Square of Clean Air paying off

[so1rfan]

I don't think anyone has posted this:

ACOG's clean air campaign must have really paid off. OKC is listed as number seven in cleanest cities.

America's Cleanest Cities - Forbes.com

[OUman]

^Thanks for posting this, I wasn't aware of it. Looks like the city's come a long way from all the unhealthy ozone levels and talk about it that was going on a few years ago. Also all that rain we had last year might have helped as well.

[julieriggs]

We are also # 4 in the 'least stressed' list of 100 metropolitan areas.

Oklahoma City Accolades

[ouguy23]

OKC's not always on bad lists. Good to hear some MORE good news about OKC! That's why i'm graduating this May and actually staying here :-)

[Midtowner]

Was OKC ever a very polluted city?

It did strike me as interesting that we have such a high incidence of heart disease compared to the other top-50 markets.

[FritterGirl]

It did strike me as interesting that we have such a high incidence of heart disease compared to the other top-50 markets.

I would venture this has more to do with our being near the top (or bottom) of other lists - that of America's Fattest Cities, and Worst Cities for Walkers - than it does our having poor quality air, which we obviously don't.

[okclee]

I would venture this has more to do with our being near the top (or bottom) of other lists - that of America's Fattest Cities, and Worst Cities for Walkers - than it does our having poor quality air, which we obviously don't.

You are exactly right FritterGirl.

My wife works at a downtown hospital and works primarily with diabetics. Okla is one of the poorest health states in the U.S. We rank at or near the top in diabetes and most can be linked with poor diet and lack of exercise.

I believe that Okla is improving, our state needs to do more though.

[HOT ROD]

and from the Seattle Times.

Local News | Seattle's No. 2 on Forbes list of cleanest cities | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle's No. 2 on Forbes list of cleanest cities
By Seattle Times staff

The Seattle area has ranked second — to Miami — as the nation's cleanest city of the year, according to Forbes magazine.

The 2008 rating is based on federal air-quality rankings, combined with drinking-water quality, how much each city spends per capita on garbage handling and recycling, and on the cleanup of toxic Superfund sites.

Weather patterns help keep Seattle's air relatively clean, and it's known for its clean drinking water piped from high in the Cascade Mountains. Seattle spent the most per person of any city on handling trash and recycling, according to Forbes. It also has a large Superfund site on its front porch, in the Duwamish River.

Other cities in the top 10, in order, were Jacksonville, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; Portland; San Francisco; Oklahoma City; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; and San Jose-Sunnyvale, Calif.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

[jbrown84]

I'm sure they just LOVED having to put lowly Oklahoma City in that last sentence.


Too bad Forbes used such a crappy picture of OKC in the slideshow.

[SoonerDave]

Looks like this list has less to do with silly gimmicks like "square of clean air" than it does dollars spent on things like Superfund sites:

we measured the remaining 29 cities on the additional but less-weighted factors of water quality and per-capita spending on Superfund site cleanup and solid-waste management. From this list, we drew our top 10.

All figures were based on Metropolitan Statistical Areas (which include the city and surrounding area) with the exception of waste-management spending, which was based exclusively on the city proper.

If you spend money on Superfund sites, you must be clean.....

Guess it was too much to expect that a list of "cleanest" cities would be based on scientific measurements of water and air samples taken over a fixed period of time......

*sigh*

-soonerdave