Out of curiosity I decided to look up the top 10 greenest cities in the world. I know personally, living in LA, it probably doesn't even rank in the top 100 but we are trying here. To be honest, it really grosses me out to drive into the city and see a brown cloud constantly floating above the sky scrapers with the beautiful ocean looming in the background.
Anyways, on to the list,
10. Austin, Texas. I know what you're thinking, Texas, the big oil state, the state with the mentality that "the bigger the better". The state that produced our old president. Unlike Dallas and most of the rest of the state, Austin is the city that is one of the top solar energy producers in North America and hopes to attain a benchmark of 20% renewable energy by 2020. And that makes them number 10 on the list.
9. Stockholm, Sweden. The capital of Sweden has a hearty population that favors alternative transportation including a fantastic bicycle program. They also have found a way to redesign old industrial sections of the city to become carbon-neutral urban development's with over 10,000 inhabitants.
8. Curitiba, Brazil has one of the best bus rapid transit systems in the world, with 85% of its population hopping on board.
7. Seattle, WA. A beautiful Pacific Northwest city, with a college that the students have the nickname of being "Greeners" is a leader on environmentally friendly innovations including hybrid public transit vehicles, green construction projects and investments in city parks.
6. Puerto Princesa City, Philippines - known as "The City in a Forest", city officials have done well to integrate the population within a lush environment unlike any other in the country. As a result, Puerto Princesa is not as vulnerable to flash floods in the monsoon rain season - a considerable problem in the Philippines.
5. Malma, Sweden is a lot like Stockholm when it comes to being cyclist and pedestrian friendly. Malma also has explicit ambitions to become a genuine eco-city.
4. Reykjavik, Iceland aims to be fossil-fuel independent by 2050 and is a leader in geothermal and hydro energy.
3. Freiburg, Germany - Not only is Freiburg a beautiful to look at, the city is also an ideal model of wise environmental analysis. From vast car-free zones to solar power adoption and a world class public transit system, Freiburg is a model for every city to follow.
2. Portland, OR - Another Pacific Northwest city leading the environmental movement, it is the first city to adopt a tough and exhaustive carbon-emission reduction plan. Portland also has a highly popular transit system and a high rate of bicycle usage. But most of the entire city has an amazing population that CARES about the planet!
And the #1 city in the world that is most eco-friendly is Vaxjo, Sweden. The city of 80,000 people is nonetheless admirable. Municipal leaders enacted a bold forest and lake restoration project decades ago that has since paid lucrative dividends. In 1996, the city made a bet on clean and renewable biomass energy and is on pace to break with fossil fuels within the next generation. A network of bicycle paths is popular with the local populace and citizens can obtain a government subsidy for a number of eco-steps to reduce carbon footprints.
Elizah Leigh
said on May 14, 2009
Tracey Shrier
said on May 14, 2009
One thing that surprised me most about some of these cities was they have started alternative means of living back in the 1990's!! Just in 10 years, the impact has been HUGE! If we start now, the impact we make is going to be a tremendous difference in 10 years.