Tomorrow is Earth Day, and I’ll bet you’ve been wondering just how “green” Greg Nickels and Ron Sims actually are. Well, the PI is there for you.

World Changing thinks that Earth Day is actually a pretty dangerous holiday, for all it seems so innocent. (I don’t disagree, but these guys have clearly never been around someone deep-frying a Thanksgiving turkey. That’s a dangerous holiday.) They say:

The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we’re told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well. The strategy of recycling as a gateway drug — get them hooked on it and we can move them on to harder stuff — has failed miserably.

And they’re not wrong. But we’ve got a reputation for having leaders that are a little more concerned than most, perhaps, between Greg Nickels and his challenge for all the mayors to follow the Kyoto Protocol. But today the PI asks if they’re, you know, practicing all of this stuff. The answer is “mostly”, which is much better than not at all [PI]. Nickels doesn’t grow any of his own food, but he does drive a mid-size car where Sims drives an SUV. Sims bikes a lot, while Nickels has a rain barrel. Seems like some of these should be weighted differently.

Now that this has all been spelled out, I expect Nickels and Sims to start a bet on it–you know how we love our jovial and mostly meaningless bets. It’s time for a green-off. If Sims wins, Nickels will probably have to ride a bike around West Seattle thirteen times while carrying a salmon. If Nickels wins, Sims will have to replace all the lightbulbs in his house with fluorescents while wearing a blindfold and singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” Someone might even have to kiss a pig.