The Newton/San Juan del Sur Sister City Project is celebrating it 30th anniversary in 2019. Their work in Nicaragua has become steadily greener in recent years, as they try to use locally available natural products in their buildings and public health efforts. Their work relies on donations, and you can support Newton’s Green Projects in Nicaragua by attending their 30th anniversary party on June 8 in honor of their late President, Rodney Barker. Can’t come? Donate here. For more information visit www.newtonsanjuan.org.
Below are some projects that your donation would support:
BioSand water filters (1,200 installed since 2011) use no chemicals or electricity to purify contaminated well water, only fine volcanic sand.
For many years, they’ve been building what they call EcoStoves, simple wood-burning stoves with two burners and a chimney to get the smoke out of the house. (Cooking smoke in the home will kill more people worldwide this year than Malaria and AIDS combined.) Their super-green new stove model uses clay-rich soil and minimal iron rebar. Zero cement! (Iron and cement have huge carbon footprints.)
Their compressed earth block press produces sturdy bricks that don’t need to be fired in a kiln (and avoids burning trees). They’ve built two green preschools using compressed earth blocks and bamboo instead of fired bricks, rebar and cement.
The Free High School for Adults, supported by Newton/San Juan del Sur, has recently built a beautiful green campus (thanks to the Random Acts Foundation) featuring bamboo pillars, earthen stuccos, volcanic quarry-stone, rainwater capture, composting toilets and solar panels.
Headline Photo: A Newton Model BioSand Filters with its happy owner (Eneyda Estrella) in the rural community of Sotacaballo. This filter uses no chemicals or electricity, only a column of fine volcanic sand to remove parasites and fecal bacteria from well water.
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