June 10th, 2011
As a monster tornado bore down on Tuscaloosa last week, residents of Greensburg, Kansas were preparing for a weekend of festivities commemorating their recovery from a 2007 tornado.
The May 4 twister that nearly blasted Greensburg off the map was rated an EF5. It turned 95 percent of the town’s buildings to tinder and claimed 11 lives as it skidded across the western Kansas town.
Rebuilding the community of 800 has become a testament to how people can plunge in to a new way of living. While some residents left after the storm, many more have worked diligently to turn that dark event into an opportunity, constructing a new village made of sturdy, energy-efficient, sustainable homes that employ the latest technology.
Greensburg GreenTown's demonstration silo home
The village of Stella, Missouri, has constructed a veterans’ memorial of attractive design in the center of the village. 
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift
