Dirty Cookstoves, a Global Health Threat, Targeted in $51-Million Program

[cory777]

Source: AOL News

Imagine your kitchen when you start to cook. Do you collect the wood? Nudge the coals? (The times you camped out don't count.) Does smoke fill your home, eyes and mouth, and blacken your walls?

For millions around the world, the basic daily function of cooking is a dire health threat. The World Health Organization calls dirty cookstoves one of the top five health problems globally, a problem which causes two million preventable deaths each year.

Speaking of women the world over toiling over dirty cookstoves, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a midday plenary session of the Clinton Global Initiative: The food they prepare is different, but the air is the same. A toxic mix of chemicals" releases poisons at 200 times the level our country's Environmental Protection Agency deems safe, Repeated exposure leads to pneumonia, lung cancer and respitory diseases.

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"Today we can finally envision a future in which open fires and dirty stoves are replaced by clean, efficient and affordable stoves and fuels all over the world -- stoves that still cost as little as $25," said Secretary Clinton. "By upgrading these dirty stoves, millions of lives could be saved and improved. Clean stoves could be as transformative as bed nets or vaccines."

Read more: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/21/dirty-cookstoves-a-global-health-threat-targeted-in-51-millio/

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Take a break from the BULLSHIT! http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[elocs]

1. How about a solar oven? You can't get cleaner than that and they are used worldwide.

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Villager_Sun_Oven

Sun Ovens International makes a large solar oven called the Villager Sun Oven, which is designed for large-scale feeding situations requiring cooking great volumes of food. Even though it is called an oven, food can be baked, boiled, and steamed at cooking temperatures of 500° F / 260° C with no fuel costs. Over 1,200 meals a day can be cooked. For use at night or on rainy days, the Villager is equipped with a propane back-up unit. This oven weighs 980 pounds / 444b kg. and comes mounted on a trailer.

Villager Sun Ovens are currently in use in 55 countries around the world. The primary use is in large scale feeding or in bakeries. An optional 150 piece Sun-Bakery package, enabling the creation of a self-sustaining micro-enterprise to turn out fresh baked goods while creating jobs and eliminating the cost of fuel, is available. Some schools use a VILLAGER to cook lunches and then bake bread in the afternoon. The bread is sold to help generate income.

The VILLAGERS are made in the U.S. and shipped to the country in which they will be used.

Each VILLAGER SUN OVEN® when utilized as a Sun Bakery can save over 150 tons of wood annually which results in the reduction of 277 tons of CO2 green house gas emissions annually.

I've had one for years and you can cook about anything in it except pizza. I have baked bread and cookies, made rice, and cooked a whole chicken as well as a pork roast. I have had people come and beat on my door, asking what that thing was in my yard. Yes, it works in the winter too. All you need is sun.

[DeadEyeDyck]

2. where do you live? n/t

[elocs]

37. I'm sorry, I meant to get back to you and didn't. I live in Wisconsin.

I have used my Sun Oven in the winter--things just take longer because there is not as many hours of sun each day. I've read about the ice fishermen in northern Minnesota who use their solar ovens to cook their fish right after catching them.

[IDemo]

34. I had nothing so fancy

Does sound nice, though. I was able to cook a variety of soups and stews with my homemade cardboard and foil "fun panel". It has since been replaced by a Solar Hot Pot with basically the same kind of configuration.

These are making a big difference in the lives of many in the Third World, despite what the doubters believe.

http://www.solardevicesforthirdworld.webs.com/

[elocs]

38. Yes, they can be very simple. Kids have made them as science projects for years.

My Sun Oven is more of a Cadillac model, but should last for 20 years.

[Francesca9]

39. sun ovens work

but no one is discussing them.

[elocs]

42. Yes, that's too bad. They can also be used to pastuerize water to make it safe to drink.

Safe drinking water is something we take for granted here, but it is a life and death matter in 3rd world countries where it is not available. So not only may solar oven facilitate cooking food using free energy from the sun, that same energy may be used to pastuerize the water.

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Water_pasteurization

Solar cooks know how easy it is to heat foods in a solar cooker to temperatures well above 60°C (140°F). Knowing this, Dr. Bob Metcalf and a graduate student of his in the early 1980s, David Ciochetti, studied solar water pasteurization for the latter's master's thesis. They found that when contaminated water was heated in a black jar in a solar box cooker, both bacteria and rotaviruses -- the main cause of severe diarrhea in children -- were inactivated by 60°C (140°F). In the paper published this work (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 47:223-228, 1984) it was concluded that if contaminated water were heated to 65°C (149°F), all pathogenic microbes would be inactivated. This includes the hepatitis A virus, which has a 90 percent reduction after two minutes at 60°C (140°F).

Not only should solar ovens be discussed, their value and use should be shouted from the housetops.

[webDude]

3. Good. Bad: who supplys the fuel? A market is created, just like when Standard...

...Oil gave away free kerosene lanterns, which were not in too much use, before then. That started the ball rolling. For this one, we end up subsidizing it, just like so many other times. Think I'm crazy? I would hope that I am, but I think not.

[madokie]

9. The new stoves they are talking about

almost all are gasifier stoves and the people will continue to use the same fuel as they do now just be burning it in a more efficient stove. No smoke and no particulates being emitted. Lungs, walls and the air all staying much cleaner.

[DCKit]

11. In addition, the carbon monoxide levels of a gasifier (running properly)...

are "indoor safe".

It's a huge advance in simple, inexpensive technology.

[madokie]

13. I build gasifier stoves for family and friends

I personally heat our house with a wood pellet stove because of the less mess but my shop I use one of my gasifier stoves. In all I've built somewhere around 14 - 15 stoves. All burn using the gasifier principal but no two look alike. Thats what I do, build things. When I first started building these stoves using the gasifier I didn't even know what a gasifier was all I knew is that I wanted a stove that didn't use so much fuel and didn't leave creosote in the flue to catch fire. One of these years I plan to gather up a few of them and take them to the fair and show them, for the lack of anything better to do.

[mainer]

31. Thanks for explaining it. Less deforestation too.

Since they won't have to cut down trees for cooking fuel.

[tuckessee]

4. So the State Department has become the Cook's Nook?

This may be a good idea but what the heck does it have to do with the Department of State? :eyes:

Too bad Hillary doesn't have something better to do but since Peace reigns supreme over the world and the US is loved by everybody and loves everyone in return I guess she does have a lot of idle time on her hands.

edit - word omission

[Posteritatis]

7. Environmental, development and global health issues couldn't have diplomatic significance.

That'd be just too much of a stretch to make any sense.

Lord protect us from the myopic.

[Francesca9]

14. Example please? How is a stove about diplomacy?

[DCKit]

16. In many undeveloped countries, women and children spend a majority of their time...

collecting fuel and water. More "free" time gives them more time for other work and education.

This has implications for national security - If we help them over there, we won't have to help them here.

[Francesca9]

17. Irrelevant, they STILL need to collect fuel & water

These stoves still need fuel. So your example does not work.

The government of India has a lot of money and doesn't care about these stoves. The economy of India is growing at an 8% rate while we are at 1%. If India wants stoves they can easily afford stoves. We are buying stoves that the government of India could afford but doesn't want to buy. How does this help with diplomacy?

I think that this idea is stupid diplomacy UNLESS the government of India asked us for help with stoves.

I'm for buying healthier stoves IF the people want them - but I wouldn't call this diplomacy.

[DCKit]

19. You really need to work on your reading comprehension. n/t

[Francesca9]

20. So write something then

How will changing from dirty to clean stoves make a nation like India more willing to engage in diplomacy with the US?

[DCKit]

22. It's not about India, it's about Indians.

This kind of effort improves the lives of the poor, which is intended to increase the social and political stability of ALL the countries where poor people spend entirely too much time just trying to scrape by.

Sure these stoves still use fuel, but they use a fraction of the fuel that conventional, open cooking uses, thus freeing up time for work and study. Is it really that hard to understand?

If you will not comprehend what everyone on this thread has been trying to communicate to you by answering your obtuse objections, this may not be the board for you.

[Francesca9]

23. You say "this kind of effort improves the lives of the poor"

If this were true, then we could agree. What you have diligently missed understanding is that I doubt this premise.
I have read that the poor don't like the cleaner stoves. If they won't use them then it is a waste of money to give them. I could be wrong, they may all really want new stoves. This may be a great idea.

Even if a great idea - there still is no link to diplomacy. It might be a great project for USAID, but the State Department passing out stoves?

A LOT of people don't like Americans telling them what to eat, how to cook, or how to stay healthy. Hasn't anyone mentioned this to you? If they really don't want these stoves then this will hurt diplomacy.

[NickB79]

26. You disagree with the premise that not filling a home daily with acrid smoke

Will improve the lives of the poor? Seriously? The World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/) states:

"Globally, indoor air pollution from solid fuel use is responsible for 1.6 million deaths due to pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer, with the overall disease burden"

And please, tell us where you read "I have read that the poor don't like the cleaner stoves."

Everything I have read has quotes from owners of new stoves raving about how they no longer cough half their lungs out after making dinner.

And, last I read, we aren't sending out Marines with stoves strapped to their backs, kicking in front doors and taking away old stoves. We are OFFERING new stoves to those who WANT them. How are we telling them what to eat or how to cook by OFFERING them new stoves?

[DCKit]

32. We're speaking to the deaf.

However, I've just sent the link (as I have on other articles on gasifier stoves) to the S.O. who just happens to work for WHO.

Who knows? Free stoves, free time and a higher quality of life may just overcome the prejudice of "but we've cooked this way FOREVER, and can't POSSIBLY change".

[Francesca9]

36. There is no debate about dirty air being bad

[Francesca9]

35. Clean air will improve health

No one debates this.

If the poor want these stoves then I am fine with the plan. If they throw them away, I am not.

What I read was that the clean stoves produce a lot less smoke and the food tastes different. For this reason few want them. The government of India actually has enough cash to pay for these stoves and we must borrow from the Chinese to send stoves. Why not give Americans health care? 50 million have none.

[Francesca9]

5. These women like their stoves

All the facts in the world won't make anyone change.

Talk to your friends who use these stoves, cleaner cooking produces food that tastes very different.

[NickB79]

21. Who said they like their stoves?

"Talk to your friends who use these stoves, cleaner cooking produces food that tastes very different."

What friends do you have that use these stoves that fill their homes with acrid smoke and coat their walls with soot every time they're used?

[Nihil]

41. I'd just like to point out ...

> What friends do you have that use these stoves that fill their homes with
> acrid smoke and coat their walls with soot every time they're used?

... that although the UK can be backward in some things, this is another
area where either her post or her claimed location is inaccurate ...

:shrug:

[lynne]

6. Didn't everyone have similar cook stove conditions less than 100 years ago?

- I still remember my grandmother and great-grandmother's wood burning cook stoves. $50+ million of our dollars? Now really isn't the time for this.

[Lagomorph]

8. A lot of Americans still use them.

I used one for 8 years, myself.

[madokie]

12. Some good eatin coming from that old wood cook stove too

Sometimes in the winter when I'm working in the shop I'll put a pot of beans on the wood stove I heat it with and let them cook all day. Definitely worth the effort.

[madokie]

10. Big difference

the stoves my mother cooked on when I was a child was fueled by wood but it had a flue that went up through the roof that pulled air into any cracks in the stove rather than let the air filled with smoke and all kinds of carcinogens emit into the room. The people who are being helped with this new stove is now using a stove that either has no flue or has an insufficient flue.
Yes I remember how good food tasted cooked on that old wood stove with an adequate flue. Even though no smoke entered into the room the food still had a different taste to it. I remember the day when we went to a propane cook stove and everything tasted like gas. We use electric to cook on now and largely because of that gas taste that a gas stove imparts into the food. If you've been using a gas stove for a long time you won't taste or smell what I'm talking about but if you've been using an electric stove or a wood stove for a long time when you eat something cooked over a gas flame you'll know it right off.
Any questions on what a flue is and does look it up and read about it and how it works and what it does.

[Francesca9]

15. If the people don't want new stoves - why give them stoves?

The logic behind this is all good, and if the people want these stoves, fine.

I'm told that they don't want new stoves. I'm told that the food from the new stoves doesn't taste right because there is no smoke. I care about what these people actually want, not what they should want.

There is no point is giving stoves to people who don't want new stoves.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Who tells you that? (nt)

[Nihil]

40. Funny how that question is never answered. (n/t)

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. Here is the bottom line of this announcement:

The project is a public-private partnership between governments and corporations.
On the U.S. side there is support from the Department of State, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Partners include the governments of Germany, Peru and Norway, as well as Morgan Stanley, and Shell.

Repeat: MORGAN STANLEY AND SHELL.

EPA will invest $6 million over the next five years to enhance efforts at stove testing and evaluation, cookstove design innovation and assessments of health benefits.

All that is buried at the end of the story.

Somebody is going to get 6 million tax dollars to test and evaluate designs and benefits of a new type stove.
That somebody will be private corporation.
And somehow it appears Morgan Stanley is involved.

edited to add:

Now why the State Dept. is creating a way to give tax dollars to a private corporation for a 5 year
test...that is a whole other question.
On the surface, it "sounds" wonderful, we are caring about millions of poor people.
Below the surface, our tax money is going to a private company.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

25. +1 nt

[NickB79]

27. Is there a government-owned organization that could do the same work?

Seriously, I don't know. Does the State Department have their own experts that specialize in wood stove design so that this wouldn't have to be contracted out to a private company?

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. Valid question.

the key question is ..why is Morgan Stanley and Shell involved?

I am sure there are many USA stove companies which could benefit from a 6 million $$ contract, which already DO specialize in
wood stove design.
In fact, here are a couple who already have the designs and the products.

http://www.woodgas.com/index.htm

http://www.green-trust.org/woodgas.htm

I should re-frame my objection:
it is not the use of tax dollars to support USA manufacturers I object to, it is the use of tax dollars to support Stanley Morgan and Shell
for the "research" when local companies already apparently build these products.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Shell has been involved in these efforts for several years

Indoor Air Pollution - the Killer in the Kitchen

To mark World Rural Women's Day 2004, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) issued a global statement calling for the world to wake up to this "killer in the kitchen".

Cowan Coventry, Practical Action chief executive, and Kurt Hoffman, director of the Shell Foundation, ask whether there is the political will to match the solutions being implemented across the developing world.

It's responsible for killing more people than malaria and nearly as many as unsafe water and poor sanitation. Over 1.6 million people die each year and two billion are at risk.

What is it? It's the biggest killer you've never heard of - it's Indoor Air Pollution (IAP). That's smoke to you. Not the type that wafts from cigarettes, but the thick acrid variety that rises from burning wood on open-cooking stoves and fires inside millions of homes across the developing world.

http://practicalaction.org/?id=iap_who

Shell Foundation

The Shell Foundation, through its Sustainable Energy Programme, is funding a substantial body of work on household energy and health, contributing US$10 million over five years. The programme is supporting a number of pilot projects in India, Africa and Latin America. These pilot projects focus on developing appropriate technologies, which will then be disseminated widely through local commercial markets. Shell Foundation has sponsored studies on the lessons learned from previous stoves programmes, including the huge dissemination scheme in China. In addition it has commissioned a substantial programme entitled Standard Monitoring Packages for Household Energy and Health Field Projects, which aims to develop a standardized and manageable package of monitoring tools for this purpose.

http://www.itcltd.com/smoke/report_appendix

And the hi-tech wood stoves you link to are not appropriate for developing world manufacture. Really, the "I want to give the money to American companies" message is very inappropriate. I suggest you remember this is a global initiative, and that the work should be done as close as possible to the places these stoves will be used. A 'local company' will mean an African etc. one, not an American one. And it seems Shell realises this better than you do.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. The info is appreciated, and enlightening.

The snark is not.

[DCKit]

33. You know I love you....

but private interests have already bypassed/surpassed the "research" the corporations could ever do.

They blew it, and lost their chance at controlling the technology.