Articles by Katharine Wroth

From Frolicking to Fishing

Goodbye, gruel world A visionary pack of vegans plans to buy an island paradise where they can escape this mixed-up world. Among their requirements: low taxes, no zoning restrictions, and plenty of freedom to ask fellow beachgoers, “Is that a cucumber in your Speedo?” Stand up and be discounted From the world of weird protests: […]

In a crisis, sleeves make the man

Big story on CNN.com today about the "flippant" emails of former FEMA chief Mike Brown during Katrina. Some of it is disturbing, some dull, some just silly.

Among the stories of bureaucratic sluggishness is this gem: "A few days later, [Brown's press secretary] Worthy advised Brown: 'Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working.'"

Heard the one about the eco-mag looking for jokes?

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you for green knock-knock jokes. We got some creative replies, but we know there are more yuks to be had!

So we proudly present the new, improved Great Green Grist Joke-Off. Anything's fair game now: guys walking into bars (ouch), priests changing light bulbs, organic chickens crossing the road. Or link to stuff you've seen: cartoons, gut-busting clips from the Daily Show, ridiculous headlines from your local paper. You name it, we'll guffaw at it. Or at least cluck our tongues softly and shake our heads in wonder.

So go on ... show us the funny! Because if we can't laugh, we'll cry. And nobody wants to see that again.

Tectonics puts things in perspective

One of the reasons it's hard to get people to worry about climate change is that it's often considered a long-term problem. Hell, even I have trouble getting worked up about it some days, and I'm paid to do so.

So I was intrigued by this note from a scientist I'd contacted for a story: "Whereas your group is focusing on short-term trends such as climate change and global warming, we are investigating the long-term effects of plate tectonics ... Whereas climate change happens on a time scale of a few hundred years, the formation and breakup of continents takes millions of years."

See, it's all in how you look at it.