Michael, sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your latest, but not very recent, post on the personal watercraft issue. Were you saying there are no deaths? Aside from thousands of injuries, there were eighty-three deaths last year, up from twenty a decade ago:
msnbc.com
I think the reason you may have been confused by me is that while deaths were discussed in that whole list of articles I cited at one time, the medical journal was really dealing more with injuries. But there are plenty of both, really!
Now eighty-three deaths may not seem like a lot to you, but they are totally preventable deaths. Jet skiing is not a necessary activity, and there are lots of safety features which could be added but which have not been, because of the profit motive. Better training at driving them would also help a lot. I'm sure you are aware that, unlike cars, you should not take your foot off the accelerator when you encounter a problem, because then there is no way to conrol the vehicle. This seems to be the major misunderstanding in driving them.
What does any of this have to do with Greenpeace, incidentally? Most of the organizations involved with regulation of jet skis are environmental organizations concerned with water quality and animal welfare, but I have not seen a Greenpeace campaign on this issue in particular. Why do you always focus on Greenpeace as the bad guys, on issues they are not involved in, or involved in only peripherally?
I think I have a right to enjoy beautiful natural places in just about the same way they have always been enjoyed. I don't mind seagulls making a lot of noise, but jet ski engines are something that has been added very recently, and definitely not part of a natural environment. When I bay to the moon in the backyard I am always very considerate of the neighbors, incidentally. And the lesbian witches next door burn sage and bang drums on their patio when the moon is full, so I don't think I am distubing them. Surprisingly, my husband thinks they are pretty sexy when they sunbathe in just their skimpy bikini bottoms, even though he understands intellectually that they are not very interested in him.
Usually you argue on behalf of the freedoms of property owners, a typically libertarian position. On this issue you have taken a populist position, seemingly resentful of people who are wealthy enough to own waterfront property in the San Juan Islands. I resent them too, but only because their timing of the Washington real estate market was more clever than my own.
I did read your post about how jet skis can save lives. Definitely, I think they should be used by public safety agencies, just as helicopters are in pristine natural areas. That does not mean that the general public should be buzzing all the beautiful beaches in the world, however. |
