means Committee killed nearly all the bills during the 2025 regular session that were deemed to cost money to implement.
The Chief Sponsor of the CEI Hub bills, Rep. Thuy Tran of Northeast Portland, hopes to introduce a CEI Hub bill in the short 2026 session. The threat still looms of a catastrophic subduction zone earthquake causing nightmare fuel tanks ruptures and explosions for these 600 storage tanks along the Willamette River, just northwest of downtown Portland, Oregon. This problem is not going away. I fear an incomprehensible environmental disaster from an overdue earthquake before the state passes legislation to fully address the issue.
2.My Testimony for Updating OR’s Greenhouse Gas Goals – HB 3477 on March 11, 2025
On February 4th, I traveled to Salem to participate in the Divest Oregon Lobby Day at the Oregon Capitol. Divest Oregon organized this gathering in Salem to lobby legislators to support the Pause Act (SB 681) to stop the OR Treasury from new private equity investments in fossil fuels. One of the speakers to prepare for the lobby day was Oregon Representative Mark Gamba. I have known Mark Gamba since 2017 when I met him at the Climate Reality Training in Bellevue, Washington. He is a trained Climate Reality Leader like me. Before he was elected as a state legislator, Mark served as the Mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon. His leadership as Mayor enabled Milwaukie to become the first city In Oregon to declare a climate emergency.
Rep. Mark Gamba is one of the top climate champions in the Oregon Legislature. I look to see what climate bills he is a Chief Sponsor so I know which bills to urge my legislators to support. During his talk at the Divest Oregon Lobby Day, he urged us to support other bills he championed, such as HB 3477 to declare climate change an emergency and update Oregon’s greenhouse gas goals. After I returned home to Portland that evening, I went on the Oregon Legislature Information System (OLIS) website to subscribe to the bills so I could follow them. In March, I received a notice on OLIS that HB 3477 would have a hearing on March 11th in the House Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment.
Rep. Gamba had other bills besides HB 3477 that he wanted climate advocates to show up to testify and lobby their legislators to support. However, I wanted to give oral testimony for this bill because Senator Michael Dembrow and other climate champions tried for years to update Oregon’s greenhouse gas goals with legislation with zero success. Republicans always have fierce opposition to these bills. The Democratic legislators then seem to negotiate away these greenhouse gas benchmark bills so that their GOP counterparts will allow other bills to pass.
I decided to register to give oral testimony to this bill to hopefully show that HB 3477 had support from Oregonians to update our state’s greenhouse gas goals. Thus, I signed up online because I did not see how I would get a ride to Salem to testify in person.
Here is the testimony I gave to the House Committee.
Members of the Committee. My name is Brian Ettling. I live in Portland. For 25 years from 1992 to 2017, I was a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Sadly, I saw climate change while working at Crater Lake with a diminishing annual snowpack. Even worse, I saw more intense fire seasons and smoke in the summertime leading visitors to cancel their vacations. When they cancel their vacations, they were not staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, and shopping in our stores. It had a bad impact on Oregon’s economy.
Since moving to Portland in 2017, I saw bad wildfire smoke in the summers making it hard to breathe. We had a very scary heat dome in 2021 with temperatures up to 116 degrees and 96 people died in Oregon. Scientists say these freak events are made worse and are triggered by climate change. They will continue to get more deadly if we don’t act now to reduce this threat.
Please pass HB 3477 to declare climate change an emergency and modify our state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reflect what science tells us the actions we must take to reduce this threat. To paraphrase comedian Larry the Cable Guy now is the time to ‘Get R done!’ I applaud Rep. Mark Gamba as a champion on this bill and as a leader on climate and environmental issues in the Oregon Legislature.
Even more, please pass the other two bills from Rep. Gamba and Rep. Helm in your committee today, HB 3681 to speed up the Electricity Transmission Permitting process. And HB 3609 to require electric companies to develop a distributed power plant program for the grid services provided by distributed energy resources.
Someday your children and grandchildren will ask you: ‘What did you do as a legislator to solve climate change?’
Please pass these bills so you can tell them that you did all you could.
Thank you for your time.
Sadly, HB 3477 died in this House committee. It did not receive a work session, as known as a committee vote, to move it to a House floor vote. It went nowhere because of the fierce Republican opposition to the bill, similar to the result in previous legislative sessions.
3.My Testimony for Creating Westside Express Service Authority (WESA) – HB 3453 on March 11, 2025
My oral testimony for HB 3477 happened online for the House Committee On Climate, Energy, and Environment for their meeting on March 11th scheduled at 8 am. At 5 pm that same day, the Joint Committee on Transportation scheduled a hearing for HB 3453 to create the Westside Express Service Authority (WESA). This bill directed Trimet (the public transportation agency for the Portland metro area) to transfer authority of their operation of the (Westside Express Service) WES commuter rail line to the state of Oregon to create a new state agency WESA.
As a climate organizer, I hate to drive with the pollution it creates that makes our air unhealthy and contributes to climate change. I drive a 2002 Honda Civic that is almost 24 years old, so I like to save money on gas, plus the wear and tear maintenance expenses, by not driving. I worry about getting into a car accident when driving because of other crazy drivers on the road or making a mistake while driving.
Fortunately for me, Portland has an excellent public transportation system with Trimet that I rely upon almost daily to meet up with friends, attend town halls and climate organizing events, go on hikes with Tanya, etc. Once I am board the public buses and MAX commuter trains, I get a lot of reading done that I am not able to do at home since I am so distracted by the internet. I use public transportation out of privilege. However, every time I ride the bus or MAX, I see people around me that are very dependent on public transportation because they are unable to drive or can’t afford a car. Therefore, I like to consider myself a strong advocate for public transportation especially for the Portland area.
Oregon Senator Chris Gorsek from Gresham is a strong advocate for passenger rail service. Chris and I had conversations about this for several years in total agreement that more passenger and commuter rail service is needed in Oregon. I like to pay attention to the train bills he advocated, especially since he was the Co-Chair of the Joint Transportation Committee during the 2025 Legislative session.
On February 4th, Portland TV station KGW ran a story and a 30 minute news report about legislative actions to try to expand passenger rail in Oregon. I noticed posted by one of the Oregon environmental advocacy groups, No More Freeways, on social media. This KGW news report listed 4 passenger rail bills introduced in the Legislature during the 2025 session:
HB 3231: Improves passenger rail capacity across Oregon. HB 3233: Directs ODOT to work with WA State Department of Transportation and British Columbia Ministry of Transportation to improve capacity on Amtrak Cascades rail service. SB 715: Creates the Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force. SB 689: Creates the Oregon Rail Department.
After seeing that story, I started following those bills closely. Somehow, I learned about HB 3453 to create a WES state agency. Thus, I signed up to give oral testimony remotely from home when this Joint Transportation Committee hearing took place at 5 pm on March 11th.
Here’s what I said in my oral testimony for HB 3453:
Co-chairs Gorsek, McLain, and members of the Committee. I am Brian Ettling. I live in northeast Portland. I support HB 3453 which creates the Westside Express Service Authority and directs TriMet to transfer operation of the WES commuter rail line to this authority. I applaud Representatives Mannix and Neron for introducing this bill. This could be a step forward for Oregon to take responsibility to improve WES and possibility expand this passenger rail line in the future. The WES Trains are amazing, which currently runs a couple times a day from Beaverton to Wilsonville. I took the train last July to meet up with a friend in Tigard and I loved riding on it. However, it only runs a couple times a day. The route is also way too short. It needs to be expanded all the way to Salem.
You might recognize me because I to come to Salem periodically to testify and lobby legislators for climate and environmental bills. I always try to carpool with friends. A couple of times, I took the Amtrak train and bus to come to Salem. The last time I tried to take a train to leave Salem and return to Portland on February 4th, the Amtrak train was delayed for 10 hours. Fortunately, I got a ride back to Portland with a friend. I hate that drive from Portland to Salem on I-5 because of all the traffic delays at rush hour. I am here today to lobby for you, Oregon legislators and your staff, as well as citizen advocates like me. Frankly, your commute stinks! There must be a better way to commute to Salem to not get stuck in traffic on I-5. Let’s aim to increase dependable passenger train service in the Willamette Valley from Portland to Salem and even down to Eugene. I think HB 3453 could be a step in the conversation to do that.
I am here today to speak for the passenger trains and even blow my train whistle. Thank you for your time.
During my testimony, the part that received a response from legislators and the audience in the hearing room in Salem was when I said: “I hate that drive from Portland to Salem on I-5 because of all the traffic delays at rush hour. I am here today to lobby for you, Oregon legislators and your staff, as well as citizen advocates like me. Frankly, your commute stinks!”
I could hear laughter break out in the room after I made that remark. I intended to be funny and I was thrilled I made a humorous connection with the audience in the room. At the end of my testimony, I blew a train whistle, which made the legislators and audience in Salem laugh.
After the Committee Co-Chair Susan McLain closed the oral testimony HB 3453, Senator Khanh Pham asked the chair to be recognized for brief remarks. Senator Pham stated, “Thank you Madame Chair…I want to appreciate everyone who came out (to testify)…This bill has passed out of committee twice and I do remember all of the incredible voices that came out from rural, urban, and suburban committees. I agree with Mr. Brian Ettling who was talking about our commute. I also hate this commute and everyday I think about how many more Oregonians could participate in our state government if they had an easy, affordable way to get to Salem without having to own and operate a car. I just want to thank everyone who came out to testify today.”
I was elated to hear Senator Pham mention me in her comments to the committee. HB 3453 passed out of the Joint Committee on Transportation on April 14th. It was referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee where the bill died.
4.My Testimony for Creating the Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force. – SB 715 on March 18, 2025
One of the passenger rail bills that is listed above is SB-715, a bill to create the Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force to to study, research and make reports about high speed rail in Oregon. In addition, the bill would establish a Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force to to submit progress reports and a final report. I requested to the MCAT (Mobilizing for Climate Action Together) Transportation Committee that I give oral testimony on behalf of the committee. I drafted my oral testimony in advance for their approval. They quickly gave their approval for me to testify to represent them.
Here is the oral testimony I gave for SB 715 that I gave live via the internet:
Co-chairs Gorsek, McLain, and members of the Committee.
I am Brian Ettling. I live in Portland. I am a member of the MCAT (Mobilizing for Climate Action Together) Transportation Committee. We advocate for reducing carbon pollution from the transportation sector, Oregon’s highest carbon pollution source. We want Oregon’s Transportation System to offer more convenient and accessible passenger rail service within Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Region.
We thank Senators Gorsek, Pham, and Frederick and Representative Ruiz for sponsoring SB 715 creating the Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force to study, research, and make reports for Oregon high-speed rail. The 2024 Joint Committee on Transportation Road Show showed many Oregonians want more public transit options, including commuter/passenger rail service, plus increasing frequency and dependability of public transit modes. We believe SB 715 helps achieve this.
A large percentage of Oregonians can’t drive, or can’t afford to own a car, or don’t like to drive and prefer to use mass transit and passenger rail like me. As Oregon interstate highways and roads become more congested with cars which you notice on your commute to and from Salem, let’s provide Oregonians with high-speed passenger rail options to reduce the wear and tear on our roads and help clean the air from car tail pipe pollution.
On a personal note, I hate driving, and I love taking the train. My wife and I use the Amtrak Cascades Trains, which runs from Eugene to Vancouver British Columbia, about once a year to visit friends and family in the Seattle area. Last August, a malfunction on the Steel Bridge in Portland delayed our train for two hours. On February 4th, I booked an Amtrak train from Salem to Portland that was delayed for 10 hours due to mechanical issues.
Let’s improve dependability and reliability for Oregon’s passenger trains. Please pass SB 715 as a step forward to do this.
Thank you for your time.
Here’s a video of my testimony:
Sadly, SB 715 was another bill that died in the Joint Transportation Committee.
5. My Oral Testimony to Oregon Environmental QualityCommission on March 14, 2025
In between testifying to the Oregon Legislature Joint Committee on Transportation to support passenger rail bills, I testified to the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (ECQ) on March 14th. I spoke in favor of making permanent the Advanced Clean Trucking Rule to try to push large trucks in Oregon to run on clean energy.
The EQC is part of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which is the state agency overseeing environmental protection for the state. The ECQ is a five-member panel appointed by the governor to adopting rules and establishing policies for the DEQ, such as determining how to implement the Advanced Clean Trucking (ACT) Rule. DEQ’s Advanced Clean Trucks policy was under development since 2021 to shift Oregon’s medium-to-heavy duty trucks from fossil fuel internal combustion engines to electric-powered vehicles to improve air quality and help the state meet its carbon reduction goals. Transportation, with a large amount emitted from large trucks, is the biggest contributor
Two days before, on March 12th, Joseph Stenger, one of the leaders of the MCAT Transportation Committee sent an email to the members for an action opportunity to testify in support of clean trucks in front of the EQC on March 14th. In his email, Joe forwarded the request from Brett Morgan, Oregon Transportation Policy Director for the advocacy group Climate Solutions:
“We are asking for partners to comment during the EQC’s Public Forum section of their agenda, This Friday the 13th at 1:30PM, to affirm support for ongoing DEQ rulemaking to give more flexibilities to the ACT (Advanced Clean Trucking) program that will make it work better for all stakeholders, and to ask them to resist efforts to legislatively tweak the program in ways that could hurt it legally and operationally.”
My knowledge was scant about Oregon’s efforts to adopt advanced clean trucking rules. Thus, I asked Joe if he or a member of the MCAT Transportation Committee could help me draft my testimony. Joe offered to send me his written testimony on the ACT rules to guide me in crafting my own testimony. Joe’s written testimony was lengthy. I figured this EQC hearing would probably limit testimony to two minutes, like many of the Oregon Legislative hearing where I testified over the years. After I signed up to testify on March 12th on the EQC website, I spent time whittling down Joe’s testimony into my own words for a testimony script that I could comfortably speak in less than two minutes.
Unlike all the times I testified in person for legislative hearing at the state Capitol in Salem, this EQC hearing was very convenient for me to travel using public transportation. This hearing was held at the DEQ offices in the Lloyd District, a neighborhood just northeast of downtown Portland. I arrived at the DEQ conference room in plenty of time while the Environmental Quality Commission were adjourned for their lunch break. The conference room was small, with the five commission members, one EQC staff person, and around five private citizens, including myself, present to give testimony. It was a much smaller room for me to testify than my experiences in Salem. At the Oregon Capitol, I usually testify before a committee of around 12 legislators with around 50 members of the general public in attendance.
Before the commission called me before them to give my oral testimony, several individuals I knew testified over the phone to support implementation of the clean trucking rules, such as Oregon Representative Pam Marsh and Eliza Walton, Coalition Director for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. My testimony was adequately squeezed into the 2 minute time limit from my numerous times practicing it at home with the stop watches on my iPad and iPhone.
Here’s the testimony I gave to the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission:
Chair Donegan and members of the Commission: My name is Brian Ettling.
Regarding Item C on the March 13 agenda, “Clean Truck Rules 2025”, I strongly support these rules. I urge you to make permanent the temporary rules the Advanced Clean Trucks. Please do not delay of implementation of these crucial measures. Let’s affirm market certainty for clean tech, not delay it.
Diesel exhaust causes illness and death. DEQ webpage states: “In Oregon alone, the direct and indirect public health and environmental impact of exposure to diesel exhaust could be valued up to $3.5 billion per year.”
According to a 2017 Oregonian article, “The EPA estimates diesel pollution prematurely kills 460 Oregonians annually.” For 25 years, I was a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park. It is in southern Oregon inside Klamath County and next to Jackson County. The American Lung Association found that Klamath, Lane, and Jackson counties were among the 13th worst counties in the country for year-round particle pollution. Medium and heavy trucks produce disproportionately much more toxic pollutants than light vehicles. We must shift to electric trucks. With 12 states participating, that make up over a third of the US market share of trucks, the ACT provides the boost to the market that will accelerate manufacture of zero-emissions vehicles and will speed investment in charging stations. The ACT requirements increase slowly over years. No manufacturer must meet yearly goals until 2028. There is not and will never be a “ban on diesel trucks”. By 2050, only 40% of class 7-8 trucks need to be electric. The ACT applies only to manufacturers, not dealers or purchasers.
The American Lung Association says the ACT will result in many billions of dollars of health cost savings. Do not delay the ACT. We must boost market certainty to continue investment in this healthy change in our transportation system. Thank you for your work on behalf of the people of Oregon.
I could not find a video recordings of this DEQ hearing. However, a fellow attendee took a photo of me delivering my oral testimony to the commission.
Brian Ettling giving oral testimony to the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) on March 14, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.
After I testified to the EQC on March 14th, Oregon still seems uncertain about implementing advanced clean trucking rules. On May 15th, The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced it delaying enforcement of its Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which went into effect Jan. 1. Oregon Governor Kotek released a statement pointing to the lack of federal support from the Trump Administration for transitioning to electric vehicles for making it difficult to up the standard for more clean trucks in the state. However, on July 11th, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) reported “Oregon adopts Clean Trucks Rules as state fights Trump’s challenge.”
I still feel like my head is spinning trying to understand this issue. The big picture is that Oregon must make a large concentrated effort to shift from trucks burning dirty fossil fuel pollution which is hazardous to breathe and contributes to climate change to trucks that run on clean energy. I hope Oregon will join 10 other states, including neighboring California and Washington, to find ways to shift clean energy large trucks.
6. My Oral Testimony for Divest Oregon’s Pause Act – SB 681 on March 19, 2025
For several years, I have been supportive of Divest Oregon with their efforts to push the Oregon Treasury to divest its investments from fossil fuels. As I wrote about in my blog, “For Climate Action, my oral testimony to legislative committees Part II,” I gave oral testimony twice during the 2024 Legislative session for Divest Oregon’s the COAL Act to divest the Treasury from any coal investments. Sue Palmiter, Co-Leader of the Divest Oregon Coalition, was appreciative and complementary of my two oral testimonies I gave for the 2024 COAL Act.
For the 2025 Legislative session, Divest Oregon focused its energy to try to get the Pause Act – SB 681 passed by the Oregon Legislature. This bill would have prohibited the State Treasurer from renewing investments in or making new investments in a private market fossil fuels. To urge legislators to co-sponsor and support the Pause Act, Divest Oregon had a lobby day in Salem on February 4th. I was part of the lobby meetings with my Rep. Andrea Valderrama, Rep. Zach Hudson, and the staff of Rep. Hoa Nguyen. Senator Jeff Golden introduced the Pause Act in the Oregon Senate on January 13th. Senator President Rob Wagner then assigned the bill to the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, Chaired by Senator Mark Meek.
The Pause Act just sat in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee for almost two months. We knew we needed the Chair, Senator Mark Meek to schedule a hearing. The Divest Oregon advocates and I alerted each other that he had an online town hall on February 26th
I attended Oregon Senator Mark Meek’s virtual town hall on February 26th. Several Divest Oregon organizers, advocates, and I attended this Zoom town hall to specifically ask Senator Meek if he could schedule a hearing for the Pause Act in his committee. During this town hall, I raised my hand to ask Senator Meek a question and he called on me. I asked him directly if he could schedule a hearing on the Pause Act in the Finance and Revenue Committee. He was friendly recognizing me from my previous lobby meetings with him. He graciously responded that he would be happy to schedule a hearing for the Pause Act soon.
Sue was delighted that I pressed Senator Meek to schedule a hearing for the Pause Act. She thanked me in the Zoom chat. Even more, she urged me to give oral testimony for the Pause Act if Senator Meek scheduled the bill in his committee. In addition, she asked if I would provide oral testimony supporting the Pause Act on behalf of MCAT. I agreed with Sue that was a great idea. Both of us reached out to the MCAT Steering Committee for their approval. They quickly approved Sue’s suggestion for me to speak on their behalf. The only catch was that I needed to show them the script of my oral testimony in advance so they could have the final say.
As soon as we saw the news on OLIS (Oregon Legislature Information System) that SB 681 had a hearing scheduled in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee on March 19th, I began drafting my oral testimony. I sent my draft to the MCAT Steering Committee. They had some suggested edits, as well as the leaders of Divest Oregon. When MCAT and Divest Oregon were satisfied and had no more edits for me several days before the hearing, I was knew I would be ready to give my oral testimony at the hearing on March 19th. I told Sue that I was willing to testify in Salem at the hearing at 8 am if she could help me find a ride to Salem. Sue found another Divest Oregon volunteer to carpool from Portland to Salem and back.
Brian Ettling giving oral testimony for the Pause Act in Salem, Oregon on March 19, 2025
Since the Senate Revenue and Finance Committee met at 8 am, this hearing was not well attended. About 20 participants sat in the gallery, many hoping their name would be called quickly so they could give oral testimony and then slip out of the hearing to enjoy the rest of their day. Senator Meek scheduled the hearing to start soon after he called the meeting to order a few minutes after 8 am. Meek started with some of the remote online testimony before calling up the individuals who signed up to testify in person. I was not long into the meeting when my name was called. As usual, I practiced this testimony several times at home to make sure that it clocked under 2 minutes, in case Senator Meek restricted each oral testimony to that time.
Here is my oral testimony representing MCAT supporting The Pause Act SB 681:
Chair Meek and members of the Committee. I am Brian Ettling. I speak today on behalf of MCAT, Mobilizing for Climate Action Together. We are a grassroots organization that works with legislators, state agencies such as the Oregon Treasury, and policymakers by promoting, testifying and advising to advance legislation to help meet Oregon’s climate goals. MCAT is one of over 100 Oregon organizations included in the Divest Oregon coalition.
Today we are here to support SB 681, The Pause Act. We thank Divest Oregon, Chief Sponsor Senator Jeff Golden, and the sponsors for their work on this bill.
We like that this bill enacts a five-year moratorium on investing state monies in new private equity fossil fuels funds. We believe fossil fuel investments are risky, because damages from climate change could cause them to lose value. In February 2024, Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read proposed a “Major Action” listed in the net zero plan to achieve a net zero carbon future for the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund. Yet, no action was communicated to the public. Thus, we need this bill to codify that plan. We approve that under this bill, the State Treasurer may not renew or make new investments in private market funds whose managers presently invest (or stated an intention to invest) 10% or more of their holdings in fossil fuel equities. Covered activities include exploration, mining, shipping, infrastructure maintenance and refinement of fossil fuels. The Treasurer is required to monitor State holdings to ensure that the funds it invested in comply with this principle. The Treasurer must also provide an annual report to the Legislature on this subject, including actions it took to
reduce the systemic risks of remaining fossil fuel holdings and
incorporate just transition principles in its decarbonization efforts. With these bill provisions, we urge you to swiftly pass The Pause Act, SB 681.
Thank you for your time.
Here is a video of my oral testimony for The Pause Act – SB 681
After I finished speaking and the hearing was finished, Sue Palmiter and others associated with Divest Oregon thanked me for my testimony and seemed pleased with the words spoke to the legislators. Before the hearing, Divest Oregon volunteers and I were introduced to staff of Oregon Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner. They were cordial and pleasant to chat with us. They wanted to be perceived as neutral about the Pause Act. However, the day after the hearing, Treasurer Steiner publicly announced she was opposed to the Pause Act. Instead, she supported Climate Resilience Investment Act of 2025, HB 2081.
Divest Oregon supported HB 2081. They liked these aspects on the bill:
Legislative recognition of climate change risks
Just Transition principles highlighted
Enforceable commitment
Step in the right direction by preferring low-emission investments
Increased transparency and accountability
On the other hand, Divest Oregon felt HB 2081 fell short in these areas:
1. Exclusion of Scope 3 emissions 2. Lack of transparency and a specific plan of how to deal with private equity investments. 3. Absence of frontline community acknowledgment 4. Insufficient specificity and accountability
Divest Oregon thought the Pause Act was a much stronger bill to divest the Oregon Treasury from new fossil fuel investments. However, as soon as Treasurer Steiner came out against the Pause Act, it was dead. Senator Meek did not schedule a work session to vote the bill out of committee. Steiner did not want to negotiate with Divest Oregon with the Pause Act. Divest Oregon had to settle with her Climate Resilience Investment Act of 2025, HB 2081. It is a step forward, but more still needs to make Oregon Treasury investments more climate friendly.
One of the highlights for me for testifying for the Pause Act was that my friend Cathy Cowen Becker from Columbus, Ohio saw me on the OLIS livestream video giving my oral testimony. I have known Cathy for over 10 years as a fellow Climate Reality Leader. We knew each other for several years on Facebook as fellow climate advocates. We met in person for the first time on May 7, 2015 when we both attended the Climate Reality Training in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We ran into each other at the airport. We were thrilled to meet each other for the first time. Then, former Vice President Al Gore, the founder of the Climate Reality Project noticed us at the airport and said hello. Even more, we got our photos with him. In a sense, Cathy and I are bonded as lifelong friends with this peak experience of chatting with Al Gore.
Cathy reached out to me on Facebook after she saw my post that I had given oral testimony for the Pause Act. She wrote that she submitted written testimony for SB 681 on behalf of Green America, where she now works. She stated that supporting good state legislation was her campaign plan this year. She felt that Oregon was one of the few places where Green America can make some climate progress. It was a thrill to reconnect with Cathy because of the Pause Act.
7. My Oral Testimony to OR Legislature Joint Ways and Means Committee- March 22, 2025
The same week that I gave oral testimony for the Pause Act on March 19th and Cascadia High Speed Rail Task Force to the Joint Committee on Transportation on March 18th, I received an alert from OLCV, that the Legislative Joint Ways and Means Committee would have a road show hearing in Gresham, Oregon on Saturday, March 22nd. These road show hearings allow the Joint Ways and Means Committee to hold around 5 hearings in various locations across Oregon. The “road shows” happen in the spring of the odd numbered years when the Oregon Legislature determines the two year state budget during the long legislative sessions. The “road shows” gives local Oregonians an opportunity to testify on bills and policies impacting the Oregon budget without having to travel to the capitol in Salem Oregon.
OLCV, as well as other climate and environmental groups, wanted to take advantage of this legislative road show to make sure lawmakers understood from local Oregonians how important funding our climate resilience programs was to Oregonians. They note that climate programs reduce costs, improve health outcomes, and make our communities more resilient.
OLCV coordinated with the Building Resilience Coalition, and Oregon Environmental Coalition to push climate advocates to give oral testimony for 9 bills they supported for Heat Pumps, One Stop Shop 2.0 to navigate weatherization incentives and rebates on one website to be fully funded, Community Resilience Hubs, Natural & Working Lands Fund, Community Renewable Energy Program, Farmworker Disaster Relief Bill, Medium and Heavy Duty Electric Vehicle Rebates & Infrastructure Grants, and Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate Program / Charge Ahead.
If you have not noticed yet, I like to give oral testimony. However, this felt overwhelming to try to squeeze some of these priorities into less than 2 minutes. I testified in the Joint Ways and Means road show hearing in Portland on April 8, 2023. I remember that a huge audience shows up for these hearings, especially to testify. Thus, our time would definitely be limited to 2 minutes, possibly even a minute and a half, to squeeze in as many people as possible to testify during these 2 hour hearings.
It was stressful trying to figure out which bills to emphasize as I composed my testimony. I sent emails to staff of OLCV, Annabelle Rousseau – Advocacy Coordinator of the Portland environmental justice group Verde, and two members of the MCAT Steering Committee trying to figure out which bills to highlight in my testimony. The response I received from Brittney VanCitters, Political & Organizing Director at OLCV, was to go with “the info Annabelle shared with you early aligns well with OLCV’s goals.”
As I drafted my testimony, I thought about urging legislators to support the One Stop Shop 2.0 (HB 3081), but not other bills. Annabelle Rousseau from Verde advised, “Since you already plan to talk about One Stop Shop 2.0 (HB 3081), it would make sense to also focus on funding for the Rental Heat Pump Program and Community Heat Pump Program. All three of these priorities are so interconnected with widening access to home energy efficiency, by removing barriers.”
From the MCAT Steering Committee, Rich Peppers suggested that I “could just select ideas from the MCAT outlook.”
I replied to Rich by asking: ‘As far as MCAT… are there any top priority bills that you or others on the steering committee feel like it would be a big win if we got a certain bill passed with funding or that would be a big loss if we did not get a certain bill passed with funding?’
Rich responded: ‘Sorry, Brian, I can’t be much help. In this period with federal cutbacks, getting bills passed even without much funding can probably be counted as a win… For EV rebates, the goal would be to have the Charge Ahead program functioning year-round, instead of operating for a few months and then shutting down again. But if that funding came out of what Fix It First maintenance or Safe Roads would have gotten, I’m not sure that’s the right allocation. And “growing the pie for everything”, which means new taxes, will also be difficult… I think just advocate for what you think is important is the right thing (until our coalitions refine a unified message we can all get behind…)’
After receiving responses from Britney, Annabelle, and Rich, I decided I had to follow my heart as what I thought which climate bills should be funded. In addition, I chose to advocate for bills supported by my legislator, Rep. Andrea Valderrama, who sits on the Joint Ways and Means Committee. She was a Chief Sponsor of the Farmworker Disaster Relief bill, HB 3193. Thus, I thought it would be helpful for her to voice support for that bill during my testimony.
With all these factors in mind, here was my Oral Testimony for funding for climate priorities for March 22, 2025, Joint Ways and Means Road Show:
Members of the Committee. My name is Brian Ettling. I live close by in Portland. I am worried about climate change. Last year was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, and Oregon is on the frontlines of this climate crisis. With your leadership, we have passed legislation that helps Oregon families to access more affordable, cleaner energy sources, better prepare for and respond to extreme weather, and breathe cleaner, safer air. We know you face many tough budgeting decisions with the chaos and uncertainty of federal spending in Oregon. I urge you to prioritize protecting and investing in Oregon’s climate progress. If we fail to act, it’s our frontline communities — people with disabilities, rural families, people of color, and working folks — who will be hurt first and worst. But every Oregonian will feel the impact. Please pass and provide funds for these bills:
Due to their working conditions, farmworkers are more vulnerable than other workers to smoke and deadly heat. Let’s make the Farmworker Disaster Relief fund permanent with HB 3193 so we can protect the workers who face the most risks from climate change.
Please fully fund our state energy and natural resource agencies to advance Oregon’s climate goals, ensuring healthy, resilient communities, and supporting clean energy job growth across Oregon. Thank you for your time.
Oregonians need more support navigating all the programs to upgrade their homes and buildings through incentives and rebates for efficient heat pumps, improved insulation, sturdier doors and windows, and clean electric cooking. One Stop Shop 2.0 (HB 3081) will help families get direct assistance from someone in their area to make their home projects more affordable.
Around $10 million is needed for Community Resilience Hubs (HB 3170) across the state to coordinate and provide access to resources and services for vulnerable populations during disasters.
Here is the video of my oral testimony at the Ways and Means Testimony. Like all of my other testimony, it is less than 2 minutes long. However, if you watch the end of the video, you will hear some cheering at the end. This was a packed auditorium at Mt. Hood Community College. Several climate organizers were in the audience, such as my friends mentioned above, Brittney VanCitters, Annabelle Rousseau, and Rich Peppers. I was proud of my testimony. My testimony seemed to make them proud that someone was speaking out for the climate and environment.
Most of the people attending this hearing were testifying on vital issues such as fully funding education, healthcare, reducing homelessness, drug treatment programs, labor rights, etc. Crucial issues I might have worked on if I had not seen climate change working in the national parks. Just a few of us spoke on fully funding climate programs at this Ways and Means roadshow hearing. To be fair, I signed up in advance. Speakers were chosen to testify on various subjects such as education, healthcare, environment, etc. so that all the speakers would not just be advocating for one topic. Thus, if I receiving cheering at the end of my remarks, as well as the other speakers who spoke on the environment and climate, those of us in the audience who advocate on those topics did not want those priorities to be forgotten and unfunded.
Sadly, because of the federal restrains on funding, all the bills that I highlighted in my oral testimony died in the Joint Ways and Means Committee and did not receive funding, such as Farmworker Disaster Relief fund permanent (HB 3193), Stop Shop 2.0 (HB 3081), or Community Resilience Hubs (HB 3170). I held out hope until the end of the legislative session at the end of June. However, the Oregon Legislature did not believe there was money in the budget to fund these bills. Yes, I understand the state of Oregon does not have money right now to fund new budget items. Still, it was disheartening to see the legislature not fund any climate programs when the issue of climate change is only getting worse.
8. My Oral Testimony about the Right for a Healthy Environment Ballot Referral – SJR 28
In April 18, 2024, I helped Portland Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) organize a Congressional District 03 Candidate Climate Forum with then Democratic candidates Maxine Dexter and Susheela Jayapal. One of my duties was to reach out to other climate and environmental organizations in the Portland area to invite them to table at this event. One gentleman I reached out to was Jeff Hammarlund. He organized with COIN (Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network). Jim was an affable gregarious and engaging guy that I quickly struck up a friendship on the phone. He waffled back and forth about organizing a COIN table at the CCL Candidate Climate Forum due to other commitments he had at the time, plus Portland CCL asked other groups for a $50 fee help pay for the costs to rent the venue for the event. I was able to get the fee waved for Jim and he then decided that it fit his schedule to table at the Candidate Climate Forum.
During our phone calls, Jim invited me to participate in the Right for a Healthy Environment Oregon Constitution Amendment rally happening in Salem, Oregon on Saturday, May 4th. It was organized by a group called OCERA (Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights Amendment). In early to mid April, I had no plans for May 4th, so I told Jeff I would attend and join a carpool to Salem. In late April, I landed a job with East County Rising (ECR) as a Field Organizer knocking on doors to urge east Multnomah County residents to vote in the May 21, 2024 Oregon election primary. The first day of work was Saturday, May 4th.
I called Jeff to let him know that I did not want to miss out on the first day of work, so I would have to cancel participating in the May 4th OCERA event. He became irritated at me for backing out of the event. I was surprised by his reaction. I had a volunteer role, but it was a minor role. I did not want to miss out on a paid day of work and the first day onboarding as an ECR Field Organizer. I felt bad, but I promised Jeff I would gladly participate in a future OCERA event, which seemed so soothe things over for Jeff and me.
After the May 21st primary, my short term job was completed with ECR. After the election primary, Tanya and I took a four day trip to see Crater Lake National Park. I traveled to Washington, D.C. in the second week of June to participate in their Washington D.C. Conference and Congressional Lobby Day. A friend from Climate Reality Project Itzel Morales visited Tanya and I in Portland the third week of June, and my mom came to visit Tanya and I in the last week of June. In July, Tanya and I took a four day trip to North Cascades National Park, Washington.
At the beginning of August, I accepted another short term ECR Field Organizer Job that lasted until the November 5th election. In November, I found out about an OCERA lobbying day happening on December 11th at the Oregon Capitol. I signed up for this lobby day and I did not want to miss it, especially after I let Jeff down for backing out of the May 4th event. I found rides to carpool to Salem. I had a great experience lobbying that day with face-to-face meetings with Representatives Travis Nelson and Emerson Levy, plus meetings with the staff of Representative Hoa Nguyen and my Senator Kayse Jama. Senator Jama and Representative Nelson agreed to become sponsors of the bill. Representative Levy and the staff of Representative Hoa Nguyen seemed open to support the bill if it came to a floor vote.
On March 26, 2025, as Chair of the Rules Committee, Senator Jama scheduled a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee for the bill, known as SJR 28, a legislative ballot referral for an amendment to the Oregon Constitution relating to a clean, safe and healthy environment.
So many people showed up to give oral testimony and show support for the bill that Senator Jama limited testimony for the bill at one minute. Normally, legislators give the public two minutes for public testimony. That’s what I prepared when I crafted and practiced my testimony the previous day. After Senator Jama made that announcement, I quickly had to cross out much of my testimony to keep it under a minute.
Here is what I composed for my SJR 28 oral testimony:
Chair Jama and members of the Committee. For the record, I am Brian Ettling. Let me tell you about the worst day of my life. In 2014, I was plaintiff in a lawsuit led by the Sierra Club in my hometown St. Louis, Missouri. We sued the local utility for the pollution of their coal plant that violated the Clean Air Act near my family’s home.
On January 8, 2016, I sat down with the Sierra Club lawyer representing me, a lawyer representing the utility, and a court reporter for my sworn deposition. This was the closest I was to testifying in a court case. All I can say was Wow! It was one of the most grueling experiences of my life to be cross examined for 2 and a half hours. I was a citizen plaintiff, but the defense lawyer grilled me hard on my knowledge of particulate pollution.
By the end of my cross examination, I was physically worn out and exhausted. It felt like I had been in a bar fight and got my butt kicked. This deposition was on a Friday, and I spent the whole weekend in bed to recoup my energy. The case was settled out of court in a way that was a partial victory for the plaintiffs. I am proud to be part of that lawsuit. However, citizens should not have to sue our government or others for a healthy environment and planet.
American photographer Ansel Adams said, “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”
This is why I am here today to support SJR 28-1: Right to a Healthy Environment. Oregonians’ lives and futures depend on a safe and healthy environment. This amendment puts this key value, that all Oregonians hold, into our state constitution. If passed by the voters, the State government will be required to do a better job to prevent environmental threats to the health and safety of Oregonians. Thank you for your time.
Here’s a video of my SJR 28 testimony:
On Saturday, April 29th, I participated in the 350PDX Lobby Day in Salem. Jeff Hammarlund was there as part of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) Lobby Day. EMO was advocating for OCERA’s SJR 28 as part of the bills they urged legislators to support on this lobby day. The day before, Jeff asked me if I could participate in the lobby meeting with Senator Kayse Jama since I was a constituent as they were trying to urge him to hold a vote in the Rules Committee to try to pass SJR 28 out of the committee.
I felt valuable that Jeff wanted me to be part of this meeting. On the other hand, the meeting was frustrating because Senator Jama acknowledged that he would not hold a work session vote in the rules committee for SJR 28. The head scratcher was he was a sponsor of the bill and strongly supported it. At this meeting, he shared these unexpected concerns that big business would do everything they could to try to stop the bill if it it went to the ballot. Plus, he felt uncertain if voters would pass it. The OCERA leaders felt betrayed and letdown by Senator Jama.
After the lobby meeting, I waited in the inner office to speak directly with Senator Jama. He was happy to see me, but he shared he was scared of big business if the OCERA SJR 28 passed the legislature and went on the ballot. I felt crushed by his candid admission to me. Jeff was in the outer office loudly announcing, “Where’s Brian? Where’s Brian? Our carpool is leaving now!”
I was too stunned to say anything much to Senator Jama. However, I wanted to say, ‘Why are you working in the Oregon Legislature when you are scared to pass tough bills? Climate change is not going away! If you are not going to lead, we need someone else in your position who will.’
I was too polite and Jeff was in too much of a rush for us to leave for me to say anything to try to motivate him. Even more, he is my senator. In the future, I needed him to vote on future climate bills. Thus, I did not want to strain my relationship with him. His response to SJR 28 left me feeling very dissatisfied and unmotivated about lobbying in Salem for climate bills. Senator Jama never held a work session in the Rules Committee. Everything I heard was that Senate President Rob Wagner did not trust that the OCERA amendment would pass a ballot initiative. Thus, he made it known that he was not allowing a Senate floor vote on SJR 28.
I will never give up organizing and lobbying for cilmate action. However, hearing Senator Jama say he’s scared of big business to then let SJR 28 die left me feeling demoralized lobbying for climate bills.
9. My Oral Testimony to OR Legislature Joint Transportation Committee on August 31st
On Sunday, August 31st, I woke up that morning to an email from Helena Birecki, the Chapter Chair of the local Climate Reality Portland OR Chapter. The email simply stated, “Transportation-interested folks. Please read and consider.” I considered myself a passionate advocate on public transportation, so this email caught my eye. Helena included an email from Cassie Wilson, Legislative Manager for 1000 Friends of Oregon. In her message, Cassie wrote,
“There is a public hearing tomorrow (Sunday, August 31 at 12pm) on the bill, HB 3991. We understand that it is Labor Day weekend and many folks are offline or otherwise occupied – but if you are able to join us and submit written testimony or sign up to testify virtually or in-person, your efforts would be greatly appreciated.”
I traveled to the State Capitol several times in the spring of 2025 to lobby legislators to support a legislative package that fully funded public transportation. The legislators and their staff I lobbied were receptive to fund public transit in the 2025 transportation package. However, the bill package failed to pass at the end of the session because it did not have enough Democratic support. I found it infuriating because the Democrats had a super majority (60%) of seats in both the House and Senate chambers. Yet, the bill died because they did not have enough votes to pass it before the legislative session ended on June 30, 2025.
All the other times I traveled to Salem during the legislative session the winter and spring in 2025, I carpooled with other climate advocates. The Interstate 5 route from Portland to Salem is a grind to drive with heavy traffic during weekday rush hour. The good news: it was Sunday of Labor Day weekend, so the traffic would be light. The bad news: it was too short of a notice to arrange for a ride to Salem, so I needed to drive myself and figure out where to park.
I arrived inside the Capitol Building after 11 am, with an hour to spare before the hearing was scheduled to start. A large crowded assembled outside the hearing room of primarily conservative citizens eager to testify against any tax increases. I made a beeline for the bathroom since I had last used it two hours before the drive to Salem, finding a free parking space, and walking 10 blocks to the Capitol Building.
While I washed my hands inside the men’s restroom, a friendly thirty something young man asked me if I was there to testify for the transportation package. I affirmed that that was why I was there. He was eager to tell me that his grandfather was once the Governor of Oregon. He then shared that he felt like this special hearing and session on Transportation was illegal and not the way that legislative business should be done in Oregon. He could not wait to voice this opinion to legislators during the hearing, especially if he had a chance to give oral testimony. In addition, he was against raising taxes to fund transportation in Oregon.
He thought I would agree with him, but he was curious what I would say in my oral testimony.
I responded, “I am very worried about climate change, so I am going to testify that I think public transportation should be fully funded.”
As soon as the words “climate change,” he replied, “Can I share with you my words that I like I assure folks that they don’t have to worry about climate change?”
I was in a sour mood driving down to Salem to give oral testimony in the middle of Labor Weekend when I would have rather been hiking with my wife. Thus, I retorted, “I am anxious to draft my testimony in the few minutes before this hearing. I am not interested in getting into a debate about climate change.”
He replied, “I am not interested in debating either. Can I just share my information with you?”
In exasperation, I sighed and said, “Sure.”
He proclaimed, “People worry about climate change, but I want to put you at ease that forest fire smoke and volcanoes emit a lot more carbon dioxide (CO2) than humans.”
I countered, “That is not true. That was debunked many years ago by scientists. In fact, humans are currently emitting 100 times more CO2 than volcanoes.”
He was flabbergasted, “Really? Do you mind if I look this up using AI (artificial intelligence) to determine which one of us is correct.”
I answered, “Yes. Go for it!”
He looked up the answer on his iPhone. AI showed I was basically correct that humans emit a lot more CO2 than volcanoes. He joyfully responded, “Thank you so much! I did not know that!”
He had a big smile and reached out to shake my hand. I gladly shook hands with him. I asked him what his name was. I might have even given him one of my business cards. I wished him the best of success at the hearing and then ended the conversation. I was singularly focused drafting my oral testimony before the hearing began.
While I composed my words for my oral testimony, the Capitol security opened the doors to allow the public into the hearing room. That same fellow walked up to various legislators at the dais before the hearing officially started to shake their hands and introduce himself. He loved interacting with people even if he gave off vibes of some social awkwardness.
I sat next to Indi Namkoong, Transportation Justice Coordinator for Verde and and a spokesperson for the Move Oregon Forward coalition. With her involvement with these organizations, Indi was one of the leading organizers pushing for the 2025 Oregon transportation package to be climate friendly. She gave me some suggestions what to share in oral testimony. I showed her my testimony script that I just typed up on the spot and she seemed pleased with it.
To my surprise, about 40 minutes into the hearing, House Speaker Julie Fahey called me to the front table to testify, along with Cassie Wilson from 1000 Friends of Oregon. Cassie spoke first. She gave compelling testimony how she relies upon public transportation as a disabled person to get to personal and work related events in Portland. I have known Cassie for years as a strong climate and transportation advocate. It was hard act to follow her impactful testimony. I admired her advocacy for years. Her testimony reminded me that we needed to meet for coffee, like we have wanted to do for years. We finally met for coffee two months later in October.
After Cassie, it was my turn to give oral testimony. As always, I was nervous speaking to legislators in this public setting. The hearing allowed the public to give two minutes of testimony. But, due to the fast manner I spoke since I was anxious and my written remarks were shorter than I realized, I spoke for a minute and ten seconds. The hearing went two hours longer, so the legislators and fellow attendees were probably grateful that my remarks were brief.
Here are my remarks for my Oral Testimony to the OR Joint Transportation Committee on August 31st:
Members of the Committee. My name is Brian Ettling. As I testified before to legislative committees, I was a seasonal park ranger for 25 years at Crater Lake National Park.
Sadly, I saw climate change while working there with the average annual snowpack diminishing and the summer fire season smoke getting worse. It was so bad at times, I saw visitors cancel their vacations because it was so harmful to breathe the smoke.
Thus, 8 years ago, I started organizing for climate action in Portland. I depend upon Trimet on nearly a daily basis to reduce my emissions. Plus, I hate driving and would much rather use public transportation.
I am very worried about the ODOT employees and Trimet that might lose their jobs if we don’t fully fund our transportation budget in the short or long term.
So I did the one thing I hate doing: I drove here today from Portland to testify.
Nearly every other time I came to Salem to testify and lobby, I rode with friends or I took the train or bus.
I made this effort to drive here today to tell you to please do not reduce transit funding or further weaken any climate protections with HB 3991-18.
Thank you for your time and public service.
Here’s the video of my HB 3991 testimony:
I gathered up my belongings and then left to head back to Portland after giving my oral testimony. Two days later, on September 2nd, the Oregon House passed this transportation package by nearly a party line vote of 36 to 12, with 12 Republican Representatives not in attendance. One Democrat, Rep. Annessa Hartman, voted against the bill. At the same time, one Republican, Rep. Cyrus Javadi, voted with the Democratic majority to pass the bill. Javadi’s vote was sorely needed because his vote provided minimum number of yes votes required for a three-fifths majority approval to increase state taxes.
The transportation package then stalled in the Oregon Senate until the end of September. The Senate Democrats lacked lack one vote to pass it. Senator Chris Gorsek experienced health complications after a back surgery he had during the summer. His health finally improved that he was able to join his colleagues on the Senate floor on September 29th to approve it by a an 18-11 party-line vote — the minimum threshold support to pass a tax increase.
The bill then went to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek for her signature to approve it. She waited until November 7th to sign it into law, but she did not announce she signed it until November 10th. Her delay in signing the bill looked like it was a strategic decision to provide opponents less time to gather the signatures needed to refer the tax increases to voters. As of December 2nd, the ballot petitioners, led by No Tax Oregon, announced they have now obtained more than 150,000 signatures, nearly double the 78,116 signatures needed by the December 30th deadline, to get the measure on the ballot.
The Oregon Secretary of State will have to verify the signatures. If they’re valid, then the portions of Oregon’s new transportation funding law raising state taxes wouldn’t take effect until after the November 2026 election, when voters would vote to approve or reject it. If the ballot signature initiative is approved by the Secretary of State, the new revenue from the 2025 transportation package would be paused. This could then cause the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to “face a significant funding gap, which could lead to cuts to operations and service levels across the transportation system,” said ODOT spokesperson Katherine Benenati.
As a climate organizer, this alarms me that Oregon could have suspension in public transportation programs as a result of the delay of implementing the 2025 transportation package with the anti-tax ballot referral. I use TriMet public transportation services in Portland several times a week. On November 30th, TriMet stated that it expects to cut service by 10% over the next two years. They plan on reducing frequency on five bus lines after 7 p.m. They intend to lessen frequency four additional bus lines in March 2026 and more cuts later in 2026.
Since I worry deeply about climate change emissions and reducing our dependence on vehicles run on fossil fuels, Oregon is heading in the wrong direction with cuts to public transportation.
Final Thoughts
For climate action, I gave oral testimony for 9 bills in 2025. It looks like all the bills I supported failed. I feel crushed and depressed about this. Looks like I won’t need to give oral testimony for legislative bills until the next session starts in February 2026. I definitely need a break before getting my spirits up to testify again.
I feel down about all the climate legislation I supported in the last year that failed but I am never giving up. I can’t give up. I can’t let the fossil fuel interests win. As I said for many years now:
I will lobby legislators, contact them, and give oral testimony when I am needed to do this to show support to pass these bills. As I wrote in my previous blog, I often think about the quote attributed to Henry David Thoreau, “What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
Attorney and Law Professor Joyce Vance recently wrote a book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy. I have been inspired by listening to her recent interview on the Democracy Docket podcast on December 1st, her conversation with Heather Cox Richardson on October 29th, and her discussion on the NPR Fresh Air program on November 25th. Joyce Vance is not giving up in her fight to save our democracy from tyranny.
I attended over 10 protests in 2025 to stand up for our democracy. I will never give up the struggle to maintain and improve our democracy. In fact, I live by the Al Gore quote that he has stated for decades and on April 21, 2025, “We have to deal with the democracy crisis in order to solve the climate crisis.”
I intend to fight or our democracy and to reduce the threat of climate change for the rest of my life. It is so damn hard when all the climate bills I testified to support in 2025 failed. I will continue, as rock musician Robbie Robertson sang with U2 in 1987, to “Speak the truth, I will testify.”
I hope you will join me.
Photo of Brian Ettling taken on November 15, 2023.
