How Green Is My Town?

You've probably received any number of meaningless quizzes or questionnaires in the mail or online, especially if you're a member of any of the new media websites like MySpace or Facebook. However, there's one new quiz going around that might actually make a difference for you, your family, your city, and perhaps the entire country. The quiz is called "How Green Is My Town?" and it's helping Americans to realize just how much (or how little) their cities are doing to create an environmentally friendly living environment.

The Quiz and Its Purpose
Does your town provide special incentives for green building projects?
Does your town recycle e-waste?
Does your town offer preferred parking for electric vehicles?

The above three questions are just a sampling of the 142 widely accepted attributes of sustainable living that were measured in the "How Green Is My Town" quiz. Also included in the quiz were questions designed to reflect a community's efforts to address climate change, sustainability and environmental health, as well as their ability to implement green policy and program solutions from non-profit organizations and government agencies.

"The goal of our [quiz]," says Patti Wood, Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education, "is to help communities share ideas and resources, and to find ways to move ahead on a green agenda even during these tough economic times."

Who Designed and Distributed the Quiz?

Grassroots Environmental Education is a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about environmental toxins and their impact on human health. The "How Green Is My Town" quiz is part of the organization's overall goal of informing and empowering individuals with the means to act as catalysts for positive change in their communities.

Over the past year, Grassroots partnered with the Pace University Academy for Applied Environmental Studies to distribute the quiz and collect data in 43 Westchester County, NY towns. Pace University has a long-standing commitment to environmental research, scholarship and service. So, it comes as no surprise that the university is the first to complete a pilot program that Grassroots designed as a model for national change. The model focuses on bringing different sectors of society together to work towards a healthier environment for everyone.

"Each sector of the community has a vital role to play in making a town truly green," says Michelle Land, Director of the Pace Academy and the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges & Universities. "When the local government, school system and business community are working together in a cooperative effort, the results can be innovative and significant."

"How Green Is My Town" Quiz Results and Awards

More than 100 Pace University students and Grassroots volunteers distributed the quiz and gathered informed opinions and data from interviews with local government officials, school administrators and business leaders. The 43 towns surveyed in Westchester County were rated according to three categories: local government (60% of the score), school system (30%) and business community (10%).

At the end of March, the six towns with the highest combined scores received the Green Star Award for their achievements in creating and sustaining an environmentally aware community. The six Green Star towns are: Bronxville, Chappaqua, Katonah, Larchmont, White Plains and Yorktown.

"We were delighted to find so many of the towns in Westchester out in front on these issues," says Grassroots Executive Director Patti Wood, "But there is always room for improvement."

One of the most important findings from the study was that most towns have a fragmented and uncoordinated process for dealing with environmental issues. This can be remedied by appointing an official Director of Environmental Affairs, as was the case with most of the towns that scored the highest on the Grassroots quiz.

Grassroots "Greenweb"

Grassroots is making it easy for families and whole communities to become more environmentally sustainable with ready-to-go policies, program ideas and cost-effective eco-friendly solutions. The online resource has been nicknamed the "greenweb" and includes comprehensive, science-based educational tools for local government agencies, business leaders, and school systems. To see the wide range of options and tools available at the local level, check out Grassroot's web page.

You can also find all of the "How Green Is My Town?" quiz questions and the details of every Westchester town's scores on the website. Patti Wood of Grassroots encourages all towns (surveyed or not) to start making changes from the bottom up by using the organization's online resources. If your town adopts new environmentally friendly policies or takes any other steps to address the issues brought up by the "How Green Is My Town?" quiz, you should be sure to have your town's score calculated and/or updated.

To see the quiz for yourself and to learn more about Grassroots' other programs, check out How Green is My Town?. "You can be part of the change!"

Posted by: Sirena Rubinoff