Headliners: Adventure in 60 Seconds

A roundup of the latest adventure news, by Mindy Zacharjasz

Think rush hour for adventurers: Some 500 extreme sports addicts ran, climbed, kayaked and biked the Scottish capital this weekend for the 5th annual Edinburgh Rat Race to raise money for charity and master the ultimate urban adventure. The prize?  Some impressive swag and a really big party.

One New Zealand climber survived a 300-foot fall on Arthur’s Pass National Park’s Mount Philistine last week. Rescuers say his climbing partner’s speedy descent of the mountain to get help may have saved the young climber’s life.  Italian mountaineer Karl Unterkircher was not as lucky on Pakistan’s Nanga Parbat. The 38-year-old extreme alpinist and mountain guide died in a crevice fall while opening a new route on the Rakhiot face.

Al Gore challenged the country to produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable, clean and carbon free energy by 2018.  Key to success: Lots of cooperation, an emphasis on solar, wind, and geothermal energy, and a CO2 tax. ("We should tax what we burn, not what we earn.")  Some cities are growing greener, but gas is still raking in the problems: California, for example, uses more gas than any country in with world (beside the United States). Perhaps we should take a cue from the England, where the Ze-0, a fully electric five-seat family car, debuts this week.

This weekend New Yorkers caught up on our other national obsession – obesity – with mandatory calorie counts now on menus. But maybe soon we can fight obesity and global warming at the same time: A carbon neutral gym on the water powered by human sweat and pumping iron could be on the way.