Atlanta's sustainability ranking is...better than nothing?

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a well-regarded environmental nonprofit based in New York, this week released its list of the country's most green, or sustainable, cities. Seattle received top honors, followed by San Francisco and Portland, Ore.

Compared to other cities with a population over 250,000, Atlanta ranked 33rd.

The rankings are based on, left to right: air quality, energy production and conservation, environmental standards and participation, green building, green space, recycling programs, transit, standard of living and water quality.

The ranking's a bit disappointing when you consider how much energy the city's invested in such initiatives as <a title="Posts tagged "Sustainable Atlanta" | Fresh Loaf" href="http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/tag/sustainable-atlanta/" target="_blank" target="_self">Sustainable Atlanta, the sewer overhaul and the <a title="Posts tagged "Beltline" | Fresh Loaf" href="http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/tag/beltline/" target="_blank" target="_self">Beltline. Those programs, however, are still far from completion. The city leads the country in the number of LEED-certified buildings, but that'll only get you so far when you consider the programs such cities as Seattle and Chicago have launched.

Athens ranked 14th on the list of medium-sized cities. Roswell ranked 23rd among among smaller cities.

(Courtesy of NRDC)