It is possible to live in a more environmentally friendly manner despite the fact that living green has taken on a decided political tone in recent years. There are cities right now that have quietly made strides in several areas including air quality, transportation and electricity by taking available information and applying it their local communities.

And it’s working.

Popular Science magazine recently published an article about how cities are taken local initiative. It accomplished an ambitious project by compiling data for a survey using information from cities with a population of 100,000 and scouring through raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide. By establishing a point system, writer Elizabeth Svoboda looked at key areas that earned American cities a place on the 50 greenest cities.

In first place, Portland, Ore, where Svoboda reports that the city is using renewable power sources for more than 50 percent of its output and that a quarter of the working population uses bicycles, public transportation or carpools. The U.S. Green Building council has also certified 35 buildings in Portland. Also in the top five are San Francisco, Boston, Oakland and Eugene. Each city has made strides on a local level to improve the green quality of its community.

Svobada’s article cites that although the United States may have rejected Kyoto, it’s the local movement of individual communities that are opting to make the changes needed for a greener world. And that local push is far succeeding efforts made by the federal government through progressive business and elected officials utilizing available technologies and creative funding to allow their cities to move to a green status through innovative projects.

Popular Science also breaks down six of the cities on the significant ways they have gotten their green ranking which could be used in the future of a blueprint on how becoming more environmentally friendly can help a city by local grassroots efforts.

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