Earth Day is held every year on the same date – April 22. It marks the anniversary of the modern environmental movement. The day enables people to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
With 2002’s Earth Day here and the U.S. having experienced $343 billion in damage from natural disasters during 2021, it is an important juncture to consider the environmental impact of modern living.
Considering matters from the U.S. perspective, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released a report titled “2022’s Greenest States”.
In order to showcase the states with the best environmental credentials, WalletHub compared the 50 states in terms of 25 key metrics that reflect current health of the environment together with the state residents’ environmental-friendliness.
The data set ranges from green buildings per capita to the share of energy consumption from renewable resources.
The outcome was that the top ten ‘greenest’ states were found to be:
1. Vermont
2. New York
3. Hawaii
4. Maryland
5. California
6. Massachusetts
7. Minnesota
8. Connecticut
9. South Dakota
10. Maine
In contrast, the states found to be furthest away from good environmental practices were:
41. Texas
42. Oklahoma
43. Alaska
44. Wyoming
45. Kentucky
46. North Dakota
47. Alabama
48. Mississippi
49. Louisiana
50. West Virginia
The data contains some interesting variances. The first is along political lines. Here states that lean towards the Democrats (‘Blue States’) are greener, with an average rank of 15.24, compared with Republican voting states (‘Red States’), which have an average rank of 35.76.
With specific environmental measures there are some clear patterns. For example, Oregon has the highest share of energy consumption from renewable sources, 43 percent, which is 15 times higher than in Delaware. This state is lowest placed with just 3 percent renewables.
In terms of car driving, New York has the highest share of people who do not drive to work, 46 percent. This is 3.3 times higher than in Mississippi, the state with the lowest proportion at just 14 percent.
Vermont has the highest number of alternative-fuel stations per 100,000 residents, 54, which is ten times higher than in Louisiana, the state with the lowest at just 6.
