The Greenest Person You Know

Recently Popular Science rated my city of residence, San Francisco, the second most "green" city in the Nation.

Who is America's top green city?  That's right: Portland, OR. The city where I grew up. 

Portland, which won by one tenth of one point, claims that half their power comes from renewable sources. Also, a quarter of the workforce commutes via bike, carpool or public transportation (MAX?!?!?)

The report is broken down in four categories: transportation, electricity, green living, and recycling and green perspective. 

Boston, third on the list, is also the city in which my company's headquarters is based and where I visit quarterly. 

Fourth on the list, Oakland, a city that I frequent on a weekly basis for work and leisure. The funny thing about this is that Oakland is nationally known for one of the highest murder rates in the country, but now the residents can all take solace the fact that its all going down in an eco-friendly environment.

Rounding out the top five on this Popular Science list is Eugene, where I went to school for my undergraduate work. A city that is revered for its green is also now nationally reputed for being "green". 

Having lived significant years in three of the top five green cities and spent notable time in the other two, I have a little bit of pride this morning knowing that maybe subconsciously, in a small way, I'm doing my part to help prolong the vitality of the world. Or, maybe its just me justifying my Xterra and it's 16.5 MPG.