America’s 13 Greenest Cities

Posted by carrie_roll

Today, I came across Sustain Lane’s 2008 Green US City Rankings.

“This report benchmarks each city’s performance in 16 areas of urban sustainability, including an essential new measurement this year: Water Supply. Forged in 2005 and now in its third edition, the peer-reviewed Rankings track the unfolding story of cities working to improve their residents’ quality of life. In this story, some cities are becoming more self-reliant and better prepared for an uncertain future, while others have been slow to act on opportunities to green their municipalities.”

Here are the top 13 cities, and what SustainLane had to say about each of them.

1. Portland, OR
If you live in Portland, you might want to think twice before complaining about the 40-plus inches of rain dumped on your head every year. It might be the only thing keeping the entire country from moving to your city by the Prius-load. Portland retained its title as SustainLane’s number one city to beat this year-not surprising given that it got a 30-year jump on the rest of the country.
2. San Francisco, CA
If you can afford to live in this top-ranked SustainLane city, the first thing you may notice after moving here (once you’re done gaping at the suspended marvel spanning the Bay) is how well this city recycles. After all, how many cities’ solid waste and recycling centers have artists in
3. Seattle, WA
If Seattle’s 2006 SustainLane ranking had you considering a move to the coast, it’s time to call the movers. The Pacific northwestern metropolis is once again sitting pretty near the top of the SustainLane heap at number three. And by “pretty” we’re referring to its location between Puget Sound and Lake Washington and to its easy access to just about any kind of outdoorsy activity your sustainable heart desires.
4. Chicago, IL
When environmental officials send you a several-pages-long “Bird Agenda” for their city, you know they’ve got all their little eco-ducks in a row. Long-serving Mayor Richard Daley is committed to making Chicago a healthy and attractive place for all creatures great and small, and for residents and visitors alike. The mayor has had greening on his mind since he first entered office in 1989, implementing progressive and sometimes controversial measures.
5. New York, NY
Shhhhh. We’re going to let you in on a well-kept secret. Despite New York’s skyscrapers and congested streets, the city is one of the most sustainable in the country. NYC’s per capita emissions are a third of those in the rest of the country because of public transit use, densely packed buildings and smaller homes. Still the city plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2030. Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled one of the country’s most comprehensive sustainability plans (dubbed PlaNYC), made up of 127 separate initiatives. These range from revamping aging infrastructure, to planting a million trees over ten years, to making sure that all city residents live within a ten minute walk of a park. New York is also empowering pedes
6. Boston, MA
A call for the city’s first community-wide greenhouse gas inventory and a 10 percent increase in recycling by 2012 are among the actions laid out in an executive order issued by Boston mayor Thomas Menino in April of 2007. Add to this the new zoning laws requiring LEED certification for certain developments, a requirement that all taxicabs go hybrid by 2015, and a mandate to assess all city buildings for alternative energy potential, and we think Boston’s on its way up the green charts!
7. Minneapolis, MN
Hybrid-driving Mayor R.T. Ryback dreams of bequeathing to his grandkids the city he grew up in… exactly as he knew it: “a place where you can hop on a bike, swim in a clean lake, and then ride down parkways to see two waterfalls and amazing wildlife … without leaving the city limits.”
8. Philadelphia, PA
Having ranked consistently among SustainLane’s top ten cities, it’s hard to believe Philadelphia didn’t already have an office of sustainability. But in July 2008, the City of Brotherly Love finally made its commitment to the environment official.
9. Oakland, CA
Once Oakland gets its crime rate under control, it could be as desirable a place to live as its cross-bay neighbor, San Francisco. Residents of the ethnically diverse port city enjoy sunny days, clean air (thanks to Pacific breezes), locally-produced food, and public transportation ridership of over 20 percent. Since Mayor Ron Dellums took office in January of 2007, the city has also adopted a “Zero Waste by 2020″ plan, launched an “Oil Independence Oakland by 2020″ task force, and banned plastic bags and styrofoam takeout containers.
10. Baltimore, MD
Baltimore’s had a number of firsts since our last survey. For starters, the city’s first female mayor, Sheila Dixon, was sworn into office. Not long after, came new green building requirements, single-stream recycling, and–to our excitement at SustainLane–a dedicated commission charged with creating and implementing a sustainability plan for the city.
11. Denver, CO
In 2008, Denver played host to what planners hope will go down in history as the “greenest” political convention ever. We’ll wait for the verdict to come in on that one before we comment… Meantime, if the Mile High City’s utilities division crunches its numbers right (and we trust that they do), then by the end of 2008, the city will have increased its renewable energy portfolio by nearly 1000 percent since 2005.
12. Milwaukee, WI
Since Milwaukee inaugurated its first office of sustainability in 2006, green momentum in the Midwestern city has picked up steam. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, Milwaukee has invested in New Urbanist redevelopment, consciously folding sustainability into it’s planning and design (one green public housing development nabbed a Sierra Club honor in 2005). It has also taken great care to manage storm water and reduce runoff into the lake and area rivers.
13. Austin, TX
The “Live Music Capital of the World” took a decisive step toward becoming the planet’s “Carbon-Neutral Capital” when it adopted an aggressive climate protection plan in 2007. The plan calls for all Austin’s operations, facilities, vehicle fleets, and utilities to be totally carbon neutral by 2020. Because the city owns its utility, meeting renewable energy goals may be a bit quicker than cities whose utilities are private. In Austin, the goal is for all city vehicles to be powered by electricity and non-petroleum fuel by 2020, and for all city-owned and operated buildings to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2012. Austin’s blueprint for sustainability is the latest progressive measure from the city that brought us pioneer work in green building during the 1980s and 90s. That’s when they developed their own green building rating system still used today.
To find out more about who’s trailing and who’s doing poorly in the rankings (is your city there?) visit http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/

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