“An air quality score of 90 is unacceptable.” That would be what our grade school teachers would be saying if air quality was on a test. On a more serious note, though, check out the attention that air quality is getting in the news lately:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003396.html
We can say “at least we’re not that bad” or we can look at examples of areas with better air quality for something to aspire to. The following link shows where U.S. locations rank in air quality:
http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.50752/k.D532/Rankings.htm
Mercer Human Resources Consulting reviewed more than 300 cities around the world. The following list of cities is their top 25 of the world's cleanest. Many similar attributes characterize these locations such as a focus on high tech, education and headquartering of national and international companies along with an extensive public transit system.
Calgary, Canada
Honolulu, Hawaii
Helsinki, Finland
Ottowa, Canada
Minneapolis, MN
Oslo, Norway
Stockholm, Sweden
Zurich, Switzerland
Katsuyama, Japan - new City, 26,000 pop
Bern, Switzerland - 127,000 pop
Montreal, Canada
Vancouver, Canada
Boston, Mass
Lexington, KY
Pittsburgh, PN
Nurnberg, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand -179,000 pop
Dublin, Ireland
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Toronto, Canada
Lyon, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
Kobe, Japan
Omuta, Japan
Katsuyama, Bern and Wellington all have populations about the size of Florence County compressed into an area the size of the City of Florence. However, their mentioned strengths (high-tech industry, education, international corporations and diversity of transportation options) are important in every city across the globe. These highlighted examples may serve as a focus for improvements in Florence County systems.
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