Community Leadership 4.0: Impacting a World Gone Wiki by Corbin Carolyn

Author:Corbin, Carolyn [Corbin, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Booksurge
Published: 2011-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

A Study of Courage: Greensburg, Kansas

Tragedy has turned to triumph in Greensburg, Kansas. On May 4, 2007, the most severe category (EF5) tornado devastated this small rural town. Winds were clocked at greater than 200 miles per hour. After the tornado damage was assessed, it was determined that 95 percent of the town was totally destroyed, and 11 people had been killed. In the months following the devastation, approximately 700 people moved from Greens-burg, leaving the population numbers hovering around 800.

Rather than feeling victimized by such tragedy, the leaders and citizens of Greensburg sought opportunity. Operating from a tent where people gathered for town planning meetings, church services, and sharing meals, the community leaders carved out a vision for Greensburg’s future. The town meetings were intense. People were hurting but determined to rebuild—and to rebuild bigger and more sustainable than before the tornado struck.

The vision was to go “green.” Because many of the citizens were involved in agriculture, there was already a love of the land expressed by an appreciation for preserving the environment. Also the word green was in the name of the town. Additionally, the leaders and citizens felt that a green city theme would be a fantastic economic development tool for attracting new businesses to the community. The city council passed a resolution declaring that the town would build its structures to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum standards. With that declaration, Greensburg would be the first town in the nation to build all structures according to these strict environmental standards. Short-term, the cost would be higher than restoring the town to the former building designs. But the leaders and citizens determined that the green plan would reap profits in many ways for Greensburg in the long-term.

This vision and plan execution takes a generous dose of courage. New home construction is costing the people much more than the replacement value of their former homes, therefore their mortgages are a great deal higher. Some of them are working two jobs to afford the luxury of building to green standards. They, however, feel that it’s worth the investment. A majority of the townspeople have a firm faith in God and feel that there is a Providential hand guiding Greensburg’s future. Citizens are willing to work hard to execute the community’s vision.

Greensburg GreenTown is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help make green building principles easy to understand and aid in the reconstruction of Greensburg. People and businesses from a broad spectrum are donating through GreenTown to help Greensburg in its green building efforts. For more information on GreenTown, please access its website at http://www.greensburggreentown.org .

Greensburg is indeed moving toward many qualities of a Community Leadership 4.0 model. The leaders and townspeople have a unique spirit that drives them to live out the definition of courage that I mentioned earlier: getting up when you had rather stay down, keeping on when it would be easier to quit, and looking ahead with hope when others are turning back in despair.

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