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Are You a Scuppie? Quiz

:: By Kate Hanley

If you regularly shop at Whole Foods, have dropped a pretty penny on clothes made from organic fibers, and/or care about what kind of life the chicken that produced your morning eggs had, you might be a Scuppie.

What did you just call me?

Don’t get your feathers ruffled: A Scuppie isn’t a new hybrid breed of dog, a brand name of small inflatable boat, nor a type of vermin. A Scuppie is a Socially Conscious Upwardly Mobile Professional. According to the Scuppie Handbook, a Scuppie falls somewhere between hippie and yuppie on the social category spectrum, and is someone who knows that going green doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style, comfort or consumption.

Do you have what it takes to wear the Scuppie moniker? (And is it something you’d even want to be associated with?) Take our quiz to find out. Note your points and tally them at the end to see where you fall on the Scuppie scale.

1) Your ideal morning beverage is:

A. So scalding hot it requires two paper cups AND one of those paper insulator thingies to keep from burning your hand. (1 point)
B. A simple cup of tea or pot of joe you make at home. (2 points)
C. A latte made with Fair Trade coffee and organic milk, sweetened with a touch of agave nectar, poured into your travel mug. (3 points)

2) It’s time for a new mattress. You:

A. Head to the local mattress store and drop your old mattress off at the dump. (1 point)
B. Look for a decent, barely used mattress on Craigslist and give your old one away on Freecycle. (2 points)
C. Splurge on a mattress made from organic wool. You know it costs more than the average annual income of many countries—but you spend a third of your life in bed, right? (3 points)

3) You’ve got a big social event coming up, and you need a new outfit. You:

A. Head to the mall. (1 point)
B. Hit your favorite vintage store or borrow something from a friend. (2 points)
C. Buy something online from one of the high-end eco-conscious designers you saw featured in a magazine. (3 points)

4) If you could snap your fingers and have one long-awaited home renovation project instantly completed, it would be:

A. Bagging up your piles of clutter and enjoying the catharsis of throwing them away. (1 point)
B. Sprucing the place up with a fresh coat of paint – low-VOC paint, of course. (2 points)
C. Re-doing your kitchen with cork floors, bamboo cabinets, recycled glass tiles and Energy Star appliances. (3 points)

5) Your main mode of transportation is:

A. A car or SUV that barely breaks double digits in miles per gallon. (1 point)
B. A bike, public transportation, or a car that’s more than five years old but gets such great gas mileage you see no reason to part with it. (2 points)
C. A car that gets at least 35 MPG on the highway AND that looks great, thank you very much. (3 points)

Answers

1-5 points: Eco-Wimp

The environmental impact of your everyday actions just isn’t something you spend much time thinking about. If figuring out how to go green feels too overwhelming, or like something you just don’t have time for, read Climate Change: 25 Things You Can Do for super-simple ideas to get you started.

6-10 points: Great Eco-Effort

Your devotion to making eco-friendly choices is evident, but to be a true Scuppie, you’ll have to ditch your thriftiness and start dropping some cash on your environmentally friendly purchases. If this isn’t something you aspire to, perhaps you’d be interested in learning How to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying. Regardless of where you go from here, kudos to you for your environmental awareness.

11-15 points: Yep, You’re a Scuppie All Right!

You know that making environmentally friendly choices and living the fabulous life go together like organic peas and carrots. You are not only eco-conscious but eco-fabulous, and you know that going green doesn't mean skimping on style and taste. Are you ready to spruce up your house and garden in eco-style? Well, get shopping! And remember, as Leo DiCaprio proves, there’s nothing wrong with looking good while doing good!

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Community Voice

I'm a bit confused about the message here. True, certainly those with means to begin with have a much easier time maintaining and increasing means (yes, if I had more money, sure -- there all kinds of ways I might use it to support sustainable life on this planet). This quiz seems to commend those with wealth and gives a mere gentle pat on the back to those (of us) to manage (creatively!) to be eco- and health-friendly on a tight budget. Is that not the more desirable skill in the midst of a recession? There seems to be a double-message regarding consumption and consumerism that doesn't seem to resonate soundly with the Gaiam ethos. I'm disappointed.


	cwoodberry, Aug 6, 2008 6:32:55 PM

haha that was my score exactly :)


	Anna, Jul 15, 2008 10:53:16 PM

Ah, a quiz - I couldn't resist. :)

My Results:
1) b - 2 points
2) b - 2 points
3) b - 2 points
4) c - 3 points
5) b - 2 points

Total - 11

Hahaha; looks like I am a scuppie; oh no! :D


	VictoriaE, Jul 3, 2008 9:57:34 AM

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