Optimism and hope were nonexistent after a devastating tornado rolled through Greensburg, Kan., on May 4, 2007.
The twister destroyed 95 percent of homes and businesses in the town of 1,500. According to an article in this month’s TIME magazine, citizens of Greensburg already were falling on hard times before the storm hit. The town’s population was on the decline. Jobs were scarce. High school students left town after graduation. Then came the storm.
Somehow, though, Greensburg fought through the struggles and now has a clean slate on which citizens can rebuild their livelihood. At the center of that reconstruction is green building.
“Our church sometimes costs up to $1,000 a month to heat,” Marvin George, a pastor at the Baptist church in Greensburg tells TIME. “Now, I'm not a tree hugger by any means. But we have to be prepared for a future in which energy costs are only going up.”
The Greensburg City Council passed a resolution in January to certify all city-owned buildings as Platinum, the highest mark in the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.
Greensburg is the first city to pass such a resolution, according to the USGBC. “City buildings greater than 4,000 square feet will be certified LEED Platinum and be required to reduce energy use by 42 percent over current building code requirements,” according to the USGBC press release announcing the passing of the resolution.
The idea of greening Greensburg created both skeptics and advocates, according to the TIME article. But the potential benefits – saving on rising fuel costs, creating new jobs, and welcoming green businesses – of building more energy-efficient facilities helped create optimism among the citizens. And after the events of May 4, 2007, a little optimism could go a long way in Greensburg.