Lists That You May or May Not Want to Be Part Of

Several rankings of interest were recently released. First, the Economist Intelligence Unit released its ranking of the greenest and least greenest cities in North America. The top five greenest cities: 1) San Francisco, 2) Vancouver, B.C., 3) New York City, 4) Seattle, 5) Denver. The five least green cities: 1) Detroit, 2) St. Louis, 3) Cleveland, 4) Phoenix, 5) Pittsburgh. The survey, which was commissioned by the Siemens Corporation, evaluated 27 cities along 31 indicators, ranging from water and energy consumption and conservation to public use of land, public transportation quality and efficiency, and even how “walkable” the city is to determine the ranking. Meanwhile, Travel and Leisure magazine announced its list of America's Dirtiest Cities based on a survey of its readers.

The top five dirtiest cities, according to Travel and Leisure: 1) New Orleans, 2) Philadelphia, 3) Los Angeles, 4) Memphis, 5) New York. It is interesting that, based on the two aforementioned studies, New York is considered among the greenest and dirtiest.

The Natural Resource Defense Council also released an important list: the United States' dirtiest beaches in 2010. The report compiled state and federal data from nearly 3,300 beaches and found more than 24,000 days of closings or advisories at ocean or Great Lakes beaches. Stormwater and sewage, along with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, were the reasons for a 29 percent increase in beach closings and health warnings last year. The report takes into consideration criteria ranging from water quality testing frequency to percent of samples exceeding national standards.

Each of these studies may have an impact on whether or not groups or individual travelers wish to visit your city.