Photo: Tempo No Tempo

Maybe you read our Earth Day article earlier this week and rolled your eyes with a sense of exasperation and self-satisfaction.

“I already use rechargeable batteries and carry a reusable bag and a travel mug. None of my appliances are plugged in unless they’re being used.”

Maybe you even have a window garden.

Good for you.

But are you the greenest person on the planet?

That’s what National Geographic and the other sponsors of the Greenest Person on the Planet Competition want to know.

If the answer is yes, you’ll win an iPod or an iPhone, as well as some environmentally conscious prizes: 10 trees planted on your behalf and an animal adopted in your name by the Defenders of Wildlife.

But you’ll have to prove you’ve got what it takes to be the greenest person on the planet.

For all the details about how to enter the contest, visit the competition’s website here.

About The Author

Julie Schwietert

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator currently in New York, formerly of Mexico City and San Juan. She is Matador's managing editor and is the lead faculty member of MatadorU's travel writing program.

  • meh

    how about a starving child in a third world country who doesn’t even have a home- let alone electricity. does that count as being green?

    no?

    ok, then pat the person on the back who denies themselves all the things this child wishes to god they had. they’re only being green for a sense of self satisfaction anyway, not for the planet. for themselves.

    but i guess you’re right, since that starving child is probably polluting their water system with their inadequate sewage anyway.

  • Rebecca Stecky

    Being green is all about living by example. When you turn it into a competition, you deny the very essence of it.

  • http://www.gstriatum.com/solarenergy/ Diego

    Unfortunately I am not =(, I try to change every day, but I cant be green all the time

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