On May 4th of this year, a small town in Kansas was hit by a terrible tornado. This tornado was estimated to be almost 2 miles wide and traveled a distance of 22 miles. And with winds up to 205 miles per hour, it reached the highest rating possible as a “5” on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

Greensburg, Kansas is the town that endured this tornado. With a population of around 1500 people, it left 10 people dead and also destroyed 95% of Greensburg, leaving the small farming community in shambles.

What Now?

Now, in the aftermath of this EF5 tornado, with only about half of the town’s population remaining, the town has come up with more than just the typical plan to rebuild.

Even though nature is the cause for this town’s disaster, it has decided that it will help nature in spite of that. They have put into place a plan that will not only reconstruct, but reconstruct it Green.

"I think everybody wants to be part of something special. And here, why not Greensburg? Why not Greensburg? Here's something new. Here's something that's never been done before," said Steve Hewitt, city administrator.

With this new start, Greensburg has declared they want to be an example, that being energy-efficient as a city can be done successfully.

The Methods

Future energy-saving plans for the city of Greensburg are simple, yet effective. They plan to harness some of the strong winds that travel over the Great Plains, where Greensburg is located, turning it to energy to help power the city.

They plan to have a more walk-friendly downtown, giving the residents a chance to walk to their destinations instead of driving. They also plan to have a more energy-efficient city hall, so the town is looking into solar power.

As the residential areas begin to rebuild, homeowners are encouraged to build greener as well. Simple changes are available, such as facing their homes towards the south to better use natural light and installing toilets that function on less water. Geothermal heating and cooling systems is also another way these homeowners are becoming greener.

A Means to the Method

These new methods are costing Greensburg, Kansas more initially, but they know in the long term, it will actually save the city money in efficiency.

To gather the funds needed for this new beginning, the city is applying for government grants and also appealing to private industries. This will give environmental businesses that contribute an advertising opportunity as the city leads the nation in this green cause.

Much of the needed money has already been given to the community in various government disaster relief funds because of the tornado. And homeowners have the opportunity at lower mortgage rates through the government if they build energy-efficient homes.

Hollywood Likes It

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio loves the idea, along with Craig Piligian, former television producer of “Survivor” and current producer of Discovery Channel shows like “American Chopper”.

So Greensburg, Kansas may be “put on the map” when a new 13-part series called “Eco-Town” airs next year under a new channel called Planet Green. This new channel, put on by the Discovery Channel, will host shows with an environmental focus.

DiCaprio, who serves as the co-executive producer on this project, will be visiting the town in the future. And Piligian plans on filming beyond the 13 episodes to capture the completion of Greensburg’s green project.

A Happy Ending

So it looks as if Greensburg, Kansas will get its wish to be an example to other cities, through the media and Hollywood.

And who knows? Maybe this will inspire those other cities to do the same, while being thankful they didn’t have to go through such a horrible disaster to do so.

Photo Courtesy of Stacy Barnes