Laurel Nicolosi's Page

From Disaster to Sustainability - One Town's Success Story

I just read the article about the small town in Kansas that was decimated by an EF5 (very worst) tornado in 2007 - the documentary is amazing if you take the time to watch and absorb it...if you have ever been through a tornado or hurricane, you will understand! They say it is like the end of the world. No electricity, no lights, many houses gone...what would YOU do?

Here is the link if you want to see it for yourself and missed it in the Footprints - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08PM3YEqBcE

The results? 95% of the town was hit and destroyed, with over 1,000 homes gone, 250 businesses gone. They could have given up and all moved away. and that would have probably been easier. But this town decided to do something different. 500 residents met and the spirit of collaboration and hope, decided to refocus their energy on rebuilding their community - into a model of eco-friendly sustainability. Since they were starting with nothing, they were able to rebuild and revision their community in a completely new way, acknowledging the way their agrarian ancestors used to live. And more than that, now they had a mission.

One man, David Wallach, that lives in this community, calls himself a "social entrepreneur" and moved here with his wife to get away from the big city and live off the earth. He said, after the tornado hit, “Greensburg’s is a story of being stripped bare of everything you thought you knew and having to start over. Here was an opportunity to work with a community that was experiencing the kind of loss and suffering that my wife and I know firsthand — relatively few people really know that in the same way we do. And that is important; it is important that we have experienced loss, too. We thought we had something to give.”

To see photos of how they rebuilt and resurrected their town with a new purpose and model for sustainability, go here to Blue Planet Green Living to see the article - http://www.blueplanetgreenliving.com/2009/10/15/rebuilding-after-disaster-%E2%80%93-greensburg-becomes-a-green-town/

“Greensburg is like a living science museum,” explains Wallach, who serves as the executive director of Greensburg GreenTown. “It is a place where people come and immerse themselves and experience a sustainable community." After such destruction, it is good to see a town so anxious to rebuild and revisit their reason for being, and set an example for other towns. What an inspiration! :)