Casa Pueblo (Town House) is an organization that promotes the voluntary participation for the community from individuals and/or organizations willing to develop alternatives for the conservation and protection of the environment, and the cultural resources in Puerto Rico. It is located in the town of Adjuntas, where it is visited by thousands of people a year who visit the town to learn of its history, purchase its unique products and be in an environment of reflection, improvement, leadership and self-awareness. Tinti Deya, a founding member of the organization, is the one who greets the visitors with love and patience, and tells the mission of the organization, its projects and the struggles they have went through. To visit Casa Pueblo is like a museum: there’s always something interesting to see and learn.
Its origins and mining in Puerto Rico:
Casa Pueblo is an organization that was founded in 1980, when the government of Puerto Rico planned to exploit the mines of the island. According to a report from the newspaper El Nuevo Dia on the of day August 31st, 1980, government staff calculated “… at $5 billion in wealth where the gold and silver lied” in fields located in the towns of Utuado, Lares, Adjuntas and Jayuya. For this project, the government granted permission to two multinational mining companies to exploit the mines. Since the mineral was not in a concentrated place, but scattered, the only way to extract was by doing crates in approximately 17 sites in 37,000 acres of land. When the government gave the preliminary steps to start the mining, it was then when Casa Pueblo decided to organize.
The first thing they did was to visit for 6 months the mining area and they also went house to house to educate the people about the danger of exploitation of mines. Later, they decided to organize a concert called ‘Patria Tierra Adentro’ where they would sing “Yes to Life and No to the Mines”. On a giant screen, made with large sheets and lights, made with large cans of beans, they showed the people the effects of mining and all the beautiful things they can lose because of it. As the result was a positive one, they held a second protest that lasted up to three days in the plaza. To send a stronger message, Casa Pueblo also decided to integrate students from high school and wrote on their bodies “No Mines”. The protest went for 15 years until the government decided to cancel the project. Following that event, a campaign was created to convert the mining area into a Forest Reserve. The campaign went on for 3 years until the mining area was declared as “Bosque del Pueblo” or “The Town’s Forest” in July 1996. Casa Pueblo was able to obtain the right to manage a forest of the government, with the help of professionals composed of scientists, technicians and community volunteers. Without any doubt, this was one of the most important victories for Casa Pueblo.
Innovative projects:
Casa Pueblo has the philosophy that actions is necessary in order to create changes. Apart from the protests and campaigns that took place in order to protect the environment, Casa Pueblo has created viable projects that would help greatly the economy and/or the Puerto Rican society. One of the projects is the “Measurement Goal”: it is a box that generates powers and supplies it to the structure to which it is installed to. Once the box has gained a lot of energy, it begin to store it in their energy bank.
Another pr
oject of Casa Pueblo was the “Poste Posterriqueño”: a light post to the streets of Puerto Rico that only spends 33 kilowatts, versus a regular light post that spends up to 200 kilowatts. These posts are highly efficient, which would provide a greater lighting than the actual ones and the pieces can be adapted to the light pots already installed. The only thing that would change is the plate of the post, since the new bulb can last approximately to 20 years, versus the regular post can last from 5 to 10 years. With this change, the government would save approximately $93 million annually, 100,000 barrels of oil and buying many pieces that would no longer be necessary, but could be used for the creation of a recycling company.
An independent organization:
In order to keep this organization open to the public, Casa Pueblo is nourished by the funds obtained by their sales of reminders and books about Puerto Rico, as well they generate income by the sales of their coffee “Madre Isla”, which is a production coffee project created in 1989 to generate funds and be economically independent, as well creating job opportunities for the community. This coffee is 100% artisan Arabic that it is toasted, grounded and packaged to at the time to maintain the freshness that makes their product unique. The coffee is divine! Once you try it, you will want to keep buying more therefore, we strongly recommend to purchase a fair amount and take it to your home.
Behind the main structure of Casa Pueblo hides a beautiful butterfly nest,
whose mission is to be a breeding ground for butterflies to then let them free in the woods. They also have their own radio station, which is the only one in Puerto Rico that operates with sunlight and, last but not least, they have a hydroponic system to water their plants.
Casa Pueblo is a box full of surprises that everyday innovates new brilliant projects. You can find it in the town of Adjuntas, in Rodulfo Gonzalez avenue, PR 5516. It’s open from monday to sunday, from 8:30am to 3:30pm, but we highly recommend you to call before arriving to the place (787-829-4842). They have a suggested donation of $2.00.
The coordinates to get to the location are: 18.161088, -66.721971
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