More on Eco Footprint: Test Your Shoe Size!

Following up on our pointer the other day for reducing your carbon footprint, here's another: Earthday.net has put together a "footprint quiz." It takes less than 5 minutes to complete and is worth the effort.

I scored 11 acres (the lower the score the better). The brownie point: The average U.S. score is 24 acres. The demerit: Maximum space on earth is 4.5 acres per person.

"If everyone lived like you, we would need 2.6 planets," the quiz informed me.

My high score was in "mobility," since I travel mostly by bike and seldom drive by myself. "Shelter" was my low score: I live in a big house, and even though 5 others live in the house as well, I'm still taking up too much room.

I could do better on "food," too, although in Seattle it's tough to buy fresh and still buy local during winter months. The tradeoff I aim for: Fresh avoids processing, packaging production and then recycling/disposal, and is far healthier. So even though our household produces almost no non-nonrecyclable waste, we still have to "go too far" to get our stuff.

In any case, the quiz helps you think about your actions and lifestyle, the first step toward moving you to change. I'll come back in 3 months and try the quiz again (although I can almost guarantee I'll do better because most of my food in summer comes locally, from Farmer's Markets around town).

Only 23 days to Earth Day (April 22).

— Paul Andrews, GreenForGood

Tags: global warming
ecological footprint
carbon footprint green for good