Noise Boundary Maps 2013, 2018, 2021

If you live in the area, you may hear about ‘Noise Boundary Maps’. These are maps with a boundary drawn showing the furthest extent of the DNL65. Your residence must be within this boundary in order to be eligible for ‘The Port Package’, ie. insulation and triple-pane windows. (However, there are other criteria discussed in

Port Commission Letter: Flights Too Low and Too Loud

A letter to all Port Commisioners, dated 07/24/2018 following the Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioners, Today, a resident of Federal Way presented you with data about flights arriving too low from a popular web site AirNoise.io. As you were told, residents use the site all the time now to make complaints. You responded with interest–which is

Stop asking for another airport!

A pet peeve of mine. This is something I often see when protesters get in front of some politician for one of these three minute Public Comments. The person comes in with a seriously researched argument. They’re really making a great point. And then they reach the end and their big finish is: “And in

FAA Seat Suit Lacked Sincerity

There has been all sorts of talk about the failure of this law suit to demand a higher minimum legroom standard from the FAA on commercial passenger flights. But it was doomed to fail with an agency like the FAA. And why it failed is important to understand if we are to improve the situation

PM 2.5s In Ulan Bator

For the past six months there have been a ton of stories in all the big papers and magazines as well as NPR and PBS about Mongolia–Ulan Bator to be precise. Depending on who you ask, the capital of Mongolia is now the most polluted big city in the world. And why that matters to

Strategy #1: Honest Reporting

Last time, I said that I would finally get down to some strategic strategery. Despite the appearance of endless bloviation, I’ve really tried to give a whole bunch of tactical advice, ie. learning the history, who are your real friends in all this (virtually no one) and so forth. I’m going to give you a

#10 The Matrix

Last time we talked about having a real strategy and being intentional in everything you do. This time, I want to mention sort of the elephant in the room when people wonder whether or not we can succeed. Namely, that we’ve been here before–more than once. What a lot of people don’t seem to realize

#9 Be Intentional

Last time we talked about a Food Pyramid of different protest activities. I said that that some tactics yield more bang for the buck than others. I said that you need to have a game plan that is intentional so you use the little time you have most effectively. And I said that the most

# 8. Triage

So far it’s been almost all about doom and gloom. It’s not hopeless, I assure you–although time is running out. But before we can get to talk about what to do, we need to discuss ‘triage’–basically how to maximize the impact of your work. After all, most of us only have a little bit of