Thread: Is Your Town Toxic?

Our report card on the 101 best and worst cities in America

Edited by: Liesa Goins


Consider for a moment the official city seal of Houston. As you'd expect, there's a star at the top, a reference to the Lone Star State. Below that, a steam locomotive to represent Houston's "spirit of progress," and at the bottom a plow for the city's place in the "agricultural empire of Texas." Fitting icons all, but we'd like to suggest a fourth: an oil-covered cow.

When Men's Health dug into the data to determine the relative industrial toxicity of the 101 largest cities in the United States, Houston came out the most contaminated, followed closely by Portland, Oregon, and Jacksonville, Florida. Our sources included the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) most recent tally of facilities creating hazardous waste; the EPA's Total Environmental Release data (courtesy of www.Scorecard.org), a.k.a. the amount of that waste being released into the air, water, and land; and, lastly, the number of Superfund sites, places so dirty they qualified for federal cleanup funds. Time to buy a biohazard suit? Only if the powers-that-be don't wake up and smell the fumes.

See the complete list here. http://msn.menshealth.com/cda/articl...0-1434,00.html



For more interactive links go to : http://fitness.msn.com/articles/feed...1404_toxictown



Guess whose town is toxic
Take our City vs. City challenge! We paired them up, you pick the more toxic of the two.


Waste Not

BE A TOXIC AVENGER

Even sans smokestack, your house may be more like an environmentally unfriendly factory than you realize. Time to clean up its act.


REROUTE THE RUNOFF

Use permeable materials in your landscaping, such as gravel or brick instead of concrete or paving stones. Rainwater, and any toxins in the lawn, will go into the ground, not the nearest body of water.


SEE STARS

Make sure that the Energy Star label, the EPA's certification of energy efficiency, is on your appliances--even small ones, like a DVD player; several power-hungry gadgets can equal one big sucker.


NUKE, DON'T BAKE

Cook with the microwave instead of the oven whenever possible. The nuker uses less energy than the hot box.


Cleaning Solutions

Show you're serious about poison control


Enter your zip code at www.epa.gov.

This EPA database covers watershed contamination, Superfund sites, toxic-release data, and air quality. Click on the map for your regional EPA office and voice your concerns.

Go to the Hazardous Waste Resource Center at www.etc.org to find out about any cases of improper toxic recycling in your area. Complain to the company in violation and to your representative (www.house.gov) or senator (www.senate.gov).

B-/ B+ Norfolk/VA Beach, where I'm at. Not too bad, I suppose. Could be worse.. my hometown is a C.

Phoenix, AZ D-

The closet city on list to where I'm from -
Nashville, TN C

San Diego, CA B-

Wow, I'm kinda surprised!

Originally Posted by ahippiechic

The closet city on list to where I'm from -
Nashville, TN C

yep me too

Originally Posted by suprtruckr

yep me too

Do you know where Monterey, TN is? That's where I grew up, lol! Lived in Cookeville before we moved to AZ.

Originally Posted by ahippiechic

Do you know where Monterey, TN is? That's where I grew up, lol! Lived in Cookeville before we moved to AZ.

yep, i was raised in cleveland, lived in ten mile when i first started coming here and now i'm in chattanooga