From Stockholm to Sydney to Singapore, these 28 cities work hard to keep things clean and green.

 

Below is a graphic from Hassle.com revealing the cleanest cities dotting the planet. This list speaks to the treehugger in us for its attention to the things that tug at our arboreal-embracing heartstrings. Birmingham, England is recognized for cutting down CO2 emissions and Chicago gets a shout-out for its 2 million square feet of rooftop gardens; New Delhi is commended for its minimal waste output and Bogota gets high marks for its public transportation. You get the picture.

 

While rankings like these are always somewhat subjective – they're dependent on which data a compiler chooses to use and how they want to spin it – it's heartening to see a collection of cities doing their part for not only the inhabitants of their urban clime, but for all of us. Because if every city on the globe was paying attention to reducing CO2 emissions and cutting waste and pumping up public transit and encouraging rooftop gardens, this big gorgeous gal of a planet might be a bit tidier all around.

 

Read on to see which cities are praised for their efforts and all the various ways people can work toward making their environments cleaner.