How Green Are You?

About This Quiz

Climate change is here, and it's bad: if we don't dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade, we will lock in irreversible change. This doesn't just mean it'll be slightly hotter. It means rising seas swallowing trillions of dollars of wealth. It means drought in the Midwest, Middle East, and swaths of Asia, with deadly heatwaves and wildfires. It means a warmer sea, which means more energy drawn into hurricanes, meaning more destruction and flooding. (If simultaneous droughts and floods are confusing, picture a see-saw; if you push down in one area, you get a backlash someplace else).

Meanwhile, air pollution is already the No. 1 killer on the planet, causing one in six deaths globally. Plastics are endangering ecosystems. Soil degradation is causing risks of global famine. It's not a pretty picture.

That's the bad news. The good news is threefold: first, we have the technology and will to fix it. Second, far from requiring a hair-shirt approach or return to medieval living, fixing it is an investment in jobs, growth, health, reduced inequality and stronger communities. Third, we who care about healing our planet and communities are not alone. That means nobody has to solve all of this on their own.

However, this doesn't mean that individual choices are going to win the day. Sure, flying less, eating less beef, and using less energy helps, but the key is systemic change - and that's where we're much more powerful than we think. Sure, changing the system is much harder than changing a habit, but every time it changes, it makes the good habits easy for all. The upshot is that together, we really can move mountains.

Now that we know what we need to be doing, click through to find out whether you're doing your part!