PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregonians have experienced their fair share of climate change-related events, such as summer 2022’s heat wave and the record-breaking number of fir tree die-offs — but there’s still hope. The Beaver State has been named as one of the top U.S. states for “green living” by organic pest control company Excel Pest Services.
Excel ranked the nation’s 50 states on their sustainability based on eight factors: their carbon footprint, organic farms, national park coverage, air quality, carbon footprint, solar energy, renewable energy and the demand for electric cars.
The pest control company ranked Oregon at No. 4 overall for its green-living potential. Washington, Hawaii, California and Massachusetts filled the remaining top five spots. See how other states performed here.
Oregon also ranked within the top five for three of the eight factors evaluated in the study.
- No. 4 for air quality
- No. 4 for search demand in ‘electric cars’
- No. 5 for total renewable energy consumption
These rankings may not come as a surprise to those who have kept up with efforts to make the state more eco-friendly.
In October 2022, the Biden Administration announced that it was allocating $1 billion to school districts so they could replace their standard school buses with greener models. Two Oregon school districts, Banks School District and Prospect School District, received more than $5.5 million of that funding.
Earlier this January, the Beaverton School District announced that it had switched to fossil-free, renewable diesel as opposed to petroleum-based diesel fuel. And outside of school transportation, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality approved a rule that will ban the sale of new gas-powered passenger vehicles in the state by 2035.
Oregon didn’t make the top 10 for Excel’s “organic farming” category, but the Beaver State has plenty of it.
“Other impressive achievements include that Oregon has 456 organic farms or one organic farm per 82 non-organic farms — that’s more than five times better than the U.S. average of one per 430,” Excel Pest Services said.