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Since being green is no longer just about the feel good
benefits, bragging about your waste reduction habits or the
cutting-edge solar panels on your roof doesn’t quite impress
the more savvy consumer, looking to be environmentally responsible
while saving money. As a result, more emerging tools help people
know exactly why going green can also be about saving themselves
the other kind of green.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s (CNT’s)
calculators, like the Green Values Stormwater Calculator and
TravelMatters Emission Calculator, help you to figure out the
costs–benefits of your actions, as well as providing
information on how to change habits that may be costing you more
and impacting the planet more severely. The TravelMatters
calculator measures how much greenhouse gas you generate as a
result of your daily transportation activities. By entering the
monthly distances you traveled by mode of transportation—on
foot or by bicycle, car, bus, train, plane, or boat—the
calculator will do your greenhouse gas accounting for you. As a
resource tool, the profile allows you to set goals for personal
emissions reduction and follow your progress. By illuminating the
links between transportation and global warming, the calculator
will help you make better-informed decisions about how you travel.
To calculate your footprint, click here.
The Green Values Calculator is the first step in achieving a
full understanding of the role that green infrastructure can play
in alternative infrastructure provisions. The tool allows
developers, regulators, and property owners to assess the economic
and hydrologic impact of green versus conventional stormwater
management. Try it; go to greenvalues.cnt.org/calculator.
Similarly the Eating Green Calculator, created by the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, calculates how your food choices
translate into pounds of fertilizer, manure, and pesticides and
acres of grain and grass for animal feed. The calculator also shows
you how the numbers change if you reduce your consumption of a
specific meat or dairy product. Try it; go to cspinet.org/EatingGreen/calculator.html.
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