07 April 2009
Tornado-Shattered Town Rebuilds with Commitment to Environment
Daniel Wallach promotes green technology in rebuilding effort
This is the second article in a series on the rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas.
Washington — The wizard in the 1939 movie classic The Wizard of Oz turned out to be a charlatan. When Daniel Wallach showed up at a local meeting in May 2007 after a tornado destroyed Greensburg, Kansas, some townspeople thought he bore similarities to the character in the movie. One magazine nicknamed him the “wizard of Emerald City,” in reference to the mythical land of that film.
Wallach has been the primary face and voice of the town in the local, national and international media, making Greensburg's tornado tragedy and rebuilding effort known to the world and bringing in millions of dollars in grants and donations for the rebuilding effort.
As Wallach related in an interview with Natural Home magazine, a city council member in his 70s approached him in the street in the summer of 2007 when the effort to rebuild in an environmentally responsible manner was in full swing. “We are mighty happy with how all this is going, and you have been a very important part of it. I have to tell you, though, when you first were talking about all this, I thought you were a kook,” Wallach quoted the old man as saying.
But since Wallach brought his abilities as a fundraiser and social mobilizer to bear in fostering the rebirth of Greensburg, the townspeople no longer question his credentials.
As the founder and executive director of the charitable nonprofit organization Greensburg GreenTown, Wallach has educated, cajoled and inspired the community to adopt energy-efficient and renewable-energy technology.
He sees such technology as an essential element to the success of the town’s rebirth.
City Administrator Steve Hewitt said Greensburg has staked its survival as a community on “green” technology.
“We have got to go in a new direction in order to get businesses to come back and to attract new businesses,” he said. “We are going to try to create a center for ‘green collar’ jobs.”
Rural America has struggled to accept green technology because of high initial costs, according to Hewitt.
Embracing green buildings and other energy-efficiency measures has meant that initial reconstruction costs are about 5 percent higher than if traditional building methods were used, according to Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson. Over time, the savings in reduced energy consumption will pay for the initial investment.
Dixson said 12 "eco-homes" owned and operated by Wallach's organization will be the centerpiece of Greensburg's eco-tourism business.
The eco-homes will serve as bed and breakfast hotels, Wallach said. The first is scheduled to open before the second anniversary of the tornado on May 4.
“We call it the first science museum exhibit you can actually spend the night in,” Wallach said.
The eco-homes will demonstrate the use of green technologies, such as solar and wind energy.
Nevertheless, Hewitt said, getting people to stick to the commitment to go green when rebuilding has required Wallach to engage in a lot of persuasion.
“Daniel helps everyone understand the value of the effort,” he said.
GreenTown has been engaged in community organizing and rapport building. “GreenTown wasn't distracted by anything else,” Wallach told America.gov. “It got resources more focused. It's a very important player in concert with government and the for-profit sector.”
It also has listened to what people are excited about, Wallach said.
“It's about being a champion, an advocate for the green initiative, helping give it vision, helping inspire people to embrace it and be active in it,” he said.
Lynn Billman of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, credits Wallach with monitoring the town's commitment to green technology and advising the laboratory on its assistance programs to the town.
Because the laboratory no longer has a staff member based in Greensburg, Wallach serves as its local representative. In addition, he has gotten resources for Greensburg through AmeriCorps, a U.S. federal agency that organizes volunteers and free help from college students.
Another example of Wallach' wizard-like value to the community is the role he played in getting Caroma USA Inc., a bathroom fixture maker, to donate 400 water-conserving toilets.
The 400 homes with the toilets will save the community 5 million gallons [19 million liters] of water a year. The homes will serve as a model for larger communities, Wallach said.
More information on Greensburg GreenTown is available on its Web site.
More information on eco-homes is available on a Greensburg GreenTown blog.
