Familiar Name Tops List of Most Sustainable Cities

"Using criteria in 16 categories, including air and water quality, traffic congestion, access to public transportation, land use, green business activity, and environmental policies, SustainLane, an Internet company that focuses on health and environmental issues, ranks Portland as the greenest of the 50 largest US cities. The city, which was once known as “Stumptown” because of the way its land was quickly logged, has ranked first since the company began compiling the lists in 2005."

Here are the top 10 cities, with their 2006 rankings in parentheses:

1) Portland, Ore. (1)
2) San Francisco (2)
3) Seattle (3)
4) Chicago (4)
5) New York (6)
6) Boston (7)
7) Minneapolis (10)
8) Philadelphia (8)
9) Oakland, Calif. (5)
10) Baltimore (11)