Greensburg GreenTown

On May 7, 2007, the 65-mile-wide city of Greensburg was destroyed by an F5 tornado, leaving only two buildings standing. On top of obliterating every home, tree and business, 12 residents lost their lives that day and displaced 1,400 residents. Looking on the bright side of things, the residents have made "green" its rebuilding mantra, proclaiming itself a “national model for environmentally conscious living” and winning attention and resources in the process." According to Mayor John Janssen of Greensburg, "The tornado was one of the biggest blessings to hit our town; we were like every other town in the Rust Belt and the Midwest. We were dying a slow, agonizing death. Suddenly, we don't have a town. So we're rebuilding a new green town." Since this pledge was made, Greensburg GreenTown, a grassroots community-based organization has worked closely with city and county officials, business owners and local residents to include sustainable principles into their renovation process.
Even though it came at a price, it is good that the town of Greensburg is able to start over in a more eco-friendly way. I agree with their plan to go green and make all buildings have “energy-efficient appliances, high-grade insulation and thermal-pane windows that can cut heating and cooling costs.” This is the direction the whole United States needs to move towards and it should not have to take a devastating tornado to do so. If all cities applied these energy efficient homes, whether it included solar roofs, green roofs or better insulation, money could be saved and pollution lessened. About 43 miles from Greensburg is a new wind farm in Spearville, Kansas. It is said that one of the turbines on the wind farm would be plenty to power Greensburg on most days. With all of this potential, how can this going green method be ignored by the rest of the U.S.? The rest of U.S. citizens need to educate themselves on the huge impacts of living more sustainable and using eco-friendly planning to construct a new and healthier life. Hopefully, this rebuilding will make citizens move to Kansas because Greensburg will not just be using environmental planning practices, they will be sustainable, produce their own power, be energy efficient with buildings as well as have residents who are well educated and prepared to practice sustainability on a daily basis.