Electrifying Performance
US - The 75th Pike's Peak auto race featured a standout performance by a stock Chevy S10 converted to run on NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydrate) batteries. The fastest time over the 12-mile, 6,000-foot-high course was claimed by a Toyota Turbo Celica, which swept to the peak in a little over 10 hours. The Chevy pickup scurried to the top in a bit more than 15.5 hours - a course record for an electric car.

Like a BAT Outta Heck
US - Last fall, a BAT Black Mountain Electro bike set a world distance record at the Olympic Velodrome in Carson, California, traveling 448 miles on a single charge. Joseph LaStella, president of BAT International, said this proved that "electric bicycles and scooters offer a low-cost, pollution-free alternative to the two-cycle motor scooters" that foul the air in many Third World cities. "The [gasoline-consumption] energy equivalent of this electric bicycle ... is over 50,000 mpg," LaStella observed.

Could be a Brew-Ha-Ha
THE NETHERLANDS - Designer Foods International is out with a new drink - Hemp Soda. A blend of grape juice, citric and carbonic acids, vitamins and hemp extract, Hemp Soda tastes "like Sprite with a woodsy finish," reports Hemp World magazine [PO Box 315, Sebastopol, CA 95473, (707) 887-7508]. And for those romantic picnics by the beach there's Cannabia beer, featuring hops, barley and hemp-flower extract. According to Hemp World, Cannabia's German brewmeisters are looking for an "adventurous brewing partner" in the states. Any tokers ... , um, that is, takers?

New Roof Makes Light Work
US - If El Niño's winter storms blew the roof off your house, it might be a good time to consider a better roof. Suntek [6817A Academy Parkway East, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (505) 345-4115] claims that installing its rooftop Weather Panels on every roof would "supply two-thirds of the world's space-heat and half its illumination, thus cutting world energy consumption by one-sixth." The panels work by capturing weak winter light ("cloudlight") to provide light and "up to 100 percent solar heating in winters as cold and cloudy as [those in] Boston, Tokyo, Paris and London." The panel's transparent insulation admits light during the day but traps heat during the night. Suntek's Cloud Gel optical shutter automatically starts reflecting sunlight when the rooms below become too warm or too bright.

The Path of the Panther
NICARAGUA - On August 25, 1997, Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Aleman christened stage-one of the $30.5-million Atlantic Biological Corridor Project, which is designed to protect a stretch of Atlantic Coast forest that is home to many rare plants and animals. The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, also known as the Paseo Pantera ("Path of the Panther"), extends from Mexico to Colombia. Funding comes from the World Bank's Global Environment Facility.

World Food Prize to "Good Bug" Guys
US - On October 14, the World Food Prize honored two retired university professors, Fred Ray Smith from the University of California at Berkeley and Perry L. Adkinson of Texas A&M University. Smith and Adkinson have been called the "pied pipers of Integrated Pest Management (IPM)" for their tireless advocacy of chemical-free pest control. Using "good bugs" to fight "bad bugs" was a radical concept 50 years ago. "The people against us were the pesticide salesmen and manufacturers," Smith recalls. Today, IPM is used around the world. In the US, IPM is credited with cutting pesticide use on all crops by half and reducing chemical spraying of cotton by 80 percent.

Half the Planet Now "Nuclear Free"
US - While the US and other nuclear nations of the North continue to stockpile hoards of atomic weapons, the countries of the South have signed a series of five treaties that have banned nuclear weapons below the equator. The Antarctic Treaty (1961), the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean ("Tlateloco Treaty," 1968), the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty ("Rarotonga Treaty," 1986), the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty ("Pelindaba Treaty," 1996) and the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Free-Zone Treaty (1997), ban nuclear weapons from more than 110 southern nations. [For more information, contact the Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security, 3780 Lake Road, Denman Island, BC, Canada V0R 1T0.]

Organics Win in "Truth-in-Labeling" Suit
US - When the State of Illinois ruled that organic dairy farmers could not label their products "rbGH-free" (i.e., free of Genetically Engineered Bovine Growth Hormone), agrochemical interests and the Monsanto chemical company were delighted. But ice-cream makers Ben & Jerry's and the Stonyfield Farm yogurt company sued. Last August, after a two-year battle, the two companies won the right to tell customers that their goods did not contain genetically engineered products. Stonyfield Farm [Ten Burton Dr., Londonderry, NH 03053, (603) 437-4040] President Gary Hirshberg called the win "a great step forward for freedom of speech, consumer rights and the survival of family farms."

Bikeways for the Millennium
UK - While the US plans to celebrate the year 2000 by filling the air with acrid smoke from hundreds of fireworks extravaganzas, British transport activists have a better idea. The National Cycle Network and Sustrans [35 King St., Bristol, UK BS1 4DZ] have proposed building a 6,500-mile network of bikepaths, "the most extensive nationwide construction project for the millennium." Sustrans estimates that transforming old rail lines, canal towpaths, riversides and derelict land into bikepaths could put "20 million people within 10 minutes' cycle ride of their nearest route." Sustrans has called for public support in its bid for a £42 million ($70 million) grant from a special lottery fund established by the UK's Millennium Commission.

A Less Repellent Repellent
US - The popular insecticide, DEET (N.N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), is suspected of contributing to illnesses suffered by veterans of the Gulf War. DEET can damage plastics, cameras and clothing, and the EPA warns against using DEET on children, since the chemical is quickly absorbed through the skin. A new DEET-free mosquito repellent is now available. Bite Blocker™ [Consep, Inc., 213 SW Columbia St., Bend, OR 97702-1013, (519) 754-1807] contains only natural plant oils and is effective for up to 8 hours.

Write Locally, Respond Globally
US - Global Response [PO Box 7490, Boulder, CO 80306-7490, (303) 444-0306] mobilizes pen-wielding activists to target specific world leaders for written appeals on behalf of environmental and human rights causes. Now Global Response has two new wings: Eco-Club Actions, for highschoolers, and Young Environmentalists' Actions, for kids from kindergarten through eighth grade. For more information, check out their website: www.globalresponse.org.

The Solution is Simplicity Itself
US - "Does buying more give our children less?" Seeds of Simplicity [PO Box 9955, Glendale, CA 91226, (818) 247-4332] believes the answer is yes. "Voluntary simplicity" offers the chance to get children and their families "off the vast consumer treadmill." Seeds of Simplicity, a project of Cornell University's Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy, offers educational materials for parents and curriculum guides for kids.

Clean Your Clothes: Have a Ball
JAPAN - Each week, 56 million gallons of detergent-soaked water flow into US waterways, causing algae blooms and fish kills. So how do you clean clothes without killing the fish? A few years ago, Japanese scientists came to the rescue with ceramic "laundry disks" that cleaned clothes without chemical detergents. Inventor Kiyonori Shinno recently introduced an improvement to the laundry disk - the "miracle laundry ball." When the ball is dropped into a washer, agitation and heat cause ceramic pellets in the ball to produce hydrogen ions that disinfect clothing and help water molecules penetrate to remove dirt. Laundry balls are said to be good for 5,000 washes.

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E-mail Sharon Skolnick at <sskolnick@earthisland.org>.