SOIL

Following the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, thousands of aid organizations flooded into the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince. Three days after the disaster, SOIL followed suit as we packed up our little truck with supplies and staff from Cap-Haitien and drove the 6 hours to the capital.

Following the earthquake, SOIL has extended operations to Port-au-Prince and begun a new project with OXFAM GB to pilot ecological sanitation in emergency settings. This project will accomplish the construction and installation of 150 toilets in small IDP (internally displaced persons) camps throughout the city, the establishment of a compost facility in Port-au-Prince, and the training of 100 masons to build urine diversion (UD) toilets.

Sasha Kramer
Executive Director & Co-founder

The Philosophical Roots of Waste Transformation

In nature soil transforms organic matter, sustaining ecological systems by converting one organism’s wastes into another’s resources. It is from the soil that our organization has borrowed both our name and our philosophy. We too, believe that the path to sustainability is through transformation, of both marginalized people and discarded materials, turning disempowerment and pollution into participatory production.

Though individual donations are our largest funding source, we have received support from other organizations, institutions and businesses over the years, and we would like to acknowledge the groups which have been a part of this effort.

Transforming Resources: Environmental Health