Austin Drops to #14 In Annual Sustainability Rankings

SustainLane's annual rankings of America's Most Sustainable Cities came out yesterday. Austin, which was ranked #6 in 2005 in SustainLane's similar "US City Rankings," plummeted to #14 this year. Other Texas cities among the fifty fared worse, including Dallas (24), El Paso (31), Houston (39), and Fort Worth (46).

As far as SustainLane.com -- an "online community site for healthy and sustainable living" -- is concerned, most of our -ist brethren cities (SF, Seattle, Philly, Chicago, NY, Boston, DC ... you get the picture) are more self-sufficient and "ready for the unexpected" than we are. Metrics like future access to clean air and water and a healthy economy were all factored in:

What makes a city ready for tomorrow’s challenges? Cities must have an ability to maintain healthy air, drinking water, parks and public transit access, combined with a strong, complementary economy, even when faced with sudden, unpredictable events like skyrocketing energy prices and natural disasters. A robust sustainable local economy includes green building, downtown and neighborhoods that are easily walkable, farmers markets, renewable energy and alternative fuels.

While we're definitely ahead when it comes to renewable energy usage and green building, we're guessing that we were somewhat behind in other categories such as Transportation and Commuting, Natural Disaster Risk, and Planning/Land Use. According to the organization's CEO James Elsen, though, it sounds like what makes a city truly sustainable is its ability to draw from within:

“If your city outsources everything from fuel to electricity and food, where are you left during a crisis? Cities shouldn’t rely only on volatile outside resources, but rather need to take the initiative to develop more self-sufficient economies. Doing so will prevent their jobs and quality of life from being left high and dry if hard times arrive.”

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