Human Waste for Sustainable Futures
Photo Courtesy of Melissa Schilling
Transformation has always been one of our core values – transformation of wastes into resources, of disempowered people into community advocates, of exploited landscapes into lush, productive gardens. We are a population of over seven billion people, living in a world with increasingly scarce resources. Yet, we at SOIL know that there is one resource – often overlooked – that is perpetually available: human waste. For us, human waste isn’t waste at all; it’s sustainability, it’s nutrients, its ecological power. We’ve been ...
Let’s Talk About Inclusive Sanitation!
Photo credit Vic Hinterlang
At SOIL we’re growing a sanitation service in urban Haiti that is setting a global example for how to affordably and sustainably provide safely managed sanitation in rapidly growing urban communities. In Haiti, over 70% of the population lacks access to improved sanitation and only 1% of all waste is safely treated. This phenomenon is not exclusive to Haiti however, as over 4.5 billion people across the globe lack access to improved sanitation facilities.
While SOIL’s contribution to mitigating this problem sometimes feels like a drop in ...
SOIL Featured in PBS Series Human: The World Within
We have exciting news to share! SOIL’s innovative sanitation solution was just featured in the new PBS series, HUMAN: The World Within. The six-part series is an unprecedented expedition into the vast universe inside of us all. The episode spotlighting SOIL’s work in Haiti is titled FUEL and recently aired on May 12th. This particular episode explores the human gut and its various functions through diverse examples including an ultra-marathon runner, a religious faster, a young girl suffering from allergies, and SOIL’s waste-to-resource sanitation approach. In ...
Field Day for the Directors: Launching a New Research Project
SOIL’s HR Director, Director of Operations and Compost Manager
We at SOIL are always working to develop innovative approaches to support our growth strategy and further expand our reach to provide accessible, sustainable and reliable sanitation to those that need it the most. Research plays a critical role in SOIL’s efforts to achieve strategic goals and advance knowledge in the sanitation sector. This year has started off very busy for SOIL’s Research team, as we are working on a number of ongoing research projects including; small-scale black soldier fly larvae ...
SOIL Executive Director, Dr. Sasha Kramer, Interviewed by CNN International
In 2019, SOIL was awarded the Innovation Impact Grant by Expo Live, an innovation and partnership program launched by Expo 2020 Dubai. The award was granted to SOIL in recognition of our sustainable social enterprise solution to sanitation in Haiti. SOIL was honored to accept this award to provide support for our social enterprise model and solution to improve lives while preserving our planet.
As part of this incredible effort put forth by Expo 2020 Dubai, to highlight and showcase the over 200 organizations participating in the Expo throughout the year (due to COVID-...
May Day Celebrations Kick off in Cap-Haitien This Year with EkoLakay, Compost and More!
SOIL was excited to have the opportunity to participate in the vibrant (and delicious!) May Day Celebrations that kicked off in Cap-Haitien over this past weekend. The 3-day event, typically hosted in southern Haiti, made its first appearance on the north coast with much delight and pride. The annual event is hosted in honor of the Haitian national holiday, Labor and Agriculture day, celebrated on May 1st.
Agriculture is Haiti’s main industry and makes up over 60% of the workforce nationwide. This holiday not only serves as a celebration of agriculture itself, but also ...
Climate Risks: Understanding Haiti’s Climate Vulnerability
photo credit Vic Hinterlang
As we celebrate Earth Day this year and acknowledge all that our planet has to offer, it’s important to also remember what we are up against. Our ongoing exploitative transactional relationship with the Earth’s environment has resulted in the rapid depletion of natural resources, animal extinctions, forest destruction, increased natural disasters and pandemics. Vulnerable communities, like those we serve in Haiti, suffer disproportionately from these occurrences and it's important we shed a light on the true climate risks these populations ...
SOIL Featured in New Book: Pipe Dreams by author Chelsea Wald
Are you interested in taking a global tour of sanitation solutions that are re-envisioning the way we think about the loo? Look no further than award-winning science journalist, Chelsea Wald’s new book, Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet! The book, which debuted on April 6th, addresses numerous issues that we at SOIL grapple with every day; such as the sustainability of waste, the flaws of our current (and perhaps outdated) system, and how to properly and sustainably deliver sanitation services to underserved populations. Pipe Dreams explores ...
From Larvae to Chicken Feed: What’s New with Black Soldier Fly Research
In 2019, the SOIL Research Team began testing out the possibility of using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as a new, additional method of transforming waste from our EkoLakay sanitation service into another valuable resource.
Led by SOIL Waste-to-Resource Consultant, Michèle Heeb, SOIL experimented with BSFL at our composting site in Northern Haiti and found that our EkoLakay waste was indeed suitable for this exciting technology. The Research Team even managed to breed the flies in captivity, a prerequisite for the technology to work on a large scale. These promising ...
Haiti Update: SOIL Board Member, Johnny Cèlestin, Speaks with DeRay Mckesson on Protest Movement
For months now, Haiti has been experiencing an alarming level of political turmoil and social unrest. The most recent protests around the country are the result of a myriad of stressors including worsening living conditions, allegations of government corruption, police brutality, and an uptick in kidnappings. In the past few weeks, calls for action, like #FreeHaiti and #HaitiSolidarity, began to appear across social media platforms, as the situation in Haiti started to make international news.
SOIL has been working for over a decade to promote human rights, environmental ...
