Practically Verdant: Austin Named in Top 10 Greenest Cities List

Yesterday the EarthLab Foundation announced its annual list of the top 10 greenest cities in America. Austin ranked 9th in this year's list. The list is compiled by sampling the one million plus users of the website's carbon and lifestyle calculator that has been featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The Eleventh Hour, at the 2007 Emmy Awards, and by Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

The lifestyle calculator determines individual impact on the environment and factors in such items as transportation, energy consumption, recycling, and other choices. The website allows you to track your carbon footprint over time and encourages you to make small but significant changes to lower your overall score. Austin came in a good five and a half points lower than the national average.

After the jump, check out the full list.

TOP 10 GREEN CITIES ECP SCORE CARBON OUTPUT
(Tons of CO2 Annually)
1 CHICAGO, IL 262 8.14
2 NEW YORK, NY 264 8.34
3 BOSTON, MA 265 8.57
4 LOS ANGELES, CA 271 8.76
5 PHILADELPHIA, PA 274 8.82
6 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 279 8.96
7 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 282 9.07
8 SEATTLE, WA 283 9.18
9 AUSTIN, TX 288 9.24
10 PORTLAND, OR 289 9.39
NATIONAL AVERAGE 325 15

*Based on a sampling of 1,062,197 U.S. residents

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