Two years after tragedy and hardship struck this town, the green is returning to Greensburg.

The community, leveled by an F5 tornado that killed 11 and stripped away 95 percent of the infrastructure in May 2007, is staking its future on sustainability and energy efficiency.

“Most small towns that suffer this extent of a natural disaster become ghost towns,” says Daniel Wallach, executive director of Greensburg GreenTown, the grass-roots nonprofit organization spearheading the green rebuilding efforts. “What we’re attempting to do here is the equivalent of a global barn-raising.”

Proof of progress is in the once barren, now construction-centered landscape.

The new arts center was the first LEED Platinum-rated building in the state.

The courthouse, featuring an underground cistern and spray foam insulation, is slated to be one of the greenest historic buildings in the country. A community wind farm is projected to provide the town’s energy needs for the foreseeable future, and ecotourism is expected to be a byproduct.

“Home and Away” premieres at 6:30 p.m. Mondays on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 and replays at 9:30 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m., 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday; 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday; 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 10:30 a.m. Friday; 10 a.m. Saturday; and 9 p.m. Sunday.