Articles by Katharine Wroth

Babes in EV-land

Last night on NPR (she sayeth, firmly establishing her nerd credentials), I heard a story about protests intended to save GM's electric car, the EV-1. About 80 of the cars have been sitting on GM's lot, destined for the scrap heap. The highlight of the civil unrest yesterday seems to have been the arrest of "Baywatch" actress Alexandra Paul, who intoned in that screechy celebrity way, "This is about clean air."

Apparently these protests have been going on for a couple of months. But the GM flak made a reasonable-sounding claim: there wasn't all that much demand for EVs, and the industry is putting its energy into more promising technologies like hydrogen.

I'm all in favor of clean cars. But without knowing all the intricacies of EV history, I'm wondering if GM might have a point. Sometimes prototypes just suck.

Nothing but flowers

Behold, I bring you sunny tidings: Thanks to all the freakish weather in California this winter, Death Valley is now a riot of color. Giddy botanists and park rangers -- relishing the sight of the 156-mile long stretch of desert bursting with wildflower blooms -- say it's a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Of course, the overdose of rain has had nastier effects on the state's other crops, including almonds and strawberries. Then there's the sad fate of mudslide victims, and the millions of dollars in damages to houses and roads.

But flowers. Are pretty. And we'll take what we can get.

Love is one word for it

While waiting in line at the P.O. yesterday, I found myself gazing at an ad that I've come to hate. Have you seen it? It's for eBay, and shows the inside of a cardboard carton with a few spare Styrofoam peanuts rattling around. The text reads something like "Eight gallons of packing material around a pair of shoes is a kind of love."

Actually, eight gallons of packing material around a pair of shoes -- shoes! -- is ridiculous, and wasteful, and stoopid. I'm writing a letter.

The coast is unclear

Last week, an AP story reported that half the people in the U.S. live along the coast, even though that's just 17 percent of the country's land area. So what, you say? So, in light of concerns about increasingly severe coastal weather due to you-know-what (starts with a G, rhymes with noble forming), all that crowding makes evacuations a lot more complicated. One solution suggested by weather gods NOAA: vertical evacuations. That's right, shove everyone into a highrise and tell 'em to climb. (Hey, look how MSNBC calls the agency "Noah"! That's so cute.)

This week, as officials continued to gear up for the unknown, NOAA commended Lincoln City, Ore., for being the nation's first "TsunamiReady" community and listed 15 others in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington that have also qualified -- by establishing emergency operations centers, figuring out how to warn people, and mapping out hazard plans.

Far be it from me to panic. But the Farm Belt is looking mighty appealing. (I know, I know, tornados. That'll be my next post.)