Do you ever wonder how green you really are?  Do you want to do better for your family and the environment but don’t really know where to start?  Well, aside from reading this column, a Boston-based website can help point you in the right direction. Practically Green is a free online service that provides you with knowledge, resources and recommendations for making future green choices and changes.  Through this tool, you can set goals, track your progress and share with friends.

To begin, you take a quick quiz to evaluate your “green-ness”.  I have to say that my initial score was pretty unimpressive.   There are only so many questions on the initial quiz.  To get a better, more accurate picture, go through the actions and check off what you already do.  Your score will improve.

Now you are ready to track your progress and advance on your green journey.  The actions are broken into 4 categories – Energy, Health, Stuff and Water.   Within the categories are specific actions you can take which earn you points toward your green score.  For example, “Turn off the lights when you leave a room” gets you 10 points, “Wash laundry in cold water” is worth 50 points, while “Add insulation to your roof” gets you 100 points. 

For each action, there is an explanation on why it's consider green, information on how to accomplish it and, if appropriate, recommendations on products and services that will help with this action.  As a user, you have the ability to rate recommended services and products and suggest new ones.

As you make your way through the actions, you earn badges.  Badges measure how you are doing in a particular area, similar to Girl Scout or Boy Scout badges.  Some of these are "The Back to school" badge which “rewards you for greening your school year prep” , "The Frugalista" badge “rewards you for taking actions that save money while promoting a healthy green life”, and  "The Recycle 5" badge “rewards you for choosing to recycle plastic or purchase items made from recycled materials.”

I was drawn to the website because of its practicality – guess that’s why it’s called “Practically Green”.  I like knowing why I should do this or that, what’s in it for me, and then how to actually do it.  I also like the way the website breaks actions into different categories and gives you a measureable way to track how you are doing.  Plus it’s fun! 

Part of the fun is seeing what everyone else participating in Practically Green is up to.  You can see who is on top in the country, across Massachusetts or just Westford.  It is interesting to see what other Westford residents are doing and figure out what our collective impact is on the environment.