Mass. is Third Greenest State in the Country: Join Somerville's Cleanup Effort

SOMERVILLE, MA — It's not easy being green, but Massachusetts manages to do a good job at it.

With Earth Day on Friday, April 22, communities are coming together to clean up their cities and towns. But what about the rest of the year? In a report just released by WalletHub, the personal finance website reminds us that billions of taxpayer dollars are devoted to environmental-protection efforts and energy costs eating a significant portion of the average household’s income.

WalletHub on Tuesday released its report on 2016’s Greenest States, with Massachusetts ranking the third greenest state in the country.

Somerville is no exception; the mayor's annual cleanup will take place on Thursday, April 26 (rain date April 27).

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In order to "showcase the states doing right by Mother Earth and calling out those seemingly intent on spoiling things for future generations," WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states in terms of 17 key metrics that speak to the health of the current environment as well as the environmental impact of people’s daily habits.

The data set, explains WalletHub, ranges from “Total Municipal Solid Waste per Capita” to “Energy Efficiency Score” to “Carbon Dioxide Emissions per Capita.”

Here are some key metrics on the Green-ness of Massachusetts, (1=Most, 25=Avg.), as reported by WalletHub:

• 10th – Air Quality
• 18th – Soil Quality
• 10th – percentage of Recycled Municipal Solid Waste
• 9th – Number of LEED-Certified Buildings per Capita
• 1st – Energy-Efficiency Score
• 15th – Gasoline Consumption per Capita
• 5th – percentage of the Population Not Driving to Work
• 5th – Carbon Dioxide Emissions per Capita

For the full report, visit here.

Patch file photo

Charlene Arsenault (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Photo via the Town of Somerville