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I didn't believe it, either (New York? San Francisco? Portland?) but Sightline's Alan Durning makes a pretty compelling case that Seattle is, in fact, greener than Portland (both of which are less green than Vancouver, B.C., North America's most environmentally friendly city by far) based five of Sightline's Cascadia Scorecard indicators: health, economy, population, sprawl, and energy. (The indicators that are omitted are pollution and wildlife; it's unclear what impact including those two would have had on the overall outcome).

According to Durning, people born in  Seattle live three years longer than those born in Portland; have smaller families (an indication of both slower population increase and women's equality); are more likely to live in communities with access to transit, at least inside the city itself; create fewer greenhouse-gas emissions (thanks in large part to our reliance on hydroelectricity instead of, say, coal); and are substantially better-off than Portland residents. The poverty rate in Seattle is three points lower than in Portland, the unemployment rate is two points lower, and the median income is $12,000 a year higher.

"In fairness," Durning adds as a caveat,

some of the data are weak. Other indicators might have favored Portland.

Furthermore, the standings are not necessarily reflections of effort or intentions. Many other causes are in play. Seattle has carbon-neutral electricity, for example, mostly because the city utility locked up some of the best hydropower locations in the Northwest a century ago. It has a denser center city than Portland partly because it is the heart of a much larger metropolitan area. It’s health and prosperity are reflections of the greater wealth and economic dynamism of the state and metropolis it centers.

Meanwhile, all of the cities’ standings are reflections of scores of decisions, many of them made decades ago, often for unrelated reasons. Neighborhood opposition to freeway building stopped Vancouver from following Seattle and Portland’s leads and building downtown freeways. Now, the city benefits from a less car-dependent urban form.

Still, in the end, sustainable progress is measured in facts, not intentions. So whatever the reasons, the standings matter.

It's an interesting read.