Social Enterprise: The Glaciers Need Safer Cooking Stoves in the Developing World!

Social enterprise efforts to tackle indoor air pollution in the developing world have gained momentum through the concerted efforts of organisations such as the Paradigm Project and bigger initiatives like the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which was set up in September 2010 at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. The Alliance, which is led by the United Nations Foundation, consists of more than 175 partners: governments, universities, stove manufactures and nongovernmental agencies. It aims to put clean stoves in 100 million households by 2020.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that nearly three billion people in developing countries cook over open woodfires or primitive stoves, which leads to persistent health problems and accounts for nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The UN estimates that approximately 1.8 million people die prematurely each year because of exposure to indoor emissions from these inefficient devices. It is also the leading cause of death worldwide in children under the age of five. Women and children suffer the most from indoor air pollution caused by dirty and inefficient cooking methods, because women can be cooking at these basic appliances for as long as six or seven hours a day, often with small children on their backs. Therefore, the distribution of efficient social enterprise stoves can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to its harmful smoke.

Apart from the awful health effects, the soot that is emitted is known as black carbon and is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gases behind carbon dioxide. Black carbon has a particularly potent warming effect over the Arctic. The soot accumulates on the ice, absorbing light and trapping heat. Airborne soot also traps heat above the ice, warming the air. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves seeks to offer clean, efficient, durable, safe, and affordable stoves along with clean fuels. It wants to stimulate a thriving social enterprise global market for clean cookers and fuels.

The Paradigm Project is hoping to change things by its sponsored ten-day Woodwalk: a 136-mile trek from San Diego to Los Angeles. The fundraisers who set out on Tuesday 4 October were carrying 50-pound bundles of wood 10 to 15 miles each day, as women do in the developing world. The walk will draw attention to the group's mission to provide clean cook stoves to five million people in developing countries by 2020. The Project is a social enterprise organisation and driven by relying on business and market-based practices to achieve its goals. The Woodwalk concludes with an event in Hollywood on October 14 2011.

It is clear that it's in everybody's self-interest to deal with the issue of cook stoves, not just because hundreds of thousands of women and children far away are dying prematurely, but also because it's melting the glaciers. Countries in the developing world need a simple, social enterprise, powerful stove that cooks cleanly.

Photo Credit: elFrank70