What shade are you?

Not green at all
(i.e., don't wanna lift a finger)

Illustration: Wendy Plovmand

Despite Mayor Mike’s desire for a more eco-friendly NYC, for many of you, “going green” is taking the 6 instead of the N or R. But  you can still help the environment every day you’re here—even if your Coke Zero cans fall short of the recycling bin.

What to do: Keep living in New York City

What you get out of it: Besides a general air of superiority? The satisfaction of being green without doing crap. “For the laziest of environmentalists, New York is kind of the perfect place,” says Benjamin Jervey, author of The Big Green Apple: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Living in New York City. “Someone who isn’t consciously doing anything in New York City is living a life of less ecological impact than someone in the suburbs who considers themselves very environmentally oriented and concerned.” Yes, that cramped little space you call home is eco-friendly.

What the environment gets out of it: The amount of energy used in your two-to-four-unit building is a quarter of that used by the couple with a single-family home in the sticks, according to the Department of Energy’s statistical bureau. So step off, Ed Begley Jr.

What to do: Go to an outdoor show or movie

What you get out of it:  The chance to see the Beastie Boys in Brooklyn—or Transformers. Win-win.

What the environment gets out of it: Communal hangouts like Prospect, Corona and Central Parks—which hold events such as SummerStage, Celebrate Brooklyn and Shakespeare in the Park—are environmentally friendly simply because of the sheer numbers of people who attend, since folks’ carbon footprint is collectively reduced. Even movies can be enviro-positive—the air-conditioning for the masses offsets their units at home. “The fact that most of us don’t drive cars also helps,” Jervey says. “Somewhere around 30 to 35 percent of New Yorkers own cars—in Manhattan that number’s even lower at 22 percent.” According to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the city’s public transportation keeps 700,000 bridge-and-tunnel cars out of the city’s business areas and takes 400 million pounds of soot, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other toxins out of the air—all for the cost of a MetroCard.

What to do: Drink beer in bars

What you get out of it: A nice buzz. Environment, seriously: I love you, dude.

What the environment gets out of it: Yeah, even buying a beer could make you the next Al Gore. Brooklyn Brewery, for one, is powered by wind energy and ships its kegs in biodiesel-fueled trucks. But just going to your neighborhood bar can help. Says Jervey: “That action alone, rather than someone driving to a store, buying a six-pack and driving home with it, helps a lot.”

Your Live Impact score 236

The Live Earth website (liveearth.org) features an Earth Conservation Plan, which allows you to assess your ecological impact. If you’re not green at all, live alone in Manhattan, have a one-bedroom and a $75 monthly electric bill, never drive, take the bus and subway, fly many times per year, and refuse to recycle or turn off the lights when you leave the room, you still score a 236, producing six tons of carbon annually. The average score in the U.S. is 325.