In Their Own Words

Bob Dixson, Daniel Wallach, Darin Headrick, Kelly Estes, Mike Estes

Over 300 computers were connected on Monday for the Department of Energy's webinar, "Greensburg: America's Model Green Community in Their Own Words". The 90-minute presentation was introduced by Anthoney Perkins, who is with the DOE's EERE program, which stands for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. GreenTown's Executive Director, Daniel Wallach, led the audience through presentation slides which offered visuals of how the town looked before the tornado, its post-tornadic destruction, and the present-day progress. He was first joined by School Superintendent Darin Headrick, who gave a riveting account of the discussions held by city leaders in the days after the storm, ultimately making the decision to build back green. Darin also shared details about the new 125,000 square foot K-12 school, which is being built to LEED Platinum specifications and is on track to open its doors in August 2010. (Readers can follow the school's progress at builder McGown Gordon's live webcam onsite.)

Mayor Bob Dixson was introduced by Daniel as "a wonderful ambassador for Greensburg". He gave an inspiring talk, describing the community as "new pioneers of the 21st century" and emphasizing the importance of stewardship of the land. He invited listeners to "come and grow with us".

Following the mayor was Mike Estes, Vice-President of BTI-Greensburg, the local John Deere dealership. Mike started off his talk by acknowledging that "we wouldn't be here without the help of the world". He talked about the extensive damage to BTI from the tornado, and how he and his brother, Kelly, met with then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius and President George Bush in the foyer of their destroyed dealership building five days after the storm to discuss the rebirth of Greensburg. The Estes brothers were instrumental in helping to start up the local Business Redevelopment Group, which met weekly for 18 months to get the business sector on track. Mike talked about their new John Deere building, which achieved LEED Platinum certification and now serves as a model for new dealerships within the corporation.

Kelly Estes, President of BTI, was next up on the agenda. His presentation focused on the wind energy business that the Estes family has launched in addition to rebuilding their farm implement dealership. Early on in the rebuilding process they were gifted with an Endurance wind turbine, and they were so impressed with the technology that they set up BTI Wind Energy to market and service this brand throughout the U.S. and Canada. Their "Harvest the Wind" network is already up and running in 300 locations in 44 states and 6 Canadian provinces.

The program ran a bit long, so not all questions from listeners were able to be attended to. People were invited to write to info(at) greensburggreentown.org if they wanted more information about the topics covered in the presentation.

At the end of the session, Mayor Dixson remarked that "sustainability transcends politics". Greensburg seeks to inspire other communities to incorporate some of the same technologies and practices that have been introduced locally. This is our "chance to step out and be bold, and do something you can all be proud of".

Thanks to the Department of Energy/National Renewable Energy Lab for setting up and publicizing the webinar, to all of the speakers who spoke so eloquently and passionately about Greensburg, and to the people from throughout the country who spent an hour and a half with us to hear the story of the Green Initiative.

While the presentation slides are available for immediate viewing, the complete webinar with audio will be posted on the EERE site at a later date. We will keep you posted.