A Green Site Where Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The green movement gets an "A" for raising our consciousness about the effect of our actions on the planet, but only a "C" for turning that new consciousness into action. MakeMeSustainable.com keeps it personal by letting you find out exactly what your place in all of this is, from how much energy you consume to what you can do about it. Of course, no man is island. The site has a robust set of community networking tools that make it easy to find kindred spirits or organize the next green movement.

It all starts with your energy profile and some heavy duty calculators. You answer a few questions about the way you use electricity, transportation, heating, and about your travel lifestyle. You receive a personal rating based on your carbon and energy footprint.

Your score looks at the sources of energy you use, what you pay, and your impact on the environment. Behind the pretty questionnaire lie powerful calculator tools. With your score in hand you can take action to save money on your bills and cut consumption, too. Suggestions for driving down energy costs range from simple things like line-drying clothes to products like CFL light bulbs you can purchase at discount on the site. Because you can track your expenditures over time, it's easy to see the results of simple actions like changing your bulbs. Greenie points to the site for generating some proof points in the sometimes fuzzy world of greenness. You can pledge to a carbon offset organization, too. These organizations counter the effects of your carbon usage by giving you the chance to give money to environmental causes.

I think sites like Make Me Sustainable work because they put "ME" into the conversation. Sure, we all love the planet but we know how we feel about "me."

Are you using any good web sites that make a difference in your green score? I'd love to hear about them.

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There are other sites that offer calculators to assess your energy impact and then offer advice. Incredibly, all but one of these look almost identical, with a uniform blue and green web design.

• CarbonFootprint.com
• Be Green Now.com
• Green.Yahoo.com
• Zerofootprint.net