From Natural Disaster to Green Revolution

The sound of the killer tornado howling outside was suddenly mixed with the noise of snapping wood and exploding glass. Cowering in the basement below their house, Alanna Goodman and her parents knew their roof had just been ripped off.

The shrieking winds eventually died and when the Goodmans finally emerged it was to a scene of utter devastation and death in Greensburg, Kansas. The vast twister had wiped it off the map. "You could not see anything. It was all just ruins," Goodman said.

The tornado last May killed 11 Greensburg residents, injured more than 60 and levelled 95 percent of the city, reducing houses to matchsticks and sturdy brick churches to piles of rubble.

In an area of rural depopulation and few jobs, where towns struggle in the best of times, it seemed nature had delivered Greensburg a death blow.

That was almost a year ago. Now Greensburg is not only being rebuilt but it aims to become one of the most environmentally sensitive cities in America.