NEW YORK (March 8, 2007) - Country Home magazine announced today its first ever Best Green Places, the results of a nationwide study on green living. The study, administered in conjunction with Sperling's BestPlaces, reveals that Burlington, Vermont is the 2007 Best Green Place to live in America. The study is the April green issue of Country Home which hits newsstands March 20th.
Burlington is located on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain between the Adirondack and Green Mountains in northwest Vermont. With programs like Burlington Eco Info Project, the community of Burlington, including the residents, businesses and government, values a green lifestyle and makes it a priority. The Eco Info Project has had a dialogue with Burlington to understand the community's environmental priorities and works with community groups and city, state and national government to take action and maintain 'green' standards for air, water, land and energy.
Rounding out the top 10 Best Green Places are: Ithaca, New York; Corvallis, Oregon; Springfield, Massachusetts; Wenatchee, Washington; Charlottesville, Virginia; Boulder, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Binghamton, New York; and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The study appears in Country Home magazine's April green issue, on newsstands today.
"We are seeing a real interest by readers in exploring eco-friendly choices," said Country Home Editor-in-Chief Carol Sheehan. "We wanted to find out who in America is actually taking action, where they are, and what they are doing."
The Best Green Places study which is based on data discovered by Sperling's BestPlaces examines 24 data metrics in 5 major categories -- including air and watershed quality, mass transit usage, power usage, farmers markets, organic producers, and number of green-certified buildings -- to determine which metro areas are the best places to live a green life. Sperling's BestPlaces ranked the 379 major metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Over 80 percent of all U.S. residents live in these 379 metro areas.
Data was collected from sources which include the Census Bureau, the U.S. Green Building Council, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the GreenPeople.org online directory.
"Country Home is very dedicated to supporting, encouraging and inspiring the green lifestyle - something we are seeing the marketplace and our advertising partners embracing as well." said Country Home Publisher Tony Imperato.
Country Home wants to hear about other cities that embrace green. If there's a community that didn't top the Best Green Places to Live list and celebrates green living, go to CountryHome.com and tell us about it. The top 10 online submissions, as determined by Country Home readers will be posted online and honored with an award. Detailed results of our study of 379 cities will also be posted on CountryHome.com.
For 25 years, Country Home magazine has redefined the vision of country. Country Home speaks to the desire for style with editorial features that blend formal and familiar, classic and casual, to inspire readers to explore their own personal tastes. The magazine presents fresh, actionable ideas that are relevant to all aspects of readers' lifestyles, including home d�cor, food and entertaining, fashion and well-being, travel and shopping. Country Home, published by Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), has over 8.3 million readers, is published 10 times per year and has a rate base of 1.25 million. The magazine was nominated for a 2005 National Magazine Award in photography.
CONTACT: Lisa Bagley, 212-551-7189, lisa.bagley@meredith.com
Patrick Taylor, 212-551-6984, patrick.taylor@meredith.com