Chalo Barrueta was born in Mexico and moved to Canada with his mom and cat as a child. He graduated from the Construction Engineering Technology Program at George Brown. After graduation he started working for a demolition company and was shocked at the amount of waste that construction produce and saw the opportunity for a solution to this problem.

Uninspired with his day job, Chalo went on to pursue his passions: the environment and community building. Working for free, he went on to create Banyan Tree, an organization dedicated to engaging at risk youth around natural building through hands-on experiences and green employment opportunities.

Chalo has travelled to Venezuela with the World Festival of Youth and Students; coordinated earth projects with youth; hosted a trip for 20 young people from Scarborough to New Brunswick for an eco-conference and has worked diligently on numerous natural building projects including an 'earth ship'.

Presently Chalo is actively involved with the development of a youth centre in Scarborough and works for a developer that builds eco-resorts in Costa Rica. Recently, he co-founded BAAU&Co, a creative ideas company. For fun, Chalo spends his time writing ideas for documentaries and helps friends with their film projects and plays.