Mark's Blog

Insight from my thought process: I wanted to get published in the print edition because that is still THE public forum for a smallish, heterogenous community. Kauai is still rural and diverse enough that the internet is not where people connect, and even less on my blog. There are a few email newsletters with lots of local readers, but that's for taking action, mobilizing some helpers.

In my mind activism doesn't involve getting something published in the paper once and blogging, regardless of how long it stays indexed. I think being effective requires repeated exposure, being sincere and convincing, changing attitudes.

There are lots of readers out there who keep tabs on Kauai news (I often read online editions of foreign newspapers long after I return from visiting a country), but I don't want to organize a boycott or be accused of scaring people away from helicopters. Rather I'm hoping to raise the awareness of all the players (operators, visitors, residents) so that people can see the problems (safety, noise) and work together to solve them.

"You might say I'm a dreamer..." The rules of influence under capitalism seem to be to hit as hard as you can in the pocketbook and force change through economic pressures. I like to think there is a better way, plus I don't have the time to mount a full campaign.

The point of your second paragraph is a good one.

Yes, the change to make is definitely not to stop people from flying. It's to stop them from flying foolishly.

I'm just wondering about the means. Whether or not people still read printed news in Kauai, can you gradually build up enough hits that helitour Kauai would bring up at least one note of warning? Wouldn't it be great if mostly ignorant people (me, for instance) showed up for the helitour with enough background awareness of the potential dangers to encourage the pilot to act responsibly?