Yahoo! has unveiled Hastings Nebraska as the winner of its Greenest City in America Challenge.The search engine giant announced the top ten US cities in its Be a Better Planet campaign and Hastings secured the $250,000 (£125,000) grand prize.
Hastings residents will now benefit from even better environmental features in their city, as the top prize is being put towards "city greening projects" in conjunction with Global Green USA.
Yahoo! challenged people from over 350 US cities to take action against climate change, using its Yahoo! Green, Yahoo! oneSearch and Yahoo! Answers services.
The company's co-founder David Filo said: "The determined green spirit demonstrated by the people of Hastings, Nebraska, underscores Yahoo!'s belief that individual actions can add up to significant change.
"Cities from the coasts to the heartland rallied together to participate and we're encouraged by how the citizens came together around this important cause."
California proved to be the greenest State, with San Carlos, Mill Valley and Walnut Creek among the top ten.
Yahoo! celebrated Hastings' achievement by hosting a Nebraska-style BBQ at Chautauqua Park.
The city was offered the choice to accept a fleet of new hybrid taxis or the equivalent cash donation and opted for the latter to help improve its environmental programmes.
City Mayor Matt Rossen said: "This achievement has spurred us to become even greener and we thank all of the citizens in central Nebraska who have supported us and helped promote this great city and state in which we live."
