Minneapolis is 7th most self-sustaining city

Minneapolis might be a city of hipsters and hippies riding bikes and creating compost piles, but we still can't beat out the bigger cities in the country when it comes to sustainability. According to the 2008 SustainLane U.S. City Rankings released today, Minneapolis is the 7th most self-sustaining city in the country. Portland, Ore. came in first. Minneapolis can only try so hard to compete with such a hipster mecca, but I think we come pretty freaking close. Did you read the Morning Must Reads today about people up in a fuss about composting?

Minneapolis is up from 10th place in 2006 to seventh in the latest ratings. The top 50 largest U.S. cities are judged on their ability to move toward preservation and enhancing quality of life, and the ability of the city to prepare for resource shortages from increasing gas, food and energy costs.

The survey looked at 16 economic, environmental and green/clean technology categories to judge their ability to maintain healthy air, drinking water, parks, public transit systems as well as farmers markets, renewable energy sources and green buildings.

Who else beat us out? San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York and Boston. And we were just blades greener than Philidelphia, Oakland and Baltimore.

For more details on the Minneapolis ranking compared to other U.S. cities, check out the full report here.

Now if only this report can correctly spell the name of our Green Messiah (Mayor R.T. Rybak, duh).