| Anita Hohl | Apr 01, 2008 03:42 PM (UTC) |
On the night of May 4, 2007, an EF-5 tornado, close to 2 miles wide, wiped out 95% of Greensburg, Kansas.
After the cleanup started, the Greensburg City Council approved a resolution that all city building projects will be built to LEED Platinum level standards. This makes Greensburg, Kansas the first city in the United States to do this. Greensburg is being rebuilt as a Green Town.
Greensburg Greentown is a non-profit organization created to help Greensburg residents, and others, learn about green building, and green living. We have lots of information, both on green issues and on the happenings and progress of Greensburg. I'd like to share our link with you all - http://www.greensburggreentown.org/. We'd appreciate any help we can get to get the word out about what Greensburg, Kansas is doing!
NPR's "All things considered" did a 7 minute story on us, listen in here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17643060
TIME Magazine did a story about us, HERE:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1709542,00.html
Good Morning America:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3481957
If this small farming community in Kansas can do this, any town or city in America can! We want to be an example for other communities, especially those facing rebuilding after storm damage!
| Phil Mitchell | Apr 02, 2008 01:26 AM (UTC) |
Anita, what an amazing story! I would love to get more info about this, and share it with others. I checked out your web site, which is very nice, but didn't find a write-up that gives an overview of what you're doing and how you're doing it. People would love to know, for instance, how a modest income town in conservative Kansas makes a decision like this and can afford to do it.
Also, you might want to update your Wikipedia page with info about what you're doing!
| Anita Hohl | Apr 02, 2008 01:50 AM (UTC) |
Because of the destruction, people recieved insurance money for their homes and businesses, and the city and county governments recieved some federal money in addition - everyone made a conscious decision to use it to move forward, and not building back the old way. We want the future to be better than the present. Taking tragedy and using it to make a better future.
I'll talk to someone more knowledgable than myself to update the Wikipedia page! Good idea...