Cleanliness is the key to he alth. We all heard this phrase in childhood and diligently washed our hands with soap. Then we grew up and began to teach our children to live in cleanliness and order. And what about our cities? Why do we treat them so carelessly and litter the environment without even thinking about the consequences? As it turned out, the cleanest city in the world is not so easy to choose. Unfortunately, the consciousness and level of development of human civilization have not yet reached the limit beyond which total concern for the preservation of the environment begins.
Environmental pollution: the scourge of the 21st century
A couple of centuries ago, people did not think about environmental pollution. Almost the entire population of the world lived in rural areas, and life in cities was the lot of the few who wanted to be in the center of events and world news. But literally in a hundred years, everything has changed in the most dramatic way - technological progress has led to the fact that more than seventy percent of the world's inhabitants have chosen cities as their habitat.
This has led to an increase in pressure on these territories. With whatwe are associated with a big city? Of course, with smoking chimneys of factories, dirt on the streets, unpleasant odors and eternal dullness. Bad picture, isn't it? But that's how most of us live. Although in recent years, the trend towards caring for the environment is beginning to gain momentum and is gradually capturing many cities in the world. Unfortunately, it is still too early to talk about the mass nature of this phenomenon. But if you look at the list of the cleanest cities in the world, you will see that it is still possible to live in cleanliness. The population of such cities says that it is necessary to start the changes with yourself.
City classification
First of all, all cities in the world can be divided into four categories:
- 1 group - the city administration is doing everything to stabilize the environment, and forms a responsible attitude towards the environment among citizens.
- 2 group - the ecological situation in these cities is extremely difficult, but the administration is coming to understand the need to take urgent measures to save the city's ecology.
- 3 group - these cities do not have a polluting industry, so the population and sewage treatment plants contribute to the deterioration of the environmental situation.
- 4 group - the most polluted cities that do not have budgetary funds to create environmentally oriented programs.
Of course, it is difficult to determine which is the cleanest city in the world among such settlements of different levels of pollution, but for this there are world standards for the environmental situation of cities.
Clean city: evaluation criteria
To choose the cleanest city in the world, you must first make a list of evaluation criteria, according to which the study will be conducted. What is included in the concept of a clean city? What points should be used to assess the cleanliness of cities, because they all have different levels of pollution and industrial potential?
Most often, six characteristics are involved in the assessment of the state of the environment of a settlement, which allows choosing the most environmentally friendly cities in the world. We will list them now:
- number of green areas in proportion to city area;
- the existence of a program for the processing of household waste and the percentage of this processing to the total amount of waste in the city;
- air quality (determined by samples);
- water quality (also determined by samples);
- percentage of budget funds allocated for the implementation of environmental programs;
- participation of citizens in keeping the city clean.
According to all these characteristics, we are ready to bring to your attention the top cleanest cities in the world.
Top 5 tourist destinations
Probably every tourist would like to see the cleanest city in the world and spend a vacation there. Therefore, we decided to compile a list of the most environmentally friendly and popular tourist cities:
1. Singapore.
The cleanliness of this city delights many tourists. The most severe fines for smoking in public places or a candy wrapper thrown on the pavement have been introduced here. The average fine isapproximately $500. This system turned out to be very effective, over time, the townspeople learned not to litter and actively maintain the cleanliness of their beloved city.
2. Vienna.
The capital of Austria even at first glance looks very clean and well-groomed. The population of the city is proud of its historical heritage and tries to preserve the unique city for their descendants.
3. Dresden.
This amazing city is not only a cultural but also an industrial center. But there are just legends about its cleanliness, German pedantry made the city literally perfect. It is impossible to find rubbish on the streets or see the smoke from the factory chimneys here.
4. Stockholm.
It's no surprise that the Swedish city made it to the "World's Cleanest City" list. The government of the country pays special attention to ecology and care for the environment, so Stockholm appears to tourists in a surprisingly clean form. In addition, light pollution is minimized in this city.
5. Abu Dhabi.
The Emir of the city spends a lot of money on keeping the streets clean and implementing environmental programs. The most professional specialists in the field of environmental protection work here.
Of course, it's sad that not a single Russian city was included in this list. Russia still cannot boast of a responsible attitude to the environment.
World He alth Organization Ranking of the Cleanest Cities
WHO annually compiles its lists ofenvironmentally friendly capitals of the world. Most often, European cities fall into the top five. The ranking compiled in 2016 is as follows:
- Sweden - Stockholm.
- Scotland - Edinburgh.
- Canada - Ottawa.
- Australia - Canberra.
- Wellington - New Zealand.
It is worth noting that Stockholm quite often gets into this list, occupying various positions in it.
Top 10 cleanest cities in the world: rating of alternative public organizations
Not only recognized organizations are engaged in assessing the cleanliness and pollution of the cities of the world, but also private organizations. Public interest in environmental protection is increasing every year, so alternative ratings appear:
1. Calgary (Canada).
This small town is located in a valley, two rivers pass through the city. Local residents claim that the water from these rivers can be drunk without harm to he alth.
2. Adelaide (Australia).
Waste recycling is organized here at a high level, more than eighty percent of the garbage is processed by special installations. The city has a large number of parks and squares.
3. Honolulu (Hawaii).
It is called the pearl of the tropics, where thousands of tourists from all over the world come with pleasure.
4. Minneapolis (USA).
Despite the fact that the population of the city has already exceeded three million people, it remains remarkably clean. This contributeshigh awareness of residents and environmental programs.
5. Kobe (Japan).
Japan's cutting-edge green technologies help make the nation's cleanest cities.
6. Copenhagen (Denmark).
More than once got into the rating of the cleanest cities. For two years, Copenhagen even won the European Green Capital nomination.
7. Wellington (New Zealand).
This city managed to get a high score in almost all indicators.
8. Helsinki (Finland).
This city is the heart of Finland, and all its inhabitants make sure that their city is the cleanest and most comfortable.
9. Oslo (Norway).
In recent years, Oslo has made significant progress in the implementation of environmental programs. He has reduced emissions and continues to work to keep the streets clean.
10. Freiburg (Germany).
The prefix "eco" is often used for this city. Freiburg is incredibly green and well-maintained, and the quality of life of its inhabitants has been at a high level for several years.
The cleanest countries in the world
Do you know which countries have the most clean cities? Do not be surprised, such a rating also exists. The top 3 cleanest countries in the world look like this:
- Switzerland.
- Sweden.
- Norway.
Environmentalists believe that the Nordic countries will lead this list for a long time, because their governments do not spare money forenvironmental programs.
Russia: ranking of the cleanest cities
And what about Russia? What does our own ranking of the cleanest cities look like? In our country, unfortunately, there are no large public organizations that would monitor the ecology of Russian cities. Therefore, we compiled the top 5 cleanest cities in Russia by taking information from various sources. The list looks like this:
- Volgograd.
- SPb.
- Saransk.
- Vologda.
- Kursk.
Of course, this is a very approximate figure, based on a set of estimates that correspond to generally accepted world standards.
Each person is responsible for the cleanliness of the surrounding world, because you should not wait for someone to start large-scale actions to clean up the city. You can just pick up a candy wrapper that has fallen on the asph alt and go out on a community work day to remove garbage from a nearby park. When absolutely all residents of megacities do this, the list of the cleanest cities in the world will definitely be replenished with new names.
