SustainLane's rasison d'etre has always been elusive, but one thing they've done consistently well, and improved upon year after year has been their various city rankings - including the sought after award of "most sustainable city in the US". This year they've outdone themselves with a lot more in-depth reporting, more explanation of how the rankings were derived, and a nifty new look and feel for their website to boot.
Making such a list is no simple, objective process, and should always be taken with a grain of salt, but perhaps the most useful aspect to the rankings is the friendly competition it fosters among cities: Businesses can brag that they've played a roll in making their city a green leader, cities can send officials and business leaders to leading cities to learn how to do things better, and the local papers can tout pride in their readers, or in the case of a poorly performing city, might even evoke change.
This year's winner, for the second year running, is Portland, Oregon. But there's a lot of great info on the runners up and a lengthly list of who did well, and who dropped the ball.
See the full list after the jump...
The 2008 SustainLane Rankings:
(click a city for details)
1. Portland, OR (1)
2. San Francisco, CA (2)
3. Seattle, WA (3)
4. Chicago, IL (4)
5. New York, NY (6)
6. Boston, MA (7)
7. Minneapolis, MN (10)
8. Philadelphia, PA (8)
9. Oakland, CA (5)
10. Baltimore, MD (11)
11. Denver, CO (9)
12. Milwaukee, WI (16)
13. Austin, TX (14)
14. Sacramento, CA (13)
15. Washington, DC (12)
16. Cleveland, OH (28)
17. Honolulu, HI (15)
18. Albuquerque, NM (19)
19. Atlanta, GA (38)
20. Kansas City, MO (18)
21. San Jose, CA (23)
22. Tucson, AZ (20)
23. Jacksonville, FL (36)
24. Dallas, TX (24)
25. Omaha, NE (37)
26. San Diego, CA (17)
27. New Orleans, LA (32)
28. Los Angeles, CA (25)
29. Louisville, KY (35)
30. Columbus, OH (50)
31. Detroit, MI (43)
32. Phoenix, AZ (22)
33. San Antonio, TX (21)
34. Miami, FL (29)
35. Charlotte, NC (34)
36. Houston, TX (39)
37. Fresno, CA (33)
38. El Paso, TX (31)
39. Fort Worth, TX (46)
40. Nashville, TN (42)
41. Arlington, TX (41)
42. Colorado Springs, CO (26)
43. Indianapolis, IN (45)
44. Long Beach, CA (30)
45. Virginia Beach, VA (48)
46. Memphis, TN (43)
47. Las Vegas, NV (27)
48. Tulsa, OK (40)
49. Oklahoma City, OK (49)
50. Mesa, AZ (47)
Portland clearly deserves this distinction. Our tongue-in-cheek dig when the Brookings Institution ranked LA over Portland (http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/06/suck-it-portland-los-angeles-is-more-green/) was just that. You can't rank greenness on carbon alone.
I'm surprised Boston made it to #6, go Beantown!
What about Burlington, VT? Does it not qualify as a city because of its size? Come on, it's VT's largest!!
emily - I believe the list is only the 50 largest cities. They might also have a list for medium and small sized cities.
Emily, I wish something VT was on the list, but you just have to remember the entire state has a smaller pop. than any of those cities.
I nominate my town of
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