Greensburg Featured on Oprah's Website

Greensburg is one of the small American communities featured in an article posted January 15 on Oprah Winfrey's website. Reporter Erin White wrote Small Towns Going Green, which highlights the "green revolution" taking place in rural Midwestern America. Greensburg is featured on page 3 of this article, which also showcases the efforts of two other towns. Rock Port, Missouri (pop. 1,400) built a wind farm that provides 100% of the town's electricity needs. Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin (pop. 600) made the decision to come back using solar power in the 1970s after a severe flood prompted City leaders to move the whole community to higher ground. The history of this then-radical decision is recounted by filmmaker Brian Kosisky in his excellent documentary Solar Town, USA. This movie also includes a segment about Greensburg's decision to rebuild after the tornado as a model of sustainability. Ms. White interviewed GreenTown Director Daniel Wallach for the Oprah piece; among other things, he talks about how Greensburg is taking to heart the experience learned in Soldiers Grove.

The bottom line is that we're all here to learn from each other. In Greensburg we tell visitors that we are happy to share with them ideas about what to do - and what not to do. We have been accumulating lots of experience in this 32-month experiment in rebuilding as America's Model Green Community, and contained within our many successes have been lots of challenges and learning opportunities as well. We hope that other rural towns can find inspiration from what is happening in Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and all throughout the country. As the years unfold, we look forward to reading about how other folks are implementing their visions for their hometowns.