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what it's like TO CHASE STORMS
The sky is dark, and the air is filled with the sound of wind and rain buffeting your vehicle. The radio squawks with severe weather warnings, advising everyone to seek shelter. But that's not for you. Instead you scan the skies, hoping to see that trademark funnel cloud amidst the crashes of lightning and peals of thunder.
March marks the start of tornado season in Kansas.
Josh Berg, Chicago senior; looks forward to storm chasing season so he can practice his favorite hobby. Berg started storm chasing last year with his roommates and says he was immediately hooked.
They tracked a storm outside Colony, Kan., where they encountered a tornado. Berg says the funnel lifted up, passed over them and came down on the nearby town."I was just sitting there, half-excited, half-scared, thinking ,'What's going to happen?'" he says."It was one of the happiest moments of my storm chasing career." Berg says the group tried to follow the tornado, but had to let it go because the roads were icy.
questions
Berg says there is a lot to know about storm chasing, and if you don't know what's going on, it can be a scary and dangerous experience. He says that he was scared the first couple of times, but got over it. Now he says that no other experience compares to the thrill of storm chasing.
- Chris Bell
Simran Sethi Environmental journalist and visiting professor at KU
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TV STATION?
The Sundance Channel because they do great environmental pieces. And a disliciament—I'm a host for the channel.
MacKenzie Hegedusich Olathe junior
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR HOBBIES?
I'm a big nerd because I love Cartoon Network, Comedy Central and the Discovery Channel.
I love to go running, read and post blogs on my class Web site, www.mediaenvironment.wordpress.com. It's for my Media arid the Environment class, but anyone can post.
I like to draw and paint. I also do a little parkour, which is running and vaulting over walls and rollings that is popular overseas.
That I'm not Irish and I don't have to celebrate it.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING
ABOUT ST. PATRICK'S DAY?
Green. It's my favorite color.
WHO IS YOUR HERO?
On a local level, Sarah Hill-Nelson of Bowersock Mills and Power Company who manages the low-impact Bowersock Dam here in town and is committed to renewable energy sources for Kansas. She inspires me because she really balances out the fact that we need jobs, we need to save money and we need to save the planet.
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR LIFE GREEN? I try to keep my life green in everything I do in my work and relationships. I may not do everything right, but my goal is to encourage others and, with that, change will happen.
I don't really have one, but anyone who fights for justice and the rights of others I would consider my hero, such as Nelson Mandela and Gandhi.
- Gina Souders
Occasionally I recycle, take public transportation, ride my bike when the weather is warm and use compact fluorescent lights at home.
04 03.13.2008 VOL.5 ISS.24 interesting fact: Oscar the Grouch was yellow in the first episode of Sesame Street www.associatedcontent.com Contact the writer: cbell@kansan.com