Ecofoot.org
Everybody's going green, don't you know, so if you want to get with the program, this is a good place to start. The Ecological Footprint Quiz contains 14 questions about your driving, eating and other personal habits, then gives you the ugly truth—your total carbon footprint, in acres—and the bottom line: "If everybody lived like you, we would need 2.8 planets." (And we scored well below the average. Yikes!) After you've recovered from the shock of finding out how much of a drag you are on the Earth's natural resources, you can click one of the "What You Can Do" links to learn how to mend your ways. ZeroFootprint a not-for-profit operation, also has tools to help you calculate your personal impact on the environment, and how much money in offsets you would need to buy to make up for it. The site takes your $20 or $40 or $100 offset payment and puts it toward tree plantings and investments in sustainable energy projects. (Some critics blast offsets as ineffective, conscience-clearing cop-outs, but Zerofootprint takes pains to explain how theirs are certified and verified.) The site also features a Marketplace section where you can learn about all types of green products, and an Events page. For more information and links, go to Clean Air-Cool Planet, where you'll find the Climate Change 2007 report and a consumer's guide to retail carbon offset providers. Or check out the the home energy audit offered by the U.S. Department of Energy.