A week or so ago, I mentioned on my main blog that my sister was an eco chick - in fact, she’s going “green” for Christmas by only sending out recycled cards, which are harder to find than you might think. She’s into recycling and she takes canvas bags to the grocery store, and she’s also always blogging about other ideas on how to conserve energy and resources.
For once, I get to show HER something about going green that I found, and it’s an online carbon and green lifestyle calculator that gives you a GreenIQ- How Green Are You? I took the short test and answered questions about my driving habits, how much gas I bought, and what kind of other traveling I did. (I’m sure it helps me that I only drive to the office once or twice a week, so even though I have an SUV, it’s not used much. Aside from the drive to work, I only drive too and from school for the kids, and that’s 2 miles way.)
I also answered questions about my utility bill, and that’s another area we’re probably conserving some energy in. When we built our home in 2006, we added some extra measures to insure that our home would be well insulated and protected from the sun’s heat, and our electricity bills have reflected that. After that, it was on to questions about using organic and eco-friendly products, and we’re definitely deficient on that!
The end result was a GreenIQ of 27 - which isn’t terribly good, but it’s not terribly bad either:
You are aware of the environment and how your lifestyle affects it. If you don’t, you sure hide it well, as you are naturally making decisions and choices that promote the longevity of this planet. But there is still a lot more that you can do, and we think you know that. Our product suggestions and tips can help increase your GreenIQ and reduce your carbon and environmental footprint.
We’ve got some work to do in this house. What’s your GreenIQ?
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:13 am
Mine was 62 !
December 27th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I scored pretty well, although there were a few things that make me question my score a little bit. For example, there’s a question about whether I’ve shopped at the Farmer’s Market this month, but, unfortunately, they’re all closed for the winter… On that note, I’m guessing GoreTex isn’t the best stuff for the planet, but I’m not exactly sure how it compares to other materials - which tells me I have some homework to do. I’m a photographer, and hike a lot, in the rain - that’s what it does in Seattle - so I have a good deal of GoreTex outer-ware… Still, I got an 86; the test tells me I’m about as good as can be.
One thing that’s notably absent from the quiz is the diet. There are questions about eating locally grown and organic food … nothing to do with whether or not a person eats meat. Becoming a vegetarian has about the same carbon impact as switching from an SUV to a hybrid! I should get extra credit for that, no…?
My one guilty pleasure, though, is going out on road trips. For the holidays I drove 400 miles through paradise, almost pristine wilderness. Fortunately that’s only a tank of gas, but it’s still a tank more than was strictly necessary. On other other hand, I like to pretend the photos I bring back help convince other people that it’s important to think about preservation…