Eco Friendly States Report from WalletHub released for 2021

With Earth Day around the corner and the U.S. having experienced a record number of billion-dollar natural disasters in 2020, WalletHub released its report on 2021’s Greenest States.

Eco-friendliness and personal finance are related, according to John S. Kiernan of WalletHub. Our environmental and financial needs are the same in many areas: providing ourselves with sustainable, clean drinking water and food, for example. We also spend money through our own consumption and taxes in support of environmental security.

On top of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the U.S. also had a record number of natural disasters that did at least a billion dollars in damage, at 22. While some disasters are unavoidable, others are exacerbated by humans. For example, one big factor in the high amount of hurricanes in the past year was unusually warm Atlantic waters. It’s possible that living more sustainably and using greener energy sources could prevent us from having quite as bad hurricane seasons in the future – and saving a lot of money in repairs as a result.

In order to showcase the states doing right by Mother Earth, WalletHub compared the 50 states in terms of 25 key metrics that speak to the current health of the environment and residents’ environmental-friendliness. The data set ranges from green buildings per capita to the share of energy consumption from renewable resources.

Greenness of California (1=Greenest, 25=Avg.):

  • 1st – Water Quality
  • 8th – LEED-Certified Buildings per Capita
  • 17th – % of Renewable Energy Consumption
  • 4th – Energy Consumption per Capita
  • 7th – Gasoline Consumption (in Gallons) per Capita

For the full report, click here.

 

Image Sources

  • Leaf-: PIxabay