Photo of the day: Bhubaneswar

More from the maidan, which is only a couple of minutes away from the hotel where I am staying.

A pleasant evening it was, with the temperature probably at about 20 C (68 F)

But, the air is getting awfully smoky.  It is a literal version of "Smoke gets in your eyes" ... am guessing that people, in homes and without, got those charcoal and wood stoves going to cook dinner and to keep warm.  It felt like a forest fire just a mile away.

Cleaner cookstoves for the global poor

In one of the columns I wrote in the Register Guard (editor: have you stopped writing for the paper?  Did they find out your work is nothing but "mashed potatoes"? Hahaha!!!) I noted the connection between the high incidence of Acute Respiratory Illness and the usage of wood and charcoal in the tiny kitchens. 

I was, therefore, appreciative of the efforts to design and provide cleaner stoves--particularly the local angle:

It was thus with a gladdened heart and local pride that I read, after returning home, the essay in The New Yorker magazine, which also was referred to in a recent editorial in this newspaper. The article featured the Aprovecho Research Center, right here in Oregon, which has won international recognition for its efforts to design better stoves that also would be inexpensive.

It has been almost a year since then, and I am happy to read in the news that the US government is taking this project to a higher level:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced today the formation of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a more than $60 million dollar public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.  

A neat correlation that does not turn into any causation linking my column and this news :)  Anyway, my first thought was this: if 60 million dollars are all that was needed to get this going, we waited this long?  Well, better late than never, I suppose.

So, what is this Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves?  It is:

a new public-private initiative to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance’s ‘100 by 20’ goal calls for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020, toward a long-term vision of universal adoption of clean and efficient cooking solutions.

How will this be done?

To achieve its ‘100 by 20’ goal, the Alliance will establish industry standards; spur innovative financing mechanisms; champion the cause across the donor and development communities; develop indoor air quality guidelines; address global tax and tariff barriers; field test clean stoves and fuels; and develop research roadmaps across key sectors such as health, climate, technology and fuels.

Sounds great. But, I wonder if this is slightly more than a much narrower focus I would prefer.  I hope that in this process, we will not repeat the same errors that are typified by the classic experience that John Kenneth Galbraith's wife talked about when she lived in India during Galbraith's service there as the US ambassador.  Mrs. Galbraith noticed how much the maids had to bend to sweep and mop the floor. So, to make their lives better, and to improve productivity, she gave them the long-handled brooms and mops that we are so familiar with here in America.

Good idea, right?  Yes, the maids did use them--but, after cutting the handles off first.

It is for those kinds of reasons that I am hoping that the Alliance will also focus on massive education and marketing of both the need and the technology.  It is a similar theme expressed at Aidwatch on what will be needed to make this a true success:

If this new effort is going to avoid the mistakes of its predecessors, it needs to do a few vital things:

• It needs to get as much input as possible from the people who will actually use the stoves. The stoves will need to be as much like existing stoves as possible, to minimize the change in cooking style required to use them. In particular, women need to be able to cook traditional foods that are appealing to their families. Listening to the women who’ll cook on them is the best way to do that.
• It needs to produce affordable stoves and consistently distribute them. Price is a big barrier to use of better cookstoves, since the benefits aren’t immediately obvious. The stoves need to be cheap enough that families can buy them with a minimum of savings or debt. Since they won’t last forever, there needs to be a steady supply of available improved stoves. That means building a structure for production and distribution, not some kind of one-off stove airlift.
• Finally, it will need to market the stoves intensely. Since the benefits to getting a new stove are obvious, and the problems aren’t, they’ll need to really sell these stoves. Women, and their families, will need to be convinced of the benefits. That will require a lot more than a dry brochure or an earnest slogan.  It will need actual ads, with an advertising strategy behind them.

I hope this works out.  I can still clearly recall how much my grandmother's life became easier after gas stoves finally reached her small town.  The kitchen, which was all the way in the back of the house to keep the smoke away--among other reasons--could now be moved into an inner room.  And, no more coughing as the smoke built up.

 

So, do your part to cheer this Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves on.  And, if you have a few dollars to spare, perhaps donate to this venture? 

An Oregon innovation might just clear the air in Tanzania

For The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Monday, Jan 18, 2010

The travel doctor gave me a tincture of iodine kit that I could use to disinfect water, if needed, when I was in Tanzania. I never had to use it, though, because bottled drinking water was available everywhere.

But that is also the source of one of Tanzania’s environmental problems — empty plastic bottles all over the place: by the highways, on beaches and in open drains.

One might hypothesize that collecting such recyclables would be a source of income to the hard-working poor, as is the case in India. But I suspect that Tanzania lacks a robust industrial base to offer the necessary economic incentives for the poor to turn all that plastic into cash.

The litter problem was, however, nothing compared to the more pressing problem of smoke pollution.

I spent most of my time in Tanzania in a village, Pommern, in the southern highlands. It was a two-hour drive from Pommern to the nearest town, Iringa, which itself is a little more than 300 miles from Dar es Salaam. Pommern is up in the hills, at an elevation of close to 6,500 feet.

With red soil on the rolling hills and fascinating flora that included “sausage trees,” Pommern was absolutely picturesque. But it was hard to get away from smoke.

The smoke came from two primary sources. One was the rubbish that was burned practically everywhere in the village. The smoking piles included plants that were cleared away, and even plastic bottles and batteries.

But the smoke and the smell from trash incineration was secondary to the noxious clouds from wood and charcoal burning, which is how the village’s energy needs are met.

In a country of 37 million people, barely 10 percent of the population has access to electricity — and that is mostly in urban Dar es Salaam. More than 80 percent of Tanzania’s people live in rural areas such as Pommern, where electricity is rare. And gas for cooking is rarer still, even in Dar es Salaam.

Thus, most of the population relies on charcoal and firewood for cooking. The World Bank recently estimated that about 1 million tons of charcoal are consumed every year in Tanzania. That amount is projected to increase, because electricity and gas are not available for the growing population.

Charcoal-making itself is an important economic activity. Charcoal, of course, comes from trees, and it is preferred over firewood because it is easy to store and transport, and it offers more energy than a comparable weight of firewood. It was quite common to see young men selling bags of charcoal in the rural and forest areas that dominate Tanzania’s landscape outside Dar es Salaam.

Both charcoal and firewood often are used in remarkably inefficient settings that generate a lot more smoke than usable heat. Often, the “stove” is nothing but a traditional fireplace with three stones.

Women and children often are gathered around these smoking stoves. As one can imagine, such a constant inhalation of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other gaseous chemicals — along with tiny particles of soot — can be devastating for health. Which is why acute respiratory infection, or ARI, is a leading public health problem in this beautiful mountainous setting, along with HIV and malaria.

This trend has not gone unrecognized. The Improved Charcoal Stove was introduced in Tanzania in 1988, and research continues in developed and developing countries alike on designing more efficient firewood and charcoal burning stoves.

It was thus with a gladdened heart and local pride that I read, after returning home, the essay in The New Yorker magazine, which also was referred to in a recent editorial in this newspaper. The article featured the Aprovecho Research Center, right here in Oregon, which has won international recognition for its efforts to design better stoves that also would be inexpensive.

My academic discussions with students about the more than 2.5 billion people who depend on wood and charcoal as the source of energy pale next to experiencing it every day amidst an otherwise gorgeous setting on this blue planet of ours.

I bet the people of Pommern, along with other billions, can’t wait for the kitchen upgrade.

Go Aprovecho!

Where there is smoke, .... there are health issues

The travel doctor gave me a tincture of iodine kit to disinfect water, if needed, when I was in Tanzania.  I never had to use it though because bottled drinking water was available everywhere.

But, that is also the source of one of Tanzania’s environmental problems—empty plastic bottles all over the place.  By the highways, beaches, and in open drains. 

One might hypothesize that collecting such recyclables will be a source of income to the hard-working poor, which is the case in India.  But, I suspect that Tanzania lacks a robust industrial base to offer the necessary economic incentives for the poor to turn all that plastic into cash.

The litter problem was, however, nothing compared to the more pressing smoke pollution.

I spent most of my time in Tanzania in a village, Pommern, in the southern highlands.  It was a two-hour drive from Pommern to the nearest town, Iringa, which itself is a little more than 300 miles from Dar es Salaam.  Pommern is up in the hills—I was at close to 6,500 feet elevation for most of my time in Tanzania.

With red soil on the rolling hills, and fascinating flora that included “sausage trees,” Pommern was absolutely picturesque indeed.  But, at the same time it was hard to get away from smoke.

There were two primary sources of smoke.  One came from the rubbish that was burnt, well, practically everywhere in the village.  The smoking piles included plants that were cleared away, and even plastic bottles and batteries. 

But, the smoke and smell from such trash incineration was secondary to the noxious clouds from wood and charcoal burning, which is how the village’s energy needs are met. 

In a country of 37 million people, barely ten percent of the population has access to electricity, and that is mostly in urban Dar es Salaam, while more than 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas like Pommern where electricity is rare.  And gas for cooking is rarer even within Dar es Salaam

Thus, most of the population relies on charcoal and firewood for cooking--the World Bank recently estimated that about one million tons of charcoal are consumed every year in Tanzania.  This amount is projected to increase even more due to the fact that electricity and gas are not available for the growing population.  

Charcoal making itself, therefore, is an important economic activity.  Charcoal, of course, comes from trees and is preferred over firewood because it is easy to store and transport, and offers more energy than a comparable weight of firewood.  It was quite common to see young men selling bags of charcoal all along the drive in the rural and forest areas that dominate Tanzania’s landscape outside Dar es Salaam.

But, both charcoal and firewood are often used in remarkably inefficient settings that generate a lot more smoke than usable heat.  Often, the “stove” is nothing but a traditional fireplace with three stones. 

Women, and children too, are often present around these smoking stoves.  As one can imagine, such a constant inhalation of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other gaseous chemicals, along with the tiny particulate matter can be devastating for health.  Which is why “Acute Respiratory Infection” (ARI) is a leading public health problem in this beautiful mountainous setting, along with HIV and malaria. 

This has not gone unrecognized.  The Improved Charcoal Stove (ICS) was introduced in Tanzania in 1988, and research continues in developed and developing countries alike on designing more efficient firewood and charcoal burning stoves.

It was, thus, with a gladdened heart along with local pride that I read, after returning home, the essay in the New Yorker magazine, which was also referred to in a recent editorial in this newspaper.  The New Yorker featured the Aprovecho Research Center—right here in Oregon—which has won international recognition for its efforts to design better stoves that would also be inexpensive. 

My academic discussions with students about the more than 2.5 billion people who depend on wood and charcoal as the source of energy pale next to experiencing it everyday amidst an otherwise, and ironically enough, gorgeous setting on this blue planet of ours. 

I bet the people of Pommern, along with other billions can’t wait for the kitchen upgrade.  Go Aprovecho!