Maine Stands Out in Latest Report on Environmental Excellence

A recent report shows that Mainers are breathing easy when it comes to our environmental impact.

WalletHub, a national affairs website, recently published its annual report on the greenest states in America.

The Pine Tree State fared well in this year's report, as it was named the 8th greenest state in the nation. All Mainers should take a bow, because this is certainly a ranking to be proud of. It's also two spots higher than what it was ranked in last year's report.

WalletHub gave Maine a "green score" of 70.10 out of a possible 100 points. The scoring system is based on three major categories to determine a state's eco-friendliness: environmental quality, eco-friendly behaviors, and climate-change contributions. These categories were broken down into 25 subcategories to make it as detailed as possible. You can read more about the methodology here.

Maine's category rankings were very solid, especially for environmental quality (6th overall) and eco-friendly behaviors (7th overall). The state was a little lower in climate-change contributions, with a ranking of 24th. But it was still good enough to keep Maine in the top 10.

It probably comes as no surprise to see Maine ranked so highly in this report. The state and its citizens have always recognized the importance of our climate and natural resources. We are also proud of our quality of life, which includes our amazing-tasting water and clean air. It's just a few of the many reasons why it's such a great place to live.

Maine was joined by many of its New England cousins on the top end of WalletHub's report, including Vermont, which was the highest-ranked at number two. The only state to top it was California. Here's a look at the rest of the region.

9. Connecticut
10. Massachusetts
12. Rhode Island
19. New Hampshire

How impressive to see the entirety of New England in the top 20. It's almost like this is the best region to live in.

Congratulations to West Virginia for being the least-green state. Nice to see that my former home is still doing nothing to protect its beauty. This is simply maddening.

You can check out the entire list here.