“That's not very environmentally conscious of me, is it?”

English Lesson: That's not very environmentally conscious of me, is it?

You admitted to a friend that you usually drink bottled water, even though you know that the bottles are bad for the environment. Your friend is very interested in environmental issues. You want to show that you feel a little guilty about it.

That's not very environmentally conscious of me, is it?

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(someone) is environmentally conscious

When you're "conscious" of a problem, it means that you know about the problem and think about it when you're making decisions. Things that people often say they are "conscious" of are:

  • the environment ("environmentally conscious")
  • problems with society ("socially conscious")
  • their health ("health-conscious")

When you are "environmentally conscious", it means that you are a person who thinks about protecting the environment. Environmentally conscious people support recycling, limiting carbon dioxide emissions, protecting endangered animals, and so on.

not very (adjective) of (someone)

This phrase is used when someone does something wrong. You want to explain that the action doesn't fit what you hope or expect. You say "that wasn't very ___ of ___". For example, when a person does something mean:

That wasn't very nice of her.

Or when you do something that's stupid:

It's not very smart of me to leave my wallet sitting out on the table like that.

You often put a tag question on the end of this phrase, like "is it?" or "was it?"

That wasn't very nice of her, was it?

It's not very smart of me to leave my wallet sitting out on the table like that, is it?