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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Hope springs from tragedy: A city rebuilds to become better, stronger and greener
Posted by Katie Machol on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 11:08 AM
In May 2007, the city of Greensburg, Kansas, was hit by an EF5 tornado that wiped out 95 percent of the city and killed eleven people. Now, the city is working on becoming better, stronger and greener.
Greensburg is now being rebuilt as a "green" town, with all city buildings being LEED certified platinum (the first city in the country to do so) and residents being educated on how to live greener and more sustainably. These efforts have been made possible with the help of Greensburg Greentown, a non-profit organization, and by charter supporters like Ben & Jerry's, Brighter Planet, Clif Bar, and Stonyfield Farm, who have purchased ten wind turbines for the city.
"The purpose of this residential development is to create “Living Laboratories” featuring a variety of building techniques, sizes, prices, energy efficiency features, and green living products and services. Each home will be unique, and each will be available both as an informational center and as eco-lodging where people can experience green living first hand. This will be the first such project in the nation, and will be key to developing eco-tourism in Greensburg, Kansas."
FreeGreen is also sponsoring an Eco-Home design contest where designers and architects can create their visions of "three seemingly ordinary homes that act in extraordinarily green ways". They're allowing the public to vote online for the top three designs that will be built as part of the Chain of Eco-Homes. Voting ends on the last day of September and the contest can be found here.
It is so wonderful to see people and companies working together to turn tragedy into hope for this Kansas town. Let's hope that this town's green aspirations succeed, thrive, and become an inspiration that other cities look to.
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