Ancestral Solutions to Modern Problems — converting waste into building materials

In addition to bringing books to a middle school in need of resources, this library project served as a means to bring back to the community the cultural heritage of adobe, while at the same time sequestering waste byproducts of tequila production as key ingredients in the adobe. Through 1% for the Planet, S.A.C.R.E.D. was introduced to 818 Tequila who funded the entire project. The Mayahuel Library is located at Escuela Secundaria Técnica #38, in Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Jalisco, Mexico, at 5,000 feet above sea level in a semi-dry climate with dry winters and springs.1 The original population was an indigenous mix of Toltecs, Zapotecs, Otomíes and Nahuas, whose dialects were Nahuatl. Established in the year 542 A.D., the town now has a population of 7,500 inhabitants.2