Reduce CO₂: Increase U-238
JAPAN - The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has declared that energy-efficient technologies would allow Japan's industries to cut carbon dioxide emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2010. But Japan Times reports that MITI's prediction is "based on the assumption Japan would double nuclear energy production." This is impossible, reports Japan's Ohdake Foundation, since "owing to events such as the sodium leak and fire at [the] Monju fast-breeder reactor and the explosion at the Tokai reprocessing plant, nuclear power in Japan has come to a dead end."

Glowing Smiles on British Kids
UK - Government researchers have found plutonium embedded in the teeth of British children and have linked the plutonium to Sellafield reprocessing plant on the Irish Sea. The concentrations of dental plutonium were found to increase with the proximity of the children's homes to the reprocessing plant. Environmentalists have spent years calling for Sellafield's shutdown because of the plant's release of radioactive wastes into the sea.

Island on the Sun
GREECE - The Greek government has begun work on the world's largest solar power station. Now under construction on the island of Crete, the £80 million ($134 million) project is expected to begin producing photovoltaic power by 1999 and is expected to provide energy to 100,000 people - 12.5 percent of Crete's entire population.

DuPont's Cure: Worse Than the Disease
JAPAN - After ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases were banned worldwide, DuPont stepped in with a series of replacement chemicals, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Each year, Japan produces more than 80,000 tons of HCFC 22 for use as a foaming agent and a refrigerant. Producing this amount of HCFC 22, however, also generates 1,500 tons of HCFC 23 - whose global-warming impact is 11,700 times greater than that of CO₂. The HCFC 23 released into the air today will still be active 264 years from now.

Global Warming Hits Turtles
MEXICO - Hurricane Pauline, which barreled into Acapulco fueled by the warm waters of El Niño, not only damaged one of Mexico's best-known tourist retreats, but it also left a rare turtle-nesting beach in shambles. According to EII's Sea Turtle Restoration Project, the massive storm also destroyed a sea turtle museum built to encourage local villagers to protect the turtles that they previously killed for meat and shells.

No Burgers for Bosnia
BOSNIA - After a year of intense lobbying, the Bosnian government refused McDonald's bid to set up fast-food outlets in the country. Bosnians feared that the multinational burger-pusher would threaten the survival of locally owned food stores selling traditional snacks like burek and cevapcici. Another sticking point: Bosnia wanted McD's to buy local produce, while the multinational insisted on importing most of its ingredients. Bosnia remains the only MickyD-free country in Eastern Europe.

Flower Power
US - Scientists have found a cheap, low-tech solution to cleaning up old munitions sites. University of Maryland investigators report that sugar beets and pondweed love to munch on nitroglycerin wastes in explosives-laden soils. Likewise, researchers at Rice University in Texas report that periwinkle and parrot-feather plants have a sweet tooth for TNT. "The existing practice of dumping munitions waste at sea is being phased out," New Scientist reports, so the news that plants can root out explosives comes just in time. More good news: Researchers noted with relief that "burning the plants did not produce an explosion."

Guilt Makes Clean Bus Go Bust
JAPAN - When Tokyo's fare-free, energy-saving "Thanks Nature Bus" began putting through the streets of the Jiyugaoka district last April, the shuttle's backers - a group of 24 upscale, downtown businesses - thought shoppers would flock on board. Instead the bus (which runs on waste vegetable oil from local fast-food shops) flopped. The bus' business backers did a survey to determine what went wrong. As Tokyo's Asahi Evening News explained, shoppers avoided the bus "because they feel obliged to buy from the stores involved in its funding."

Cellphones and Crazed Wheelchairs
JAPAN - Wheelchair manufacturer Suzuki Motor Corp. has warned its customers that passersby using cellphones and walkie-talkies can cause electric wheelchairs to suddenly stop, or wheel out of control. With 120,000 disabled and elderly citizens at risk, Suzuki officials caution customers to turn off the power on their wheelchairs before activating their own cellphones.

Birth Control by Stealth
BRAZIL - Last summer, a surge in the number of Cesarean births triggered a government crackdown in Brazil. But there was more to the story. It turns out that the government was more concerned about mollifying the Vatican than protecting the health of Brazil's women. According to BBC World News, Catholic women have been requesting Cesarean sections to provide a convenient opportunity to quietly schedule an even more controversial operation - surgical sterilizations. The promise of a government crackdown on C-sections came during a visit to the country by Pope John Paul.

Put a Pink Bunny in your Tank
US - Last October, the media trumpeted RAF Captain Andy Green's successful piloting of the Thrust, a 10-ton, jet-powered car, to a new land-speed record - 763 mph. The media missed another story: On October 16, the Rannberg Team Racing (RTR) sent a car streaking over Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats at 216.9 mph. RTR's racer didn't break the sound barrier, but it did surpass the world speed record for an electric-powered vehicle. While the Thrust was powered by two Rolls Royce jet engines, RTR's racer was propelled by NiCAD batteries (the same technology that powers flashlights and portable radios) - 6,000 of them!