Linda Anderman

Change Agent, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Parent, Producer, Project manager, Writer/Editor

For the past two and half years I've been in pre-production on a documentary on the history of the metric system in the United States called "More Than a Mile Behind: America and the Metric System." Even though we had the first decimalized currency in the world thanks to Thomas Jefferson (remember those dimes and pennies that make up our dollar?) we're still one of only three countries in the world that don't routinely use the metric system. The others? Myanmar and Liberia. We're doing ourselves a disservice in a number of ways but we have no idea since the topic of metric conversion was dropped in the United States more than 30 years ago. Points to consider: • It is estimated that our children are wasting more than 80 classes of work during their public-school time* by teaching them both U.S. customary and metric units at a time when our scores in math and science fall behind those of many other countries. • Not only are we wasting copious amounts of our childrens' time but they're not becoming grounded in the language of high-paying jobs in science, medicine and international trade: the metric system (SI). • Many medical organizations advocate for the metric system to reduce errors. These errors can be introduced any time there is a conversion from milliliters to teaspoons or tablespoons, when parents reach for eating utensils to dose medication, or when medical personnel (fluent in both languages) note numerical weight in pounds rather than kilograms in patient charts. Serious dosing problems arise from such errors.* • The metric system was designed to be easier to use for all sorts of applications. Want to convert kilograms to grams or milliliters to liters? Just move the decimal point. Try doing that with miles to feet or ounces to pounds. • Declutter your kitchen: the metric system uses a standard measuring cup for liquid measures and a scale for solid ingredients. Get rid of those pesky teaspoons, tablespoons, half cups, quarter cups and such and make life simpler. • We made it illegal to refuse to trade in the metric system in this country in 1866.* • Congress can make us a metric country whenever it wants since setting weights and measures is written into the Constitution. In fact, George Washington spoke of the need for uniform weights and measures in his first address as president.* • There are even environmentally friendly reasons to switch over but I can tell you about those in person. • As an added bonus, with all of the huge problems we have to confront as a nation this is a problem that, once it's fixed, it's fixed forever. No country that switched to the metric system has ever switched back to its previous measures. My logo for this project? A red, white and blue snail. Her name is Millicent Graham. For my day job, I'm a writer and project manager for a national laboratory. I'm also a former film major who used to make videos for General Motors. One of them won a national award. * Yes, I have information to back these assertions up.

Learning on almost any topic. My line is: I live to learn. I read to learn. I write to live.

Our lack of metric system adoption is holding our country back and we don't even realize it. - We're wasting our childrens' time in school teaching them two systems, one of which no one else uses. A huge STEM issue. - We're endangering our heath and that of our families in more ways than we know. Think about all the people who use eating utensils to dose medicines (teaspoons and tablespoons). For an ill infant that could be a serious over- or under-dose. - The metric system is much easier to use in the kitchen but we don't use scales in our kitchens so we have no idea. Strangely, we were the first country in the world with a decimal currency. It was Thomas Jefferson who gave us our pennies and dimes. It's now been more than 30 years since we last seriously considered metric adoption in this country. The world has changed a lot since then. We need to revisit this situation and figure out if we want to stay on our current path.

Communications and project management

Don't remember when I first heard about TED talks but I know I'd watched quite a few of them on Netflix. Then, last year, I was asked by my employer (Los Alamos National Laboratory) to organize a TEDx talk. The event was considered a success. Needless to say, I learned more about TED and what it does than I thought possible. We'll hold another event this year with an emphasis on helping our early-career scientists strengthen their communications.

Accents. I used to be able to do quite a few. Probably a bit rusty now.