Request for help - can variable values be passed to an Activity ?

[Mikus Grinbergs]

I've modified some system files in /etc to define some global 
environmental variables ( export WHAT=foo ).  Those variables are 
available within the environment passed to a Terminal session (or 
when logged on at the text console) -- the command 'echo $WHAT 
$LANG' will emit "foo en_US.UTF-8".  But those same variables are 
undefined within the environment passed to an Activity launched by 
Sugar -- the command 'echo $WHAT $LANG' will emit "blank en_US.UTF-8".

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Low-level_Activity_API does not appear to 
go into how come some "global" environmental variables aren't passed 
when an Activity is launched by Sugar.

Please - is there a way to ensure that that a particular global 
variable __does__ get passed to an Activity ?

Thanks,  mikus