Articles by Katharine Wroth

British Airways eases passengers’ minds

If you're flying British Airways anytime soon (say, to see the London Design Show), check out this news: the airline is now charging an optional fee for passengers to offset the impacts of travel. The surcharges (the amount varies depending on the trip's length) will be donated to Climate Care, an Oxford-based company that cancels out carbon with partners ranging from a bank to a yoga center.

Is British Air's move a step in the right direction or, as one critic put it, a way to "make passengers feel less guilty about their unsustainable lifestyles"? Would you pay more for a plane ticket if the money "cancelled out" your carbon? Should more airlines get on board?

From Teri to the Thames

Katrina’s ka-ching No national environmental crisis would be complete without celebs cashing in. We bring you Teri Hatcher, who’s unveiled a line of ugly (oops! did we type that out loud?) T-shirts to support hurricane relief. Meanwhile, Michael Moore may be considering a Katrina disast-umentary. That’ll show the penguins who’s boss. My cup runneth over […]

Uh …

[Former FEMA Director Mike] Brown told the Times that he had such difficulty dealing with [Louisiana Governor Kathleen] Blanco that he communicated with her husband instead.

Are smoking bans fair?

Well, I'd subject you to more TV updates, but I actually went out last night and had a life. Which involved being in a smoke-filled bar for several hours. Which got me to thinking ... yuck.

Seattle's one of the country's healthiest cities, yet it's only just now getting around to considering a smoking-ban referendum. If the effort passes, Seattle will join the growing list of cities (Boston, Minneapolis), states (California, Delaware), and even countries (Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden) that have put butts under wraps.

This public-health progress has come despite agitated protests on business, political, and personal grounds. I have to admit, I didn't have strong feelings about such bans until I lived (pre-Seattle) in a city that instituted one. And then I realized: breathing? It's a good thing.