world

Tomorrow evening, many parts of the world will go dark in honor of Earth Hour 2012, a worldwide initiative led by the World Wildlife Fund to promote awareness of energy conservation and sustainability in general. Will your house be dark tomorrow at 8:30pm?

Well, they were right about the skyscrapers, but it's 2012 and we still don't have airplane landing fields on top of buildings or a separate road for slow drivers. Maybe by 2050?

"Future city streets, says Mr. Corbett, will be in four levels: The top level for pedestrians; the next lower level for slow motor traffic; the next for fast motor traffic, and the lowest for electric trains. Great blocks of terraced skyscrapers half a mile high will house offices, schools, homes, and playgrounds in successive levels, while the roofs will be aircraft landing-fields, according to the architect's plan."

Here's a breakthrough for you...a newly discovered fungus from the Amazon rainforest can eat plastic! These little guys not only love eating polyurethane, but they can also do it in anaerobic conditions (meaning they can survive in a landfill). It will be interesting to see how this affects our waste management system. Read the full story here.

Care for a picnic? This grass-topped dinner table designed by Haiko Cornelissen Architects lets you enjoy a picnic-style meal from the comfort of your dining room. No need to clean up when any crumbs or spills only enhance your dining surface!

Via Architizer.com.

This Freshome.com post features some interesting and unique business cards by architects, but these 3-D cards were our favorites! Especially the Legos...

This NYTimes graphic breaks down the cost comparison of fast food versus a home-cooked meal. It shows a meal for four bought at McDonald's costing $27.89, with a homemade meal for four costing $13.78, or $9.26 for a vegetarian meal. It's no new idea that homemade is better for you than fast food, but this shows that it can also be significantly cheaper.

Is anyone else appalled at how much that fast food meal costs these days?

The recent news that Minneapolis has the highest percentage of female cyclists per state (45%!) in the country is pretty great - but the average percentage of women riders nationwide is still pretty low - around 25%. This great article by Grist explores why that number is so low, and looks at fear, fashion, and the economy as possible reasons. It's a pretty good read, and not just for women. So take a look, and pass it on!

Remember the colorful house from Disney/Pixar's "Up"? Well, an exact replica has been built in Herriman, Utah! They got all the details just right, including the cute little front porch and the weathervane. How fun!

More info here, and more photos here.

The installation called WasteLandscape, by architect Clémence Eliard and artist Elise Morin, is a sea of 65,000 used CD's stitched together and draped over inflatable mounds in an old funeral home in Paris. Intended to raise consciousness of the wasteful life of CD's, the discs will be recycled at the end of the exhibit.

See more at Dezeen.

CreatureMag.com has published this adorable e-book: "Endangered Creatures Alphabet", an illustrated collection of 26 endangered species, each drawn by a different artist. Enjoy!