Quiz - How green are you?

[Tinker]

Check your ecological footprint

If everyone lived like me we'd need 1.7 planets. And it's only so low because I'm on mat leave and walk everywhere atm.

[freakyzebra]

Incidentally, on the growing your own food thing, it's very hard around here to get your own allotment (or so I'm told).

Something like 30% of the world's food is produced/grown in urban environments, btw.

[freakyzebra]

NQC/QV -- yeah, but we live where we do (in a small town) so that DH doesn't have to commute! And being a small town it's easy (& relatively safer) to get everywhere on bikes. So am not sure about the logic of that.

It's obviously a quite simplistic quiz... we grow some of our own food, but didn't get to put that in. We waste very little food (some people waste big quantities). I used to be a vegetarian for these types of env. reasons (Diet for a Small Planet, and all that), but meat production is (or can be) entirely environmentally sustainable within the UK; it depends which country you live in how unsustainable it is; in fact, it depends what kind of animal flesh you eat, too. The global warming emissions & energy used for production associated with chickens are much lower than that for pork which is lower than beef, etc.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Hmmm, I did the whole quiz the same, only with me living in a small town, and came up with 2.2 planets, the same as I did with London.

It's flying that does me in. Oh, and eating (some) meat.

By the way, the reason meat takes more space is simple. If we ate vegan, we'd only need, say 1kg of grown food per day. But to make 1kg of meat, it takes 10kg of grown food. (1kg of milk is something in the middle, say 5kg of grown food.)

[NotQuiteCockney]

QV, I think living in a big city is more environmental, actually. All your goods and so on don't have to be shipped as far.

[merglemergle]

prisoner-I got it down to 0.7 of a planet by being super virtuous (there were 7 of us in my green design, no electricity, commune)

[merglemergle]

1.3 planets.

Food is my big planet killer at 0.7. I am basically vegan (occasional dairy), eat virtually no processed/packaged food and virutally all my food is locally grown. And it would STILL take 0.7 planets to meet my food needs! Makes you think, huh?

[bobbybob]

Also it only had 3 weather places and none of them remotely similar to where I live.

[HRHQoQ]

footprint of 2.2 - but I guessed my house size

[ThePrisoner]

I pretended to be very green and ecological, and living in small house with 6 other people (a commune?), eating total vegan stuff which we grew ourselves, and never travel anywhere unless walking/cycling. I'd still use up a planet. What a pile of (recycled) rubbish!!

[QueenVictoria]

2.9

But i live in London - i think that puts me on the back foot to start with!

[Janbo25]

3.6 and would need 2 planets

[bobbybob]

4.4 planets. Have a big house and eat meat - so that's the planet buggered.

[JanH]

(Footprint 3.7, 2.1 planets)

[JanH]

Mine was 1.2 for food, 0.9 mobility (I put 10 hours flying because it was for last 12 months, won't be for next), 0.7 shelter (terraced house) and 0.9 goods/services. Forgotten what the questions were now though!

[freakyzebra]

Get a tape measurer & measure the outside square of your house, Joolstoo. Multiply by 2 if you have 2 floors, etc.

My Footprint=3.2, 1.8 planets... I am surprised (no, make that suspicious) that I'm that high. 1.2 on food (fair enough), 0.6 on mobility (I put zero for everything but we probably fly 10 hours/year on average), 0.7 on shelter (we do have a big house) & goods/services (that seems to be the minimum, and based on just 1 question).

How does that breakdown compare with others?

[JoolsToo]

how do you expect me to answer those questions?

I'm still in imperial and Ihave no idea of the square footage of my house but I can tell you right now I am not that green

[Arabica]

Mine is very low, that's because I can't drive (quiz seemed to assume everyone did) and don't fly much.

[gigglinggoblin]

1.2 but guessed a few. i dont know how many square feet my house is and dont know how many litres of fuel i use per 100km

[LilacBump]

this test was featured on johnnie walker's show

1.3 planets

[weesaidie]

I don't drive!

[Mummyvicky]

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.1 PLANETS.

Quite good I think, but the site really makes you realize how wasteful humans are!!

[DinoScareUs]

I don't bloody drive either!

[marthamoo]

I'm just polishing my halo (with CFC-free polish of course).

[JanH]

She doesn't drive

[marthamoo]

I don't drive, don't fly and don't use public transport - I walk Plus I live in a terraced house which I guess is more energy efficient.