Almost 2 years ago, on May 4th 2007, a huge tornado ripped through the rural town of Greensburg, Kansas, killing eleven people and leaving miles of debris in its path.

People in Greensburg faced the overwhelming task of rebuilding their town from nothing. But some, like Greensburg City Administrator Steve Hewitt, think the tornado brought a little bit of good with the whole lot of bad.

He says “It forced people to change…to invest back in the community so that [kids] graduate and they can have new jobs and new opportunities.”

Not only did they set about creating more opportunities for young people, but Greensburg finally lived up to its name and got, well, green!

City leaders are using solar and wind technologies to get power and heat, and re-building buildings with solid concrete to conserve heat, using more natural light, and installing better insulation and state-of-the-art energy-conserving windows.

The town is also building “eco homes,” green houses with energy-efficient features and many hope Greensburg will become and example for other small towns and big cities that may not be taking advantage of natural resources to get a little greener.

To see what you can do to help out after a natural disaster.

Greening your town starts with greening your house, something you can do right now! Find out how to green your house, or even better, help the Obamas green their house.