In Episode 11 of the Water Lobby podcast, we talk with Matt Paneitz, a former Austinite and founder of the nonprofit Long Way Home, who has spent the last two decades in Guatemala pioneering a revolutionary approach to infrastructure, education, and community-building.

What starts as a conversation about building with trash (yes, trash) quickly evolves into a powerful blueprint for solving systemic poverty, not just with sustainable materials, but with a new model for education.

Here are the key takeaways from our conversation.

1. Solving Two Problems at Once

When Matt first moved to Guatemala in 2002 as a Peace Corps volunteer, he was struck by two major problems:

* A Waste Crisis: With no formal trash removal system, waste was either burned, buried, or thrown into ravines.

* An Infrastructure Need: A significant portion of the population lived in poverty, lacking basic infrastructure like safe housing, clinics, and schools.

In 2004, he founded Long Way Home to tackle both problems at once. The big idea: What if you could use the community’s waste as a building material to create the infrastructure it desperately needed?

2. Why Build with Tires?

Our host asked the obvious question: Why not use conventional materials like bricks or wood?

Matt explained that in Guatemala, conventional materials aren’t just expensive; they’re often not the best tool for the job. Cinder blocks, for example, don’t insulate well and perform poorly in earthquakes.

This led them to an unconventional solution: used car tires.

“If you lay a tire flat, you fill it with dirt, you hit it with a sledgehammer, you basically are creating an c that is surrounded by rubber... it’s never going to decompose.”

The benefits are massive:

* Earthquake-Resistant: Unlike rigid structures tied to a footer, these tire walls sit above ground and “move along with the earthquake rather than resisting the earthquake.” This is critical in a region that remembers the devastating 1976 earthquake.

* Thermal Insulation: The thick, earth-packed walls create a “cave-like” effect, maintaining a constant, comfortable temperature year-round without heating or A/C.

* Job Creation: The model is labor-intensive by design. It replaces the high cost of materials (like cement) with paid jobs for local community members.

* Waste Reduction: It removes thousands of tires from local ravines and rivers.

And for those wondering what it looks like? The “trash” is completely hidden. “When you tell anybody locally... ‘we’re going to build a building out of tires,’ they look at you like you’re crazy,” Matt admits. “But... we plaster them with lime plaster... When they see it, they say it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

3. The Real Mission: Education as a Laboratory

The innovative construction earned Long Way Home recognition from UNESCO, but the buildings themselves aren’t the final product. The true mission is education.

Long Way Home runs a primary, middle, and high school where the community itself becomes the laboratory.

“Instead of doing somewhat abstract math... the students in our seventh grade could apply their math to build ventilated stoves... The same thing happens in social studies class. Rather than... doing some abstract survey... they go from house to house and figure out what the local living conditions are like.”

This hands-on approach gives students a direct role in the sustainable development of their own community. They build water tanks, compost latrines, retaining walls, and clinics, all while fulfilling their national curriculum requirements. The result is a generation of graduates who enter university or the workforce—as nurses, lawyers, engineers, or architects—with a deep, practical understanding of sustainable design and community-led problem-solving.

4. The Next 20 Years: A Plan to Scale

After 20 years of proving the concept, Matt says Long Way Home is now entering its scaling phase. But they’re not planning to build more schools themselves.

Their new goal is to give their model away.

They are finalizing a complete set of lesson plans that integrate this hands-on, community-building approach directly into the public school curriculum.

“We’re going to put our education model in the hands of public schools and say, ‘Let’s solve extreme poverty... and let’s also improve the quality of education.’... What politician’s gonna go, ‘You know what? I think that I’m not gonna put that on my ballot.’? ... This is not progressive, it’s not conservative. It is human dignity.”

By providing these lesson plans to public school teachers—who are often under-resourced and lacking materials—Long Way Home has created a “win-win-win” situation that can scale rapidly without a massive budget.

5. A Challenge to Us All

This is more than just a feel-good story from Central America; it’s a proven, scalable model that challenges how we think about solving our own problems, from homelessness in Austin to infrastructure needs across the U.S.

As Matt put it in his closing remarks, this is a headline in the making.

“To your listeners, donate. And then as soon as you donate, then keep your eyes peeled for the New York Times headlines where it says, ‘Guatemala school ends poverty. The first time it’s happened in the world and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th graders were responsible for it.’... We’re going to do it.”

If you’re inspired by Matt’s vision, you can get involved. To see incredible photos of the sustainable buildings, school, and community, visit lwhome.org/media. For more detailed information on their green building techniques and educational curriculum, check out lwhomegreen.org.

And to help their team make that future New York Times headline a reality, please consider making a donation to support their work in ending poverty through education and sustainable design.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waterlobby.substack.com