Those of us who are fortunate enough to live in the western world rarely give a passing thought to how we end up with a safe and secure roof over our heads. It's just there. We have more pressing things to concern ourselves with, like how we're going to make it to happy hour in just enough time to gobble up a few of the remaining steamer table freebies or whether we think American Idol's judging panel is better off with Ellen or Paula. While we struggle to weigh the pros and cons of our rather inconsequential daily concerns, there are far too many other people (even in our own country) who aren't quite sure about where they're going to sleep from day to day....perfectly nice, deserving people who for one reason or another find themselves in a situation of extreme poverty.
If you live in Latin America - where a full 36% of the 175 million residents exist in a perpetual state of poverty -- then you can most certainly relate. According to the BBC News, things are pretty rough for individuals who live in smaller economic regions such as the Dominican Republic, Panama, the Caribbean and Central America due to the fallout of the global economic crisis combined with internal conflicts, political instability, an utter lack of basic public services and migrations. A UN representative recently expressed concern that poverty levels will likely rise as much as 15% this year, which heaps insult upon injury considering that for the past 40 years a full 40% of all households have been living "below the linea de probreza". So how can these people afford housing, let alone food and other basic resources? Many of them simply can't.
According to the World Bank, many resort to informal housing, which is highly vulnerable to natural weather-related disasters and isn't even privy to convenience of basic utilities. This is why the efforts of Argentina's Alfredo Santa Cruz and his family are so admirable. In addition to offering free home building construction courses to people living throughout the region, the handy gent has devised a way to create an entirely livable structure utilizing totally free, recycled PET plastic beverage bottles. His "house of bottles" or La Casa de Botellas, which looks almost crystalline and magical in appearance, is "a tool for promoting ecological and social responsibility" but it is also a means by which those with compromised financial circumstances can rise beyond their current limitations.
With relatively little sweat equity and time investment, motivated prospective home owners can create a fully portable structure with their own two hands that enables them not just to set a positive eco-example but also afford them the luxury of experiencing pride and fulfillment as a first-time homeowner. Creating a Casa de Botellas entails building walls out of 1200 recycled PET bottles, windows and doors out of 140 compact disk cases, a roof out of 1300 milk and wine Tetra Pack containers and even a bed and couches out of a total of 320 PET bottles. No one in the Cruz family has formal training as an engineer or architect, which is remarkable in and of itself, and even more impressive is the fact that they figured out how to fuse the bottles together without marring the aesthetic beauty of the structure. The result is a whimsical structure that most anyone would be delighted to hang their hat in.
As for the decision to use recycled PET plastic, it may seem like a structurally risky proposition, but it turns out that when precisely arranged, the bottles easily support the weight of the accompanying roof and are purportedly even more durable than cement. In this case, their delayed decomposition (aka 300 year shelf life) is actually a very good thing, proving that "a bit of creative ingenuity can bring about positive change in the way humans interact with the environment." If you're feeling particularly charitable, this remarkable project can be funded via the Cruz family's PayPal account and if you would like more specifics, they encourage interested parties to contact them via lacasaecologicadebotellas@hotmail.com . This is one of those "wow" projects that deserves serious buzz, so please spread the word!
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