Friday, May 16, 2008

How Green Are You?


I just discovered a cool new tool developed by NatGeo and the research firm GlobeScan called Greendex, which allows you to calculate your level of green-ness. A bit scary, yes? We all talk about going green but how many of us are actually walking the walk? They conducted a study "measuring and monitoring consumer progress toward environmentally sustainable consumption" in 14 countries, including the U.S. Download the results here.

Being a bit of a research junkie myself I couldn't resist the survey. You can calculate how green you are here.

My biggest offenses are perhaps drinking bottled water and not growing my own food (sigh). But I got bonus points for having only one room in my primary residence (ding ding ding). More bonus points for using public transportation (many thanks to the 6 train). More points still for refusing plastic bags from the grocery store at least once a week (I am known to stuff veggies into my handbag). Tempted as I was to claim a child aged 5 and under (the Babe technically is -2 months), I didn't.

My overall score was a 59 out of 60. As much as I'd like to believe that, I think it might be a tad inflated. That said, compared to U.S. score of 44.9, I'm doing pretty well. Sadly the U.S. ranks last of all survey respondents. Major offenses like transportation, consumption and household living were cited.

In case you needed it, some extra motivation to forgo your bottled water today. Happy recycling!

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