Ill be honest like you. For years, I avoided those "impact calculators" taking into account the plague. Theres something severely humblingand frankly, a bit terrifyingabout staring at a cold, difficult number that tells you exactly how many Earths wed dependence if everyone lived behind me. We all following to think were perform "enough" by recycling a few plastic bottles or skipping the straw at a caf. But deep down? I had a sneaking suspicion my lifestyle was in secret bloated.

Last month, I settled to stop guessing. I sat all along in imitation of a coffee (admittedly, in a disposable cup, which I felt awful about) and dove headfirst into using an online ecological footprint calculator and water determine carbon footprint footprint calculator. It wasn't just a math exercise. It was a wake-up call that hit harder than my first tax bill.

Youve probably seen these tools free around the web. Some are slick and gamified; others see considering they were built on a Windows 95 interface. I tried three alternative versions, and I noticed something weird: the results fluctuated wildly. One site told me I was successful quite sustainably (bless their hearts), though substitute suggested I was single-handedly blamed for the melting of the Arctic.