A Tornado Destroyed Greensburg So They Rebuilt as America’s Greenest Town

Hope Is My Middle Name

Growing up on a farm in Kansas, Bob Dixson never dreamed of being mayor. But when a tornado leveled 95% of his small town he came out of retirement and into rebuilding from the rubble, a thriving climate resilient community. Today Greensburg is America’s greenest town, powered entirely by renewable energy with smart infrastructure for water conservation, and the most LEED-certified buildings per capita in the US.  

Hear the story of Greensburg, as Bob tells it, from the night the tornado took the roof off his house, to the example it is today of resilience, small town values, good ol’ Midwest pragmatism, and hope.

Find episode transcript and links for Bob Dixson and Greensburg at HopeIsMyMiddleName.com

If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia, Hope Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 8. 

Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

If you like the show, please follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave us a 5-star rating and review. It makes a big difference in helping us reach more people with more HOPE.

Thanks for listening!

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada