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I got 2.2

I am really horrified (although my score was inflated by a lot of recent air travel, too). But I now have a clear idea of what to work on!

I did it once for myself, not including business travel and got a 2.2.

I did it again including business travel, and got a 4.5.

It seems like the answer is 'get a job that improves my impact on the planet'.

But I'm not sure what would happen if I got another job. My high paying job allows me to afford a home in a popular, densly populated urban area (Cambridge MA), where multiple forms of public transport are readily available. I drive under 10 miles a week, generally in a ZipCar (car sharing system). I was able to purchase a home and renovate it to include some wonderful, energy saving features (ultra efficient appliances, new furnace, insulation, new windows...and FYI... the place was leaky shell with no occupancy permit when I bought it, so all of these things needed to be replaced to make it livable...and the cost was still 800K even though it needed huge renovations). I have the space to compost, and live in an area that has great municiple recycling. I can afford organic, local foods (heck, I even grow and can some of my own).

But if I didn't have my high paying job which requires air travel, would my impact be smaller? I couldn't afford to live here, so I'd likely be driving more. My home would likely be less energy efficient. My food choices would likely be more budget limited.

I played a bit with the quiz, pretending to live in some of my family/friends situations (involving far less travel, but also less access to public transport, more driving, less energy efficient homes, less access to composting/recycling, etc). Generally, I came out with numbers from 4.5 - 5.

So maybe my lucky situation, with all of the unfortunate business travel isn't so comparatively, although it could still use a heck of a lot of improving. My next task is to push my boss for more web conferences and less travel.

I'm open to any suggestions beyond that.

Unless you have, like, six people in a 500 square foot apartment and don't travel anywhere, I don't think it's possible to get a score of less than 1 planet.

Which, really, is a pretty good message in itself. STOP HAVING SO MANY BABIES, WORLD.

I wish they had a little more specific information about how they calculate the results. I got a 2.6 and my "worst" category was food. That surprised me -- I'm almost vegetarian, and try to shop local and organic. So I couldn't tell what specifically about my answers got me the higher score, though I suspect it's because I am lazy and often purchase prepared food for lunch. Maybe I just answered my own question, but I still would like a little more detail in their explanation of the calculations.

I was shocked by my score, too (a 3.5). By far my "worst" category was food, which i think was driven up by the fact that i eat out for 25-50% of my meals. But i have to say there's a difference between going out to eat at TGI Friday's in the burbs where all their meals are pre-packaged in a factory somewhere and then shipped to each retail location, and eating out in NYC, where tons of chefs shop at the greenmarket each morning...

I *really* don't like these quizzes - they're far too generic.

I scored 1.3, and my biggest badness was food. Problem is, I eat "too much" meat according to these calculators - but they don't take into account that the meat I eat is completely grass fed and produced on small farms. According to a recent Japanese study, grass fed meat grown like this is *carbon neutral*. Then there are questions about coffee - without distinguishing between coffee that's travelled a long way and coffee that hasn't (I drink coffee grown in Australia, or at a pinch PNG, because I live in Australia), or shade grown coffee and coffee that's been grown by chopping down rainforest.

And there are few questions related to reducing - I said I recycle 100% of the aluminium in our house, but isn't the fact that we hardly use ANY better than someone who uses heaps but recycles it?

I got 1.8 - 2.1. Along with sugar2s, my worst area was food as well but I'm vegan and shop 80% local, only eating 10-25% of my foods outside of my groceries. I think my 8 cups of coffee a week did me in (but there's no box for tea?).

I thought that was strange. It was a reminder that I could do better on unplugging stuff around the house and turning lights off. I am sure my water usage is also pretty bad but that wasn't on there.

For those saying it's impossible to get a 1, or they don't know how they scored as high as they did: I once fooled around with one of these programs and discovered that if you bike or walk everywhere and are vegan, your score is reduced dramatically. Which is telling, as those are two things that ought to be very simple, but which are considered absolutely out of the question by most "green" Americans.

I scored a 2.1, btw, mainly because I eat at least 30% of meals out (my office buys me lunch in exchange for not taking a lunch hour, which comes out to HUGE savings on groceries), and I said that I fly roughly 15 hours per year. I'm not sure how accurate that is, because since I don't fly regularly, it can be pretty unpredictable. This year is a HUGE travel year for me; two years ago I didn't fly at all.

Ack! I'm vegan without a car who buys most of the food at the local farmers' market, but food was still my biggest contributor. Probably because I drink a lot of coffee. Not very fair, imo.

I got 3.4--and I was surprised it was mostly because of food because I am a vegetarian, go to the farmers' market every week, search out organic when possible/economical... I think the previous commenter, bubble, is right--it's probably because of my coffee/wine consumption. Hmmm.

I got a 2.2 and it is mostly because I drink a lot of beverages apparently - that was my highest score...hmm. Need to work on those Saturday night wine binges...

I didn't figure out mine but I just learned a way many people could reduce some co2.

Don't use expensive pleated air filters in your furnace.

Basically, don't try to use your furnace as an air filter, cause it's not.

All those expensive filters at the home store--money in the garbage.

A so called better filter is taxing your furnace. It's going to choke but keep on working, all the time.

Also, if there is any kind of a gap between your filter and the air intake, the air will always find the path of least resistance meaning it will completely bypass the filter.

Use a fiberglass filter, you will reduce the stress on your furnace and burn less fuel.

ugg, that really hurt. I feel like I make a concerted effort to recycle, by local, use my own shopping bags, etc. but it wasn't a huge shock to me that my largest impact came from my 25 mile a day (one way) commute to work where mass transit is not an option (i live in jersey). Despite my commute I'd rather stay in the neighborhood I'm in now where I can walk to nearly everything I need then move closer to work where the surrounding neighborhoods require you to drive everywhere.

siobhan, i totally sympathize with your frustrations because I feel that urban sprawl is one of the countries biggest problems and think you have the right idea as far as your living situation. I would suggest offsetting you carbon impact caused by flying from a site like this one http://www.nativeenergy.com/travel/. Other sites will plant trees to offset your impact and are actually really affordable

Just living in the United States, even if your consumption of resources is very low, can keep your score really high. These calculators include infrastructure that we all share, and the U.S. has wasteful infrastructure -- principally due to our overreliance on incredibly inefficient suburban sprawl.

I'm also annoyed that buying local is so heavily weighted in those calculations. While agribusiness is not sustainable over the long term, buying mass produced produce at a chain grocery store is more energy efficient than buying locally grown produce at a farmers market, and it will remain so until locally grown produce is truly local (grown just outside city limits) or until small farmers find a more fuel efficient method of transport than a pickup truck or large van.