Creative solutions during a special period
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and intensified US economic sanctions, Cuba suffered a lack of economic and material resources, a difficult situation called the "Special Period". This implied a permanent search for solutions. Investigations underway about EcoMaterials also were affected by the lack of resources, but, creative and ingenious solutions always emerged to resolve small inconveniences.
Orlando Espinosa, EcoSouth consultant, spoke about how the lack of the commercial metallic screens required for the granulometer test forced him to search for a cheap and available solution which he found it in empty metal cookie boxes. In these boxes hundreds of small holes were made with a hammer and a nail, of a diameter that approximated those of the commercial metallic screens. With these perforated cookie boxes, the granulometer tests were carried out and work with the MCR tiles continued. He said that in return for the favor, "we simply invited the colleague who gave us the cookie boxes and helped us to make the holes, to eat fried chicken and drink a beer."Although EcoMaterials technologies use simple materials and resources that are easily and locally available, or that can be improvised, behind such apparently simple solutions, lies a large history of scientific research.
