Introducing Daniel Wallach of Greensburg, Kansas

The town of Greenburg, Kansas--the subject of a forthcoming series on Planet Green--after a tornado leveled the town in 2007.

My name is Daniel Wallach, and I am Executive Director of Greensburg GreenTown. My wife, Catherine Hart, is the Coordinator of Educational Services. GreenTown is a private nonprofit that is helping lead the effort to rebuild the town, Greensburg, Kansas that was devastated in a tornado (an EF-5 intensity, 1.7 mile wide tornado) back on May 4, 2007. The process will be documented in a 13-part series produced by Leonardo DiCaprio on the upcoming Planet Green network.

My wife and I live 35 miles north of town, but have been working in Greensburg since a week after the tornado. I am one of a few people (including the Mayor, City Administrator, and our Governor) that came up with the idea for a green Greensburg but it has been my job and my passion to help bring this dream to fruition since right after the storm. Our nonprofit has a formal agreement with the City to help facilitate this green initiative. http://www.planetgreen.com

We are excited to be able to share with you this rather magical adventure on TreeHugger. We have witnessed a terrible tragedy and the transformation of that experience into something of amazing beauty and of significant impact on the environmental movement in this country.

We will post about our successes, our failures and our remarkable experiences every day with the residents of Greensburg, and the world that is coming to “the middle of nowhere” to observe the transformation and help make it happen. We will ask you for support and ideas on how to bring our dreams closer to reality.