PLUS: 5 EARTH-FRIENDLY CITIES,

“Cities are on the front lines of climate impact,” says Hilary Firestone of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and interim director of the American Cities Climate Challenge. Those that make Mother Earth a priority give us more opportunities to do the right thing. They care about traffic congestion, public transportation, biking and walking options, renewable energy sources, tree canopies, good air quality and access to healthy food, like farmers markets, says Jill Gonzalez, senior analyst for WalletHub, which ranks the United States’ greenest cities every year on 28 different metrics. Here are five cities that get our green thumbs-up.