Minneapolis ranked 7th Greenest city (Austin: neighborhood, university, living)

[Slig]

source: MyFox Twin Cities 9/23/08

Minneapolis No. 7 on SustainLane.com Green City Rankings
Sustainable living website ranks top green cities in U.S.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mayor R.T. Rybak, with his converted, plug-in hybrid Prius and his bike-to-work lifestyle, has helped Minneapolis land at No. 7 on the SustainLane.com list of Top Green Cities in the U.S.

Minneapolis received high marks for bicycle use, green land use, increasing farmers’ markets and grassroots neighborhood efforts to promote green lifestyles.

Notable Minneapolis category rankings:
Availability of local food and agriculture (No. 1)
City innovation (No. 6)
Green economy (No. 7).

People-Powered Sustainability Guide - SustainLane

[Clifford63]

Good to see Minneapolis up with the likes of Portland, SF,Seattle, Chicago, NYC, Boston ....

Curious to why all these are Northern Cities.

[Slig]

Is that why they call it the dirty south?

[jazzymentality]

OH, that's cool.

[kuan]

I can't believe we rank below Chicago. That just blows my mind.

[kotkoda]

I wonder if this is just Minneapolis or the Twin Cities?

We are in the top 10 in these categories too:
Water Supply No. 9.
Air quality No. 10
City commuting No. 9
Natural disaster No. 8 (which is good, i.e. No. 50 is the worst: Miami)
Knowledge Base and Communications No. 4
(Four areas analyzed: city has overall plan for sustainability, has sustainability or environmental department that manages and tracks sustainability efforts across the city, city works in collaboration with a major federal research laboratory or research university, works with a non-governmental organization across the city, rather than in only a single neighborhood)

[pirate_lafitte]

I think there is more of a spirit of care in Minneapolis than many other cities. That might explain why.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Slig

Is that why they call it the dirty south?

It's funny you should say that because I do live in the metro Atlanta area and for some reason there is alot of litter in many places, even in the suburbs.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

It's funny you should say that because I do live in the metro Atlanta area and for some reason there is alot of litter in many places, even in the suburbs.

Yes, it's true. There are some very clean areas in the Atlanta metro (Smyrna tends to be quite clean, for example), but it's really dirty/littery along Veteran's Memorial Highway, especially just to the west of 285.

[BJB817]

Even though nearby Austin made the list, the thing that blows my mind down here compared to MN is the recycling or lack thereof. Luckily my city actually has a recycling program and people seem to abide by it.

It's still shocking to frequently see people throwing items like paper, bottles and cans in the trash. Most of the people I've seen doing it are natives or at least from the south. For whatever reason, they're a little behind the times on that one. I truly hope that changes in the not too distant future....