Most Eco-Friendly States This Earth Day

Most Eco-Friendly States This Earth Day
Fact Checked by Jim Tomlin

Climate change rears its ugly head more and more on a daily basis across the globe, with sustainability becoming more important to combat that surge in emissions. So there has never been a more important time to take care of the planet we call home.

In Mississippi, that message appears to be taking root. The Magnolia State is among the national leaders when it comes to solar installations per capita and collective search interest on topics related to Earth Day which is coming April 22.

BetMississippi.com took a break from covering Mississippi sports betting concerns to cast a wider glance at an important issue. We used data from Google Trends between Feb. 29 to March 7 this year to see which states were searching for the topics “Earth Day” and “Sustainability.” Then we used information from SolarPower.Guide to find out how many solar installations per capita there are per state using the above Google Trends criteria. We created a system based on the average search interest scores and the solar installations per capita to create an overall ranking of the most sustainable states.

Most Sustainable States

Rank, State Solar Installations per Capita Avg. Search Interest Score
T1. Hawaii 6,403.31 69
T1. Rhode Island 718.98 100
3. New Mexico 1,253.89 66
4. Wisconsin 122.33 70
T5. Texas 312.51 63
T5. Iowa 185.74 66
T7. Kansas 31.95 64
T7. Pennsylvania 265.10 62
9. Indiana 57.84 62
10. Mississippi 27.47 62

Mississippi Among Most Interested States In Earth Day

Mississippi residents seem to have a collective interest in Earth Day and sustainability in general, based on our research. The state has an average search interest score of 62 relating to searches for “Earth Day” and “Sustainability,” while the state’s 27.47 solar installations per capita rank 10th out of the group.

Overall, Mississippi ranked just behind Indiana when it came to interest in Earth Day. Hawaii and Rhode Island were the national leaders, with the Rainbow State having 6,403.31 solar installations per capita (to Rhode Island’s 718.98) but a much lower search interest score (69) than the Northeastern state (100).

Other states in the top four were New Mexico (1,253.89 solar installations per capita and a search interest score of 66) and Wisconsin (122.33 and 70). Texas and Iowa tied for fifth in our calculations while Pennsylvania tied Kansas for seventh.

Indiana and Mississippi rounded out the national top 10, proving that interest in Earth Day spans coasts in America, as we look for ways to keep the planet healthy and safe in the years ahead.

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Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan is a writer at BetMississippi.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.