On the surface, this seems like a good idea
At the Clinton Global Initiative today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and various partners described details of a plan to curb the clouds of toxic cooking smoke killing nearly 2 million people a year in the world’s poorest places. More than 2 billion people rely on firewood or dried dung for cooking and often burn these fuels in unvented stoves or fireplaces. (The photo above was shot for The Times in Kohlua, India, by Adam Ferguson.)
The lead organization, the United Nations Foundation, pledges to get cleaner, more efficient stoves into 100 million homes by 2020. Read John Broder’s news story for the basics, which include a commitment of $50.8 million over five years from the United States as seed money. Also visit the alliance Web site cleanercookstoves.org.
Despite the fact that Mankind has been cooking with wood and dung since Prometheus stole fire from god, oh, OK, since man first noticed fire, the way many in poorer countries cook is not healthy. The smoke often stays in the domicile and causes health problems. Buuuuuuuut, is this really about helping the poor out?
The black smoke from such stoves also could be contributing to the melting of Himalayan snow and, by absorbing sunlight, can add local warming to whatever comes in a particular region from climate change.
And there you have it. It’s about anthropogenic global warming. The article writer, Andrew Revkin, manages to cite the Himalayas, without mentioning that the evidence for the glacier melt was fabricated and a loud of camel fritters. The Global Alliance For Cleaner Cookstoves also mentions globull warming as one of the reasons on their Overview pages. A lot. Anyone think that isn’t the primary reason for this initiative? They also link in carbon credits, so, this could be a good way to attempt to make some cash off the plight of these poor people. Who often avoid using the “clean stoves”, because the do not provide the heat necessary to cook their foods, such as breads.
I have a better idea: why not create power plants? Studies have shown again and again that the best way to pull people out of poverty is with modern energy. Instead of giving them climate change friendly stoves, how about bringing them electricity? Oh, wait, sorry, I forgot that our modern life is killing Gaia, so, we can’t allow these folks living in real poverty to harm it more. Even though modern energy would decrease all the health problems this initiative mentions.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Re-Change 2010!
great idea Teach why don’t YOU give them a power plant. Oh that’s right because they cost mega bucks and those countries also do not have any way to then distribute that power to rural areas where these stoves will be used. Also most of the people in really poor areas can also not afford the minimum monthly electric charge. Possibly if you had spent any time PERSONALLY in areas like that it would have been self evident to you. Remember Teach these stoves are designed to be used by people that are so poor that they cannot even afford the next step up which would be a kerosene stove.This is just another one of your typical insightful analysises done by someone who has never lived outside of the USA
john,
I have spent time,”personally, in some of these areas and can assure you that the areas are rich in natural resources. If the areas weren’t so determined to not get ahead, then they could afford the modern upgrade. It is kind of like our dear leader, he is trying to destroy our country so we are like these people.
As to the stoves, Obama wanted some indication as to were to cut the budget, this is an excellent place. That and the idea of teaching these people how to wash their privates.
And john, I have a huge pile of brush and junk (about 20’x 20’x20′) that I am about to set fire to in order to help the environment. I am fairly sure that creatures are living in the pile and hopefully one or two are endangered. By the way, you never answered the question as to if you drive a car or not.
Reminds me of when the do-gooders were pressing the latest “great idea” – solar stoves – on the natives. One native man (ignorant does not mean stupid!) observed “That’s fine, I guess, as long as I don’t want to eat on rainy days.”
Interesting John. Weren’t we in the same boat when electricity was invented and debated within this nation? Was it a grant from the UN or massive subsidies that allowed our poor to buy their first washing machine?
Teach, I had your exact same take as well..
http://snappedshot.com/turbo/1623-What-A-Deal-50-Million-To-Save-The-World.html
Did you also note the slobbering of words about how these cookstoves will empower women and prevent child slaver?