Green Living

Just because a place is environmentally ''fit'' doesn't mean you'd want to spend your life there – think glaciers and rain forests. But finding the perfect balance between what's green and what's livable could lead you to paradise. Aiming for that ideal, we researched the world's greenest countries while also ensuring they were ones where people could thrive. Along the way, we also unearthed the worst places to live. Hold your breath and hope the country you call home isn't one of them.

We analysed data from two top sources covering 141 nations to rank the planet's greenest, most livable places. Our analysis delved into social factors (for instance, education and income) and environmental measures (charts on the following pages show who scores highest and lowest for some of them, and how Asia stacks up. While helping rank the countries, our analysis also led us to five key lessons:

You Can Always Get Greener
Even the cleanest countries have serious environmental problems. Top-ranked Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease, and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters. But the country also produces an above-average amount of greenhouse gases, has a large ecological footprint (the mass of land and water needed to sustain the national level of consumption) and contributes  significantly to its region's environ-
mental woes.

The reason: Finland has the highest industrial-energy consumption rate of all five Nordic countries, due largely to its reliance on the fuel-intensive forestry and quarry industries.

Colder winters and lower rainfall in recent years have also had an impact, forcing cuts in the production of hydroelectricity and boosting – by 15 per cent since 2005 – the national appetite for fossil fuels, a major source of greenhouse gases.

A Move to Improve To get greener, countries must do more to capitalise on national strengths. Finland, among the world's largest exporters of wind-power technology, produces less than one per cent of its own electricity via wind power, despite average coastal wind speeds of 24 km/h, 50 per cent stronger than those in the ''Windy City'' Chicago.

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire, apparently after sparks from a train ignited a surface oil slick. No-one was injured, and the blaze caused only about $50,000 worth of property damage. Still, the fire had a huge impact as it began focusing attention on environmental issues in the United States. Three years later, the Clean Water Act was enacted, and in time, other aggressive steps were taken to improve the quality of the country's air and water. It's worked. Today people fish and canoe on big stretches of the Cuyahoga River.

Unfortunately, as shown by the United States' ranking on our list (No. 23), there's still plenty of cleanup work to be done. Again, greenhouse gases are a major culprit. In 2004, per capita carbon dioxide emissions were nearly five times the worldwide per capita figure. And it's a trend headed in the wrong direction: Total carbon dioxide emissions grew by 22 per cent between 1990 and 2005.

A Move to Improve To fight air pollution, the US Congress boosted the average fuel economy standard for passenger cars from 18 mpg to 27.5 mpg between 1978 and 1985. It hasn't risen since. That's likely to change, but the US government should do more to improve energy efficiency, such as offering greater incentives for owners of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Save the Forests and the Trees 
In developed nations, people tend to cluster in cities and suburbs, concentrating pollution in those areas. When rural swaths are publicly owned and protected against development, they become ''green moats'' – buffers against the harmful effects of ''brown cities.'' Canada (No. 11) exemplifies this. While wild forests are largely disappearing in most developed nations, they still thrive in Canada. Their presence helps explain why the country rates well overall for clean water and air, despite a densely populated southern tier where cities like Montreal contribute to sulphur dioxide emissions that are nearly double the average in similar countries – and that feed an ongoing acid rain problem.

A Move to Improve Other countries should follow Canada's lead and preserve what's left of their pristine wilderness. Doing so will help offset the harmful effects of urban pollution.

Manage Progress for the Benefit of All 
It's an inescapable fact: People living in affluent countries tend to be better educated, enjoy a higher standard of living, live longer lives and have a brighter future. The downside: Their material wealth results in a much larger carbon footprint.

Happily, their affluence and education makes people who live in these countries more likely to be aware and active when it comes to doing something about that footprint. Consider Norway (No. 3), which is party to more than 40 international environmental accords. It's no coincidence that nearly all Norwegian children graduate from secondary school.

A Move to Improve It's in the interest of all countries for each one of them to gear public policy toward developing an informed citizenry. The goal should be an engaged, educated public that can act as a powerful antidote to environmental destruction.

Turn Things Around While There's Still Time
How great is the potential environmental impact of China (No. 84) on the rest of the world? Consider: If its car-ownership rate matched that of the United States, one billion cars would be on China's roads. That would translate into total gas consumption of 1970 billion litres per year – nearly half the current world use. 

But setting aside that hypothetical, the sheer size of China's population and the explosive growth of its modern economy are creating significant environmental pressures. For instance, in Beijing today, the level of one type of particularly harmful air pollution is more than four times the level in New York City.

There are signs the Chinese government is taking environmental problems seriously. Next year's Summer Olympics in Beijing could be a major turning point. Following the lead of South Korea (No. 35), which made a major effort to clean up Seoul before the 1988 Summer Games, China has announced a number of ambitious green goals, including cutting the use of coal in half, eliminating 200 manufacturing plants in the Beijing suburbs and lowering sulphur levels in gasoline. The challenge now is hitting those targets.

A Move to Improve Global environmental management requires global cooperation. That means more developed nations need to move more quickly in sharing with China emerging technologies that can be used to develop clean, alternative energy.

Rankings
We analysed data from two top sources covering 141 nations to rank the world's greenest, most livable places. View the complete city and country rankings.

Countries Overall
1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Austria
6. Switzerland
7. Ireland
8. Australia
9. Uruguay
10. Denmark
11. Canada
12. Japan
13. Israel
14. Italy
15. Slovenia
16. France
17. Netherlands
18. Portugal
19. New Zealand
20. Greece
21. Germany
22. Latvia
23. United States
24. Lithuania
25. United Kingdom
26. Belgium
27. Argentina
28. Croatia
29. Spain
30. Hungary
31. Albania
32. Estonia
33. Slovakia
34. Costa Rica
35. South Korea
36. Cuba
37. Belarus
38. Czech Republic
39. Bosnia and Herzegovina
40. Brazil
41. Panama
42. Armenia
43. Chile
44. Paraguay
45. United Arab Emirates
46. Macedonia
47. Bulgaria
48. Poland
49. Kuwait
50. Oman
51. Russia
52. Peru
53. Colombia
54. Malaysia
55. Guyana
56. Romania
57. Trinidad & Tobago
58. Georgia
59. Kazakhstan
60. Moldova
61. Thailand
62. Tunisia
63. Mexico
64. Libya
65. Ukraine
66. Sri Lanka
67. Lebanon
68. Venezuela
69. Ecuador
70. Turkey
71. Jordan
72. Algeria
73. Kyrgyzstan
74. Azerbaijan
75. Bolivia
76. Gabon
77. Dominican Republic
78. Syria
79. El Salvador
80. Saudi Arabia
81. Jamaica
82. Indonesia
83. Iran
84. China
85. Nicaragua
86. Namibia
87. Philippines
88. Egypt
89. Mongolia
90. Viet Nam
91. Myanmar
92. Honduras
93. Botswana
94. Turkmenistan
95. Tajikistan
96. South Africa
97. Guatemala
98. Cambodia
99. Uzbekistan
100. Bhutan
101. Laos
102. Morocco
103. Ghana
104. India
105. Congo
106. Cameroon
107. Uganda
108. Nepal
109. Papua New Guinea
110. Gambia
111. Bangladesh
112. Madagascar
113. Senegal
114. Togo
115. Pakistan
116. Kenya
117. Rwanda
118. Guinea
119. Zimbabwe
120. Zambia
121. Nigeria
122. Sudan
123. Tanzania
124. Benin
125. Central Africa Republic
126. Malawi
127. Mauritania
128. Yemen
129. Angola
130. Côte d'Ivoire
131. Democratic Republic of the Congo
132. Haiti
133. Mali
134. Guinea-Bissau
135. Mozambique
136. Burundi
137. Chad
138. Burkina Faso
139. Sierra Leone
140. Niger
141. Ethiopia

Cities Overall
1. Stockholm, Sweden
2. Oslo, Norway
3. Munich, Germany
4. Paris, France
5. Frankfurt, Germany
6. Stuttgart, Germany
7. Lyon, France
8. Dusseldorf, Germany
9. Nantes, France
10. Copenhagen, Denmark
11. Geneva, Switzerland
12. Zurich, Switzerland
13. Glasgow, United Kingdom
14. Barcelona, Spain
15. New York, United States
16. Brussels, Belgium
17. Hamburg, Germany
18. Hong Kong, PR China
19. Newcastle, United Kingdom
20. Tokyo, Japan
21. Helsinki, Finland
22. Washington, D.C., United States
23. Chicago, United States
24. Vancouver, Canada
25. Dortmund, Germany
26. San Francisco, United States
27. London, United Kingdom
28. Perth, Australia
29. Melbourne, Australia
30. Manchester, United Kingdom
31. Graz, Austria
32. Berlin, Germany
33. Ottawa, Canada
34. Wellington, New Zealand
35. Amsterdam, Netherlands
36. Atlanta, United States
37. Marseille, France
38. Vienna, Austria
39. Rome, Italy
40. Sydney, Australia
41. Prague, Czech Republic
42. Brisbane, Australia
43. Denver, United States
44. Berne, Switzerland
45. Singapore, Singapore
46. Houston, United States
47. Bologna, Italy
48. Montreal, Canada
49. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
50. Toronto, Canada
51. Cape Town, South Africa
52. Seoul, South Korea
53. Milan, Italy
54. Curitiba, Brazil
55. San Diego, United States
56. Madrid, Spain
57. Los Angeles, United States
58. Budapest, Hungary
59. Calgary, Canada
60. Phoenix, United States
61. Johannesburg, South Africa
62. Sao Paulo, Brazil
63. Athens, Greece
64. Tel Aviv, Israel
65. Chennai, India
66. Cracow, Poland
67. Taipei, Taiwan
68. Bangkok, Thailand
69. Guangzhou, PR China
70. Mumbai, India
71. Shanghai, PR China
72. Beijing, PR China