World's Greenest Cities

Today is another earth day. It is happy that through continuous awareness , talks and news people had began to think on environment. The frequent natural calamities at different parts of world also  directed our thoughts towards environment. 

Every year  April 22nd is observed as earth day. People around the globe take more effort than usual to focus on the issues facing our planet earth. 

This year’s Earth Day comes with the theme of “Green Cities“. More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and hence concept of green cities have great importance. The list below shows the 30 greenest cities in the world. They are selected according to their different performance in environment protection.

The 30 greenest cities are -

• Oslo in Norway
• Malmo in Sweden
• Reykjavik in Iceland
• Barcelona in Spain
• Copenhagen in Denmark
• Birmingham in England
• Stockholm in Sweden
• Zermatt in Switzerland
• Vancouver in Canada
• Toronto  in Canada
• Chicago in USA
• Eugene in USA
• Costa Rica in Costa Rica
• San Francisco in USA
• Austin in USA
• Portland in USA
• Minneapolis in USA
• New Delhi in India
• Singapore in Singapore
• Tokyo in Japan
• Accra in Ghana
• Cape Town in South Africa
• Nairobi in Kenya
• Melbourne in Australia
• Sydney  in Australia
• Adelaide  in Australia
• Curitiba in Brazil
• Bogota in Columbia
• Bahia de Caraquez in Ecuador
• Belo Horizonte in Brazil

Why they are Green?

• 70% of Oslo is covered in agricultural land
• 30% of Malmo’s population commutes by bike
• All but 1% of Reykjavik’s energy is from renewable sources
• Barcelona has a 113,000 sq ft solar panel in the city
• 50+% of people in Copenhagen travel by bike
• Birmingham has over 3500 hectares of open space
• 99% of household waste in Stockholm is recycled or used to make energy
• Zermatt uses horse carts or manual carts to transport goods through the city
• Vancouver wants to be the greenest city by 2020
• Toronto has reduced its greenhouse emissions by 40%
• Chicago has planted over 2 million sq feet of rooftop gardens
• Eugene is known as the “Emerald City” for being so green – literally
• Costa Rica is working on reforestation
• San Francisco recycles 77% of their waste
• Austin aims to have 20% renewable energy by 2020
• Over 60% of workers in Minneapolis commute with public transport
• Accra is constructing a huge monorail system
• Singapore has 480 green certified buildings
• New Delhi produces the least waste of any city in Asia
• Tokyo has the lowest Carbon Dioxide emissions in Asia
• 10% of Cape Town’s homes have solar panels
• Nairobi is at the head of a fashion upcycling trend
• Melbourne has many car free zones in the city
• Sydney is aiming to reduce Carbon Dioxide emissions by 70% in 2030
• In Curitiba, poorer residents are rewarded with food and supplies in exchange for recycling
• Bogota relies heavily on public transport and has many green spaces
• Bahia de Caraquez has the world’s first certified organic shrimp farm
• Belo Horizonte aims to reduce their greenhouse gases 20% by 2030

So it is now our turn to make our cities also green in coming future by adopting some method to make it eco friendly. If there is a will there will be a way. So let us try jointly.

World Environment Day.

Today is World Environmental day. Almost all the people in the world have a thought on environment on this day. And this thought is found to be active only on this day which is the tragedy that our country face.

On this environment day many organizations organize different types of activities. Earlier it was seminars , speeches and debates conducted. Now the style had changed. Most of the organizations plant trees in their premises or in public places. In my state Kerala a project named “My Tree” is launched in 2007 and is continuing. Under this project each school student is given a tree to plant in his home. He has to look after it. It will be assessed annually by a team appointed by school authority. According to the growth of the tree he will be given grace marks in Exam!!! The same project had extended to colleges also with the name “Our Tree”. Kerala received Indiragandhi Vrikshamitra Award for this project.

Unfortunately most of the students does not care on the tree planted after this day. He remembers it just on coming the next June 5th. It means that these activities are carried out due to an external pressure , not due to his innate intension. This attitude is to be changed first. If one does some activities to save his environment for his and future generation’s benefit it should come from his deep mind. It should not be a forced action. It should not be for marks.

Today also many organizations would have planted a lot of trees all over the world. Still the global warming threat is hanging over our head. So I think not only on June 5th every year but also on all good occations like Birthday, marriage anniversary etc in our family we have to plant a tree in memorium to it and make this world a forest of good memories.Please try to spread this message as far as possible.