What is the School of Roots?
A centre for re-learning for regeneration.
It is a comprehensive pedagogical space designed to recover the bond between humans and nature. It is not a conventional school; it is a community of practice where:
Cycles are inhabited:We integrate the worldview of the Chakana and natural rhythms into everyday life.
Trades are learned:We recover bioconstruction techniques, mountain medicine, and wooden crafts.
Future training:We provide tools to young guardians to create sustainable projects that promote the circular economy in the territory.
✽ The Context: A call to action.
We are going through a historic moment where the socio-environmental crisis deeply challenges us. The disconnection from vital cycles and the loss of biodiversity require us to rethink our way of inhabiting the world. In theSchool of Roots, we transform this crisis into an opportunity for re-learning: a space torecover the knowledgethat allows us to regenerate our relationship with the Earth and build more conscious, resilient, and rooted alternatives of life in the territory.
✽ What do we need concretely?
To materialise this refuge of knowledge in theQuebrada del Palmar Natural Reserve., today our priority is:
Sustaining bioconstruction:Resources for materials and tools aimed at completing theArts & Crafts Workshop, our first classroom made of clay and wood.
Strengthening the Guardians Network:Scholarships for local youth to access training in trades and conservation programmes.
Technical equipment:Supplies for monitoring the Andean Condor and scientific research in the area.
How will it be built?
✽ The pillars of our work
Locally sourced materials:We use local stone for the foundations and earth for the adobe blocks and clay plaster, straw for thermal insulation, and reused wood from the removal of exotic trees (eucalyptus) through responsible management.
Ancestral and modern techniques:We combine traditional knowledge with bioclimatic design criteria to achieve cool spaces in summer and warm spaces in winter.
Collaborative labour:Construction takes place through Minkas (community work) and volunteer efforts, where every wall raised is also a shared lesson.
Low impact:The entire process is designed to be reversible and biodegradable, ensuring that the presence of the School is a contribution, never a wound to the native forest.
I WANT TO BE A FOUNDER OF THIS SCHOOL
