Category : Change The Culture

Introduction One small silver-lining from 2020 is the broad realization that a great deal of work  can now be done as well or even better without travel. Reducing unnecessary travel is the single most immediate and efficient way to mitigate climate change. Not only is it practically ‘free’, it actually saves time and money for

This post describes a proposal we have put forward to Washington State legislators Senator Karen Keiser (33rd) and Representative Jesse Johnson (30th). In one sentence, we want an annual report of all key aviation-related emissions for every neighborhood affected by the operations from Sea-Tac Airport. We refer to this proposal as Sea-Tac Airport Annual Air

A speech to the Des Moines/Normandy Park Rotary Club December 9, 2020 By JC Harris You know that old aphorism “Fish don’t know they’re wet.”? That’s kinda how it goes for airport communities. And especially Sea-Tac Airport. Background Before I moved here in ’94, I worked as a consulting engineer in Detroit for many years.

The (very) good news is that there is more than one zero-emission aviation technology coming. But at the risk of being Mr. Negative, at least for airport communities, electric airplanes are no panacea. And we say that not to inspire despair but to tell residents the realities, which are: Each of these alternatives comes with

In 1996, the PSRC required the Port of Seattle to provide sound insulation systems, known as Port Packages for all homes and apartments in a geographic area known as the DNL65. This requirement was in exchange for providing the Federal funding necessary to construct the Third Runway. The estimate was perhaps  15,000 new units–in addition to

For those of you who hate reading and just want to get to the point, click here. 😀 As we’ve written here many times, we’d like you to consider thinking differently about airport issues.  We’d like you to consider that the real challenges are not ‘noise’ or ‘pollution’ or ‘FAA law’ or ‘the environment’. What

Mr. Thompson is a member of the Normandy Park City Council and is well-known for his advocacy of HyperLoop technology. This letter was written in response to a conversation we had regarding Towards A New Normal. Hi Earnest, Just following up on our conversation. First, I look forward to seeing your information on HyperLoop. Second,

When I first spoke publicly on the problems of Sea-Tac Airport four years ago, I was not coy. I said, “Roll it back.” And by that I meant, reducing the number of daily operations back to 2012 levels. I was told that only an act of God could make such a thing possible. Who knew,

Perhaps the most common question we get these days is “Why do you keep going on about ‘Port Packages’? I don’t care about Port Packages. I care about all the damned planes! That is what we should be focused on!” This is a great question. It’s the only question, really because it gets to the

As one attempts to survey the landscape concerning the various negative impacts that the Sea-Tac Airport has foisted upon the surrounding communities, one quickly becomes aware of a black hole which I call ‘The Dark Time’–probably because I watched too many comic book movies with my kids. The Dark Time is the roughly decade-long period