Greensburg was mostly destroyed by the tornado of May 4, 2007. Some homes on the outskirts were repairable. But most of the core of the town was completely wiped out. Debris was everywhere. Hohl’s son’s bedsheet was lodged in a tree, where it would stay for 10 years. And the town’s roughly 1,400 residents had to not only figure out how to put their own lives back together but how to rebuild the town and the community that many had been part of for generations. The decision they made, not to rebuild the town as it was, but to use the tragedy as an opportunity for reinvention, made Greensburg a pioneer in the clean energy revolution. Today, many cities and towns around the world are racing to stave off the climate crisis by constructing environmentally friendly buildings and switching to renewable energy — steps that Greensburg began taking almost two decades ago. (…) After the tornado, multiple businesses committed to returning and some established families did, too, though many older residents chose not to rebuild. At town meetings, an idea emerged that Greensburg should build back green. The town brought in outside sustainability consultants, who helped residents draw up plans to rebuild Greensburg at the highest level of sustainable architecture and energy consumption.
Source: Yale Climate Connections
