A recent New York Times article, entitled “After a Tornado, a Kansas Town Rebuilds Green,” highlights a community that had an unusual opportunity to rebuild from the ground up. The community’s journey provides an amazing glimpse into what happens as a community makes the decision to go green and acts on their plan.

Greensburg’s Story

In May 2007, an intense tornado basically flattened the town of Greensburg, Kansas (http://www.greensburgks.org) in a matter of minutes. It was a direct hit. The tornado damaged 90 percent of the buildings in the town. After the dust settled, the community came together and decided they wanted to rebuild their community. Rather than rebuild what they had, they created a vision for the future of their town that will make it the greenest town in the United States. (At the end of this article you’ll find links to a number of the documents they created during this phase of their project).

Greensburg’s accomplishments give us an unusual inside look at what happens as a community wrestles with how to become green. If you have the opportunity to watch the cable show, Greensburg, (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg/) that’s chronicling their progress, you can see the kinds of conversations, decisions, challenges, and successes they have.

Results of Greensburg’s Rebuilding

In a little over two years, Greensburg has made an amazing amount of progress. As you read the following list of projects that have been completed or are in process, notice the results they are expecting over time. The companies and residents investing in green buildings are saving money, using far less energy, reducing their carbon emissions, and creating jobs within the town.

– The first LEED platinum building in the state of Kansas was the 1,670 sq foot Greensburg Arts Center building, designed by graduate students at the University of Kansas. It is powered by wind, solar and geothermal energy and has architectural features that reduce the normal amount of power consumption.

– A rebuilt 28,500 sq foot, million John Deere tractor and equipment store has also been built to LEED platinum standards, including skylights, plumbing systems that save nearly 40,000 gallons a year, and two wind turbines generating a portion of the electricity used in the building. The buildings owners estimate they will save between ,000 and ,000 in costs compared to their old building.

– A 10,000 sq. ft., .4 million dollar business “incubator” has been built using a combination of funds from the USDA and the private sector including Frito-Lay Sun Chips, and the actor, Leonardo DiCaprio. This building will provide low rent and temporary housing for local small businesses such as a styling salon and a furniture store.

– Greensburg passed an ordinance stating that all municipal buildings over 4,000 sq. ft. be built to LEED platinum standards. The 4,700 sq ft. City Hall is about to open after being built to this standard.

– The city is using LED street lights that focus the light on the street and allows the residents to see the stars as well as saving 70% in energy and maintenance costs over the old sodium vapor lamps.

– The 1914 Kiowa County Courthouse survived the tornado and is being renovated to gold LEED standards at a cost of million. The building is being reconstructed with highly insulated walls, geothermal wells for heating and cooling, and energy efficient lighting.

– A large new county hospital is being constructed to LEED platinum standards. It will have a wind turbine to generate power, insulating glass windows, a system to process water from the laundry, showers and lavatories, and a way to capture rainwater and use it to flush the toilets plus other features that save energy resulting in a large cost savings.

– A 32 unit LEED certified town-home complex is under construction. Many of the 200 homes already rebuilt in Greensburg have been rebuilt green.

– Eventually all of the electricity needed to power Greensburg will come from wind turbines. Plans are under way to build a 12.5 megawatt, 10 turbine wind farm that will be capable of powering up to 4,000 homes.

– Ribbon cutting occurred this month at the new recycling center in Greensburg.

Green Career Opportunities

In addition to gaining a new appreciation of what it takes to bring a green element into a city’s plan, you can also uncover a number of career possibilities.

– Green building – This is the most obvious sector with green careers in this situation. Clearly lots of people have been working to reconstruct individual buildings and the infrastructure of the town, from the roads and parks to the power infrastructure.

– Green design – All that’s been built had to be designed by architects and designers. Again, the scale of this work varies from the individual residences to the large scale projects, from company locations to city buildings and the hospital.

– City planning – Consultants and local government employees assessed the current assets of the town and then created the new green, sustainable vision for the town.

– Building supplies and materials – Designing and manufacturing the materials used to build the structures in Greensburg is essential. Along with the manufacturing comes marketing, sales, and distribution of the materials.

– Power generation – Several power generation methods have been integrated into the town of Greensburg. Think solar, wind, and geothermal if you’d like to be involved in this part of greening the town.

Dive into the Details

If you’d like to work in any of the fields above, take some time to explore how Greensburg has transformed their city. By reading these documents you’ll get a feeling for the process they went through, which may help you gain a better understanding of the part you’d like to play in the green world.

– Read the full NY Times article about Greensburg. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/realestate/commercial/23kansas.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=greensburg&st=cse – Explore the Greensburg Vision created in December, 2007. http://www.greensburgks.org/recovery-planning/071212-VisionDocument-compressed.pdf -

Review the maps included in the Greensburg Atlas. http://www.greensburgks.org/recovery-planning/071213-Draft%20Atlas-Compressed.pdf

– Take a look at Greensburg’s Sustainable Master Plan, adopted in May 2008. http://www.greensburgks.org/recovery-planning/Greensburg%20Comprehensive%20Master%20Plan%2001-16-08%20DRAFT.pdf

There are a few different products in a with green tea. This tea has become popular for antioxidant properties that it carries along with the great taste of it. If you are in the market for this type of tea then there are many ways to search for them both locally and finding websites that offer green tea online. Throughout the years the Chinese and Japanese have had some of the best types of teas available and seem to have the climate that is best for growing excellent quality tea.

There are four main types of tea: green tea, black tea, oolong tea and white tea. When growers make the determination of what kind of specific tea plant is done when the leaves are processed after harvesting, and will give the indication of what kind it is. Many of these keys have organic qualities to them and that there are no pesticides or other harmful chemicals involved with the growing process. She wrote today is grown in very high altitudes China and Japan. Now there are some other areas like Northeast India, and other, this is a China that produce a different type of dark green tea, but is not grown in high altitudes.

If you look at who has been using green tea and pass see that benefits claim to help you live longer lives than others who do not drink it. Green tea itself can be purchased in different strengths. This is due to the growing process along with the drying process. It is also been known to reduce cardiovascular disease, boost the immune system, and reduce risk of cancer and speed up your metabolism. These qualities alone could have you drinking this tea every day. The only way to really receive the benefits of green tea online is to try it for yourself and use it for an extended length of time. If you like the taste of it could replace the tea that you drink regularly now

Hopefully, some of the information given here to help you research for green tea online along with some of the many green tea brands that are more popular than others. Make sure that you look at the strengths of the tea that you are buying from the record a website that offers this and other specialty keys that are both organic and naturally grown. I green tea online can save you some money in the long run and quality and price.

There are a plethora of natural home remedies from brown sugar to eliminate heartburn to corn syrup to control nausea that can be used by those who want alternatives to over the counter medications. More than a tasty, hot beverage, green tea is an important part of home remedies from skin and teeth care to general preventative measures and everything in between. For specific examples to ways to use green tea to get excellent benefits read below.

Green Tea and Skin Care

Positive skin effects in the area of skin care have been found with green tea. Acne and eczema are two specific areas. Green tea is a great, cheap alternative to the expensive toners and astringents used for acne. Green tea is used to make a concoction with other ingredients that can be applied to clean skin with a cotton ball. Some notice a decrease in the presence of acne by simply drinking the tea, even though you should be careful with the increase of the caffeine to your diet since this is linked to an increase in acne breakouts. Olive oil can also be added to green tea to make a treatment for eczema.

Homemade Mouthwash

Green tea can also be used as part of a homemade mouthwash in addition to skin care. You will have to avoid adding sugar and honey. The presence of fluoride in this light drink helps keep your teeth healthy by preventing tooth decay and strengthening your teeth and gums. The most basic recipe is adding the brewed tea to spring water. Although it can be added to other ingredients if you want to create flavors for your homemade mouthwash.

Preventative Medicine

Your overall health and well-being is thought to be helped by a daily intake of green tea. Free radical in our body can cause damage to cells and the tea is full of antioxidants that bind free radicals to our bodies. Cancer prevention has been linked to green tea through several studies. Green tea is also thought to promote an increase in metabolism as an essential benefit that helps burn fat and lowers cholesterol in the body. Green tea may also play a part in reducing the intensity of rheumatoid arthritis because of the antioxidants present in the tea. The benefits of green tea are a great reason to drink it whether it is to drink it by and open fire or to get rid of unwanted acne breakouts.