Living in Portland

Here are a few highlights from the June 06 article in Portland Monthly Magazine:

SustainLane.com a research firm, named Portland the most sustainable city in the US and one of the 10 cities best equipped to weather an oil crisis (mostly due to public transportation system).

Since 1990 Portland residents have reduced their demand for electricity by 11%.

Portland’s mass transit ridership has increased by 57% since 1995 (US average is 25%).

Portland has 262 miles of bikeways up 870.% since 1980.  We have -0.16% fewer cars and +257% more bikes commuting over our bridges since 1991.

Portland has a 53 percent recycling rate, one of the highest in the country.

Portland has the cleanest air of 25 U.S. cities according to SustainLane.com.

Portlands Bull Run watershed provides some of the best tap water in the country and one of the very few that is so clean it isn’t subject to filtration.

How did all this happen?  We started back in 1967 way before anyone knew green was more than just the color of the trees.