Papercrete
A
Tony Mele and Sarah Kennedy papercrete home near Alpine.
by Tom Curry
Concerned citizens who contemplate the
future may see that we need a new way of
thinking, a new way of conserving resources,
moving away from fossil fuels to renewable
energy if we are to save the planet. A new way
of building shelter could be a big part of that
too. New sustainable materials for building
are cropping up all the time. If you’re reading
this printed page, you’re looking at one right
now.
Nowadays many here in the Big Bend are
familiar with papercrete, a building material
that has become pretty popular around these
parts; but this was not always the case. There
was a time when you said you were building
a house out of paper, it left folks scratching
their heads and thinking maybe you weren’t
the sharpest crayon in the box. My own
introduction to the building material began in
the spring of 1998, standing in front of the
Starlight Theater in Terlingua, when the late
Hal Flanders (environmental legend and
father of recycling in Alpine) walked up and
Continued on page 8.
Cenizo
Spring 2020
5