A Red State Town Turns Green

[Dan Moadus]

How much did all this cost us?

[irishbobcat]

A Red State Town Turns Green

On May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas, was destroyed by an F5 tornado.  Almost every building in town was leveled.  Eleven were killed, dozens injured.  Yet within days, the people of Greensburg had committed to rebuild their town, and to rebuild green.  Today, Greensburg is the greenest town in the USA, and maybe the world.  Much of their electricity now comes from wind.  There's some solar.  There's geothermal.  And there's highly efficient buildings.  There are more LEED Platinum rated buildings in Greensburg per person, and per acre, than anywhere in the United States.  All town buildings are now LEED Platinum.  There are Platinum rated homes, a beautiful, LEED Platinum school for the children of Kiowa county, and Platinum-rated private businesses.  People come from all over the world to see how a small farming community pulled together to rebuild and transform. 

And yet Greensburg rebuilt green.  Make no mistake, the folks there still drive pickups, and you won't see many Priuses.  But Greensburg shows that we don't have to sit by and do nothing while oil imports weaken our economy, while the climate changes, while jobs keep moving offshore.  Greensburg shows that it's possible to make the dramatic changes we need to cut our dependence on fossil fuels and our greenhouse gas pollution, and that when we do we'll save money and live better.  Perhaps it's their pioneer spirit of self-reliance, or the conviction that we shouldn't be dependent on foreign oil, or that it's foolish to pay more for energy than we need to.  Whatever the source, Greensburg is important because it shows that building green isn't just for the affluent, isn't just for liberals, isn't a partisan issue, isn't a choice between a healthy economy or a healthy environment.  It's about preserving the environment so we can have a healthy economy.  It's about creating jobs by building green.  It's about taking charge of our future.  It's about our children. It's about what made this country great.