The world is green with envy.....

I’ve now had the rare experience—I won’t say privilege---of having been in two different cities that have been destroyed by level F-5 tornadoes. I was in Joplin, Missouri, four days after their city was hit by a massive mile-wide twister that killed almost 200 people and destroyed several neighborhoods and huge commercial areas as well. Walking through that mess, one cant help but get the feeling that they will never rebuild. But all one needs to do is go to Greensburg, Kansas, a few hundred miles west of Joplin, to see what can happen.
On May 4, 2007, Greensburg was hit by their own F-5 tornado. Incredibly, it was almost twice as wide as the one that hit Joplin and it leveled 95 percent of the city. There was almost nothing left but the wreckage. Oh, and a grain elevator.
Grain elevators are massive structures. They look like silos, which they basically are, but better. Thick concrete and steel, reinforced to the hilt. When the tornado was finished with Greensburg, their grain elevator was unscathed.
And it was an inspiration.
Judy, whose house was one of the 5 percent not destroyed completely, gives tours. During the tour that I attended, she recalled that after the twister, she looked out at where her neighbors and the city used to be, saw only the grain elevator still standing, and knew it was not a good situation. Incredibly, only 12 people perished, but the property losses were staggering and crippling. Then something remarkable began to happen. The city began to rebuild. Not only did they start putting up buildings, but they made the conscious decision to “go green” and focus on making the city the first environmentally friendly city in the country.
Ten wind turbines power the city. Another separate turbine powers the hospital, and there are huge solar panels all around that augment the turbines and help to heat water .
A neighborhood is just getting underway, and all of the homes in it are going to be Eco-Homes. It was at the Silo Eco-Home that I saw the tour that Judy was giving, and got to see the home of the future.
Based on the design of the grain silo, the home is round, with 6 inch concrete reinforced walls. All of the materials used to make the home, or most of them, are recycled materials. Molding is recycled Styrofoam, and is as heavy and workable as wood, and the price is the same. I felt it and could not believe it was Styrofoam. Some of the “wood” used is actually bamboo. It was used for the flooring and can be seen in the photo of the stairway included here. The countertops were made of recycled bits of tile, all molded together to make a new surface.
The coolest thing to me was the toilets. Called Dual Flush, there are two buttons on the tank. One for lighter flushes and one for, as Judy put it, heavier loads.
There are many many more interesting things about the house, and the website for info is www.greensburggreentown.org. Check it out, and see if you can’t steal an idea or two.
I know the above sounds like an advertisement for the place, and maybe it is. It was really inspirational to see how a city that has no right to even be still around is flourishing on the Kansas plains, but they are, four short years after being knocked down by mother nature. I know Joplin will be able to rise up as well, and that is a good thing.
Reflecting on the Kansas experience thus far: its flat. And hot. And long miles between towns/cities. Miles and miles of farmland and not a tree insight at times, and then voila! A town appeareth. It reminds me of Europe quite a bit. Villages appear out of nowhere, and then disappear and nothing but countryside. But Europe doesn’t have armadillos, so how can it be better there?
Next up for me: Dodge City.
When I was a kid, there were two human subjects, after dinosaurs generally, that I read everything I could get my hands on, about them. Ty Cobb was one, and Wyatt Earp was the other. The years have not been kind ot my memories of old Wyatt, though, and a lot of what I read I have forgotten. He was THE law in Dodge City, though, and I relish the thought of re-learning as much as I can about him and his brothers Morgan and Virgil.
Stay tuned, Earp fans….