Yay Kansas!

Growing up in Kansas, was not necessarily my idea of fun times, however, compared to where I call my hometown a farm in an even smaller town of Oklahoma, Kansas had it's bonuses for sure.  It was nice to have a mall nearby to torment during those teen years.  It was nice to have a movie theater close by in Kansas as well.  Compared to the 30 min or more drive that would be necessary to even find a Wal-Mart in my hometown.

During my high school years, I kept making a promise to myself (like all children of a small town) that I would one day move away and not look back.  I was determined to "Get the heck out of Dodge" as they say.  I was sure that the size of the town, the lack of opportunities, the gossip of the people there, the general small stuffy feeling was what was keeping me unhappy.  Come to find out years later, it doesn't really matter where you live, you can be happy or unhappy anywhere.  Happiness is what you make of it.

However, I have still felt that pulling teeth was what it would take to get me to move back.  There is truly nothing in Kansas for me now, just memories of the past which isn't what I necessarily want to keep re-living.  There is this one thing, that has brought the thought of moving back to my mind... This one thing that has made me think that maybe living and raising my children (someday) in Kansas wouldn't be such a bad idea.

What's this phenomenal one thing?  Greensburg, Kansas!  Here's the story (which you can read by clicking the link for more accurate detail), in 2007 a tornado tears up quite literally all of the town (95% per article).  The town (with funding) decides to rebuild in a better, more futuristic-ly focused way, they GO GREEN!  YAY KANSAS!

 

Greensburg, Kansas is the first official Green town in Kansas, and one of the first in the US to start this new trend of building all their buildings in a greener, less detrimental way to the environment.  So maybe this statement will make me seem really country, but even the John Deere Store in Greensburg is wind powered!  :)  It makes me happy to think that people are finally paying attention and trying to change the way we do things to make this world a better place, one thing at a time to make a bigger difference in the long run.

Not only has the rebuilding of the town gotten a lot of media hype and it's own reality show on a sister channel of Discovery with Leonardo DiCaprio as the Executive Producer, it's also creating more green jobs, which promotes the greener way of living.  By one town in the middle of nowhere (essentially) going green, they have literally caused a movement, opened the eyes of millions and gotten me to seriously thinking about moving back to Kansas, if only to live in one of the new green homes in Greensburg and work one of the new green jobs there as well.

Not saying I will move back, but it's definitely got me to thinking that Kansas might not be so bad after all.  As for now, perhaps other towns nearer to me will become greener and convince me to stay away from Kansas. ;)  I feel it is absolutely necessary for me to post this article however, if only to say "YAY KANSAS!"  I am thrilled at this movement, because I feel it is in the correct direction.  Yay Kansas!  Think about it.