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BURLINGTON, VERMONT NAMED BEST GREEN PLACE TO LIVE IN AMERICA

Country Home Magazine Study Ranks Most Eco-Friendly Cities and Towns

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.

1. Among its unique green attributes, Burlington has developed a compost facility that collects food scraps from restaurants, supermarkets, institutions and food manufacturers, and the yard clippings and leaves from local residents and landscapers. Once finished composting, local farmers, gardeners and landscapers purchase this nutrient rich soil to use.

2. Over 16 percent of Ithaca residents (or 5,000 people) walk to work – the highest percentage in the nation. Combine that with bike riders, mass transit users and home office workers and Ithaca has the greenest commuters.

3. In Corvallis, over 15 percent residents, as well as the city government, purchase renewable energy. Corvallis was the first city on the West Coast to achieve the Green Power Community designation from the U.S. EPA. The achievement was met after the Corvallis City Council passed a resolution encouraging residents to switch to ‘green power.’

4. Springfield’s ReStore accepts donations home improvement materials and sells them to the public at low prices in a convenient retail setting. Inventory includes used and salvaged materials and surplus stock from the building industry.

5. Wentachee is dedicated to teaching young people about alternative energy resources. Each year at the world’s only Solar Drag Race, high school and college students, build and race battery-less, sunlight-propelled dragsters for a chance to win scholarships.

6. The Charlottesville community puts a value on trees, parks, greenspace, streams and biodiversity. In an effort to balance the natural and built environment and practice sustainability, Charlottesville encourages the use of green roofs, rainwater harvesting, porous paving and rain gardens. These concepts are being demonstrated by the city to encourage adoption in parks and public spaces.

7. Boulder has the country’s best organic food supply. The state’s largest farmers’ market is in Boulder and runs from April to November and is backed by Whole Foods and a network of co-ops and local producers.

8. In Madison, the Eco-Fruit project, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has both policy and field components that enable Wisconsin fruit growers to reduce pesticide use without sacrificing fruit quality. In the Eco-Fruit project's first two years, growers reduced pesticide risk by 58 percent and increased their reliance on Integrated Pest Management strategies by 13 percent.

9. Binghamton nonprofit organizations extensively promote healthy and organic eating habits. One volunteer group, Club VEG reaches out to educate the public, health care professionals, and health organizations about the benefits of a plant-based diet.

10. Renewable Energy Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is working to meet the state’s renewable portfolio standard which requires that, by 2006, at least 2% of the electricity sold to Illinois customers be generated from renewable resources. The amount of electricity from renewable resources is required to increase at least by 1% annually, reaching at least 8% in 2012 and 16% in 2020.

“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.

2007 Best Green Places
1. Burlington, VT
2. Ithaca, NY
3. Corvallis, OR
4. Springfield, MA
5. Wenatchee, WA
6. Charlottesville, VA
7. Boulder, CO
8. Madison, WI
9. Binghamton, NY
10. Champaign-Urbana, IL
11. Ann Arbor, MI
12. San Diego, CA
13. La Crosse, WI
14. Pittsfield, MA
15. Eau Claire, WI
16. Durham, NC
17. Norwich-New London, CT
18. Eugene, OR
19. San Francisco, CA
20. Chico, CA
21. Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
22. Barnstable Town, MA
23. Utica-Rome, NY
24. Missoula, MT
25. Asheville, NC

About Country Home
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 décor, 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