Down to Earth Blog

A Game and an Information Source:  Over the past year or two I've purchased four or five sets of "knowledge cards," or quiz decks, at my local food co-op. Published by Pomegranate Communications, these decks typically contain 48 cards, each with a question on one side and a detailed answer on the other, sometimes with references and Web site addresses where you can get more information.

Two of my decks provide green tips for conserving energy and protecting the planet. One is "The Earth-Friendly House: A Quiz Deck on Green Home Essentials." The other is "Save the Planet: Tips for Saving  Energy, Ecosystems, Water and Wildlife." The latter has the Sierra Club logo on it, so I assume they wrote the questions and answers.

The Earth-Friendly House deck was informative and seemed mostly on the mark fact-wise. Some of the tips I have read before from other sources. Some of the info was new to me -- True or False: American households use twice as much electricity today as they did in 1965 (true); True or False: Large framing lumber comes from old-growth forests (true -- and 95 percent of those forests in the United States have been harvested).

One piece of info in a card answer seemed incorrect to me -- a claim that U.S. cars contribute two-thirds of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. I think power plants contribute the largest percentage of our emissions, with transportation sources much less. A quick check of the EPA's U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory (with the latest data, which is from 2004) indicates that transportation accounts for 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion (where most of our CO2 comes from), while electricity generation accounts for 40 percent.

So check the supporting details at one of the Web sites they provide. Overall the decks seemed accurate and they are good fun to use as an impromptu quiz game with family and friends. If you like this sort of thing, Pomegranate has decks on many other topics, including animal footprints, rare words from the 18th century and more.

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