What's Your Footprint?

In honor of Earth Day, check out this quiz found in the Orlando Sentinel. It helps you calculate your carbon footprint in terms of fuel emissions. Mine is 15,286 lbs. per year. The average is over 45,000!!

I took another quiz on my carbon footprint from the Nature Conservancy. By this reckoning, I contribute far more CO2 to the atmosphere -- 22 tons per year! That's still below the national average (27 tons), but a smidgeon above the worldwide average, which is 5.5 tons per year. Ouch.

Finally, the New York Times has a great feature about ways to reduce one's footprint. And the Dallas Morning News has "46 Simple Ways to Help the Environment."

I'll post photos of dead plants soon.

Belated Introduction

So I just realized I should probably introduce my blog. This blog is called "Ecomania" because it's going to be about all the gardening-related things that interest me: native plants, composting, local food and farmer's markets, smaller-footprint living, and anything else sustainability-related that strikes my fancy.

I grew up in North Florida, and I love a lot of things about living here as an adult. There's the beautiful natural places, amazing produce, great climate, and like-minded people. I hope I can share some of my observations and thoughts in an interesting way.

(Photo by Rob)