Seattle ranked among the cleanest US cities (Olympia, Pacific: how much, living in)

[Sandy Nelson]

Forbes Magazine's annual ranking of the cleanest US cities, named Seattle as the second cleanest US city for 2008, following right behind Miami.

In Pictures: America's 10 Cleanest Cities - Forbes.com

In addition to using air pollution and ozone data from the American Lung Association for the 49 major metro areas with populations exceeding 1 million, the water quality and per-capita spending on Superfund site cleanup and solid-waste management was also figured into the measurement. Incidentally, Seattle spends more per capita on waste management than any major city.

Blessed with weather patterns that push out smog, Seattle's clean air is a result of the nearby Pacific Ocean, the Cascade Mountains and the abundance of forests.

Air quality was also a factor in "Sperling's Best Places to Live" security survey results earlier in the year, which ranked the Olympia area as the "most secure place to live" in the nation.

How lucky are we to live in this beautiful part of the country!

[haggardhouseelf]

This is so wrong and terribly misleading. OF COURSE these cities rank among the top ten when you factor in the spending on waste management - look at the cities!! Between the cleanup having to be done in the SF Bay area, the hurricane mess in the Florida area, and the Puget Sound issues... my goodness. Take that "per capita spending" consideration out and you'll have an entirely different list of cities!

[haggardhouseelf]

And I forgot to mention that Portland - also on the list - is where the Columbia and Willamette rivers meet... The Hanford site - which has wrecked havoc on the Columbia river and the waters and land in that and surrounding areas - is the location of the World's largest environmental cleanup...

[LordBalfor]

Doesn't surprise me one bit - even if you simply took cleanest to mean merely "most litter free". Seattle is a very clean city - the water "reasonably so" (all large cities have some degree of water cleanup issue), the air very much so, and (as I mentioned) litterwise it's very clean.

Ken

[PencilMeIn]

Sorry to have to disagree....I was surprised at how much litter I've seen....I guess my expectations were higher for this area. Litter is my biggest pet peeve.....I absolutely HATE it when I see our beautiful cities and countryside littered by inconsiderate slobs. And, yes, I have seen it much worse in some other states....but it is still bad here.

[pwright1]

When my friends and family visit me from out of town they are all amazed at how clean Seattle is, land and air.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

This is so wrong and terribly misleading. OF COURSE these cities rank among the top ten when you factor in the spending on waste management - look at the cities!! Between the cleanup having to be done in the SF Bay area, the hurricane mess in the Florida area, and the Puget Sound issues... my goodness. Take that "per capita spending" consideration out and you'll have an entirely different list of cities!

The study is what it is, but IF one were to take the "per capita spending" away what would your list be?

I think you find it hard to come up with a major metro area as clean as Seattle.

I'm not saying Seattle is perfect, but I think we would still be at or near the top of the list.

[MichaelinWA]

Litter clearly isn't a criterion for this particular list, or San Francisco wouldn't be on it.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

Litter clearly isn't a criterion for this particular list, or San Francisco wouldn't be on it.

Very true!

[chris]

Seattle is one of the "cleaner" cities I've lived in but this article is fairly misleading, unless your requirement is to live in a city with 1 million+ people. The smog/exaust data must have been drawn before 8am 3-4 years ago though and on clear days. I dread going into town because of that one factor. I doubt the American Lung association would recommend living in Seattle for people who are looking to live in a healthy environment.

Now, we do live in an aesthetically beautiful area 3-4 months out of the year, but we're also the beneficiaries of the industrialization of Asia.
Trout bearing chemicals are even in our national parks

Having articles about "cleanest cities" is merely a feel good tactic that rarely addresses the real issues of pollution. At least Seattle/WA has passed a partial ban on PBDEs.