Sustainable Building Systems in the Central Highlands of Guatemala
Linnaea Cahill
Community Cloud Forest Conservation
ABSTRACT:
Community Cloud Forest Conservation’s Agroecology and Research center was built with sustainability and minimal environmental impact during construction and operation in mind. Some of the strategies used to achieve this were: frugal innovation; sourcing ultra-local materials for construction, off-grid integrated solar and micro-hydro systems to meet energy needs through rainy and dry seasons; onsite grey water treatment, humanure composting to avoid the need for black water treatment; and on-site agroforestry food systems. Beyond the building, CCFC’s campus is located in a landscape of subsistence and export agriculture, its agroforestry parcels serves as a living bank of traditional crops run by local indigenous Q’eqchi’ communities and the surrounding Cloud Forest ecosystem is the classroom for environmental education programs.
BIO:
Linnaea Cahill, BS in Civil Engineering, Northeastern University ’20 grew up in Guatemala, where her family founded Community Cloud Forest Conservation, a non profit working in conservation, sustainable rural development, and education. She has been involved in many of CCFC’s programs including the construction and maintenance of their campus. Linnaea is currently working at HSH’s Boston office. She enjoys cycling and learning languages in her free time.