Greenest Cities in the U.S.

San Francisco got voted #2 as the greenest city by Popular Science. Portland, Oregon was #1.

The rankings were based on:

Electricity - cities score points for drawing their energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric power, etc.

Transportation - points go to cities whose commuters take public transportation or carpool

Green living - cities earn points for the number of buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as devoting areas for green space, such as parks and nature preserves

Recycling and green perspective - measures how comprehensive a city's recycling program is and how important its citizens consider environmental issues.

Hopefully, as we continue to build awareness, San Francisco will get the #1 spot next year!

Recycle & Reuse

Here is something I found interesting: A group of 10 environmentally-conscious friends, who called themselves, "The Compact" are going above and beyond normal recycling. They pledge to not buy anything new for a year. They vowed to reuse, reduce waste, and be anti-consumption for the better of the our Planet Earth. Of course, they have to exclude essential things such as food, toiletries like soap, shampoo underwear, etc. that fell under the categories of health and safety. But everything else, it was fair game.

Besides shopping at thrift stores and garage sales, the group also found that it was easy. There is a network of websites that offer freebies that others want to get rid of. Here are some of the websites where people post free things online. http://www.freecycle.org and http://www.garbagescout.com

They started the pledge for 2006 and it has been successful that the group is now continuing their commitment into 2007. They follow 2 basic principles, as posted on their Yahoo! Groups page.

#1 Don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
#2 Borrow, barter, or buy used.

Honestly, I don't know if I myself can do this. It's hard not to buy anything...anyone want to take this challenge??