Only those three last bastions of freedom and the right to choose, the United States, Liberia, and Burma, still do not use the Metric System. Until now, one could justify this on the basis that the Imperial American system was human scaled, based on our body's dimensions and things we naturally understood. (Like 0 is really cold and 100 is really hot, who cares about water boiling and freezing?) Randall Munroe to the rescue, with his guide to getting a feel for metric, full of universal cultural touchstones that everyone can relate to, like the volume of Summer Glau or the length of a Lightsaber. This should be on the wall of every classroom in America. ...

click here to go to video. Image BBC TreeHugger has referred to Archigram, the group of British Architects and students out of the AA (Architectural Association School) that came up with plug-in cities, walking cities, blow-up cities and other ideas that are all the rage again. Now the BBC has picked up on it, with a recent interview of Peter Cook, one of the key players in Archigram and not a comedic partner of Dudley Moore. ...

Pardon the audio quality in portions of this, but check out some eyewitness accounts of the aftermath of the TVA coal ash spill: Basically a slow response on the part of TVA (clip above) and the type of damage which has happened (see clip below). Clips were recorded by United Mountain Defense. ...

This week we ring in 2009 with the first Carnival of the year! Carnival of the Green #161 is being hosted by Tao of Change, a blog that shares a boots-on-the-ground view of the way things are changing in our communities and in the world. So head on over to this week's Carnival to find a round up of green news and events from the past week, submitted by other bloggers and green sites. To learn more about Carnival of the Green, where it will be and how to host, please click here to link...

Nasa scientists have told government’s that a simple cut in worldwide emissions of soot could lead to a dramatic reduction in the effects of global warming, as well as preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths from air pollution.

Soot contains black carbon, thought to be the second largest cause of global warming after carbon dioxide. Whilst airborne, it it spread around the globe by wind, heating the atmosphere by absorbing and releasing warmth from the sun’s rays. When it falls to the surface it also darkens snow and ice in polar regions or high mountain ranges, further reducing the Earth’s ability to reflect solar radiation.

Cutting soot emissions has a virtually instantaneous effect since it disappears rapidly from the earth’s atmosphere, unlike CO2, which can linger for hundreds of years.

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The Grand Daddy Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa just added a rooftop trailer park, with each classic Airstream customized by local artists. PSFK writes that "Each of the polished chrome trailers sleep two people, and are embellished with design themes that include, among others, polka dots and The Three Bears. The customisation is worked in throughout all the facilities (including bathrooms) required for the hotel to earn a 4 Star hotel rating."...

Image credit: Autoblog Green Upgrade Makes EV Viable for 95% of All Journeys So a DIY car powered on walnut shells is not your thing - what about an electric car? While UK electric vehicle retailer NICE may have been hit by the financial crisis, and while the Norwegian electric car manufacturer THINK! ...