Snowden used lavabit.com, which is located in the US (and probably being scrutinized a bit more than usual these days).
I think it's more important to diversify services than to insist on airtight alternatives. My mail is not terribly exciting, but when combined with the rest of my searches, visited webpages [1], chats, news reading habits, social network connections, and phone location, all housed under Google's roof, it seems like I'm making it easier to piece together my life [2]. At least make it a little difficult by having to go to separate companies with court orders.
[1] And web developers contribute to the surveillance by installing analytics code.
[2] That of course is the Google AI wet dream, moar data.