Climate Change

Mud and straw bricks being stacked next to beside a wood fired kiln

By Andrew Macnab

COP 27 is the focus of world attention currently. But for many ROSE projects, addressing climate change is a day to day activity. Brighter Smiles Africa for example promotes ecologically friendly brick production. This reduces the burning of large quantities of wood, as traditional mud and straw bricks, must be stacked (photo 1), layered with scarce timber resources, and fired for several days. The alternative eco bricks are made by compressing a mix of readily available local volcanic soil with a small quantity of dry concrete in a simple, inexpensive manual press. This forms bricks of uniform shape with a ridge that interlocks adding structural strength (photo 2). Ecologically this also reduces the amount of mortar required compared to building with traditional mud bricks which are irregular in size, and  vulnerable forests are spared and no greenhouse gases produced as no firing is required. In addition, eco brick making provides vocational training and jobs for youth in the Ugandan Brighter Smiles program.

Eco bricks piled by a wall built with traditional mud bricks