My reaction: I found myself close to tears.

Why? I felt bullied by their shock and awe campaign. Angry because I couldn’t live up to their expectations. Trapped because by telling the truth they assumed things that weren’t true.They assumed. They failed to treat me as an individual. They hurt my pride at being ecologically sound.

3.8 planet earths to support my life? – My shields go on high. Why do I, bus riding, recycling savvy, energy saving, evergreen student that I am, use so much? – They give suggestions on what I can do – install solar panels on my roof, eat less meat, hang all my clothes out to dry. I want acknowledgment on how good I’m doing not improvements on what I could do better. Praise me!

Pride may come before the fall, but pride is also the greatest motivator not shame. Shame makes us give up. Make people proud of their actions. Then perhaps, but only then.

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One last little rant on a suggestion from the EPA calculator –

“Turn up your household’s air conditioner thermostat by  degrees Fahrenheit in summer.

ENERGY STAR recommends turning up your thermostat by 7 degrees Fahrenheit on summer days and 4 degrees on summer nights. Visit the ENERGY STAR Programmable Thermostats page to learn how to do this automatically.”

– Turning up? Is this a typo? What the hell?

• The mesa is directly East of Umatilla Rock, it offers an amazing view of the valley and Dry Falls Lake.
• The plateau landscape is very similar to the valley, except for the fact that most of the rocks and shrubs are a lot smaller.
• The plant life here is much more exposed to the elements.
• The lichen up here is very varied, ranging from caustic yellow, to pale green, to ash black.
• There is light brown soil underneath the layer of rocks.
• Covering some of the soil is a small moss like plant that has star shaped flowers.
• The iron in the basalt here is very oxidized, even when I broke open a rock I found pockets of red.
• The rocks along the edge of the cliff face are very unstable and make it an uneasy experience to sit near the edge.
• The epic beauty of this place is very visible here.