Cooking and Stoves - Rotary saving lives, children and the environment
Great talk from Michelle last week, telling the story of nearly 4 million deaths per year that are attributed to the health effects associated with cooking over open fires in impoverished countries like Nicaragua.
Another 4 million women and children suffer severe burns from open fire burning, and families spend up to 20 hours per week gathering wood to cook meals.
Smoke from indoor cooking fires is a leading cause of death of children under age five, and the world's largest environmental killer. It kills eight times as many people as malaria. Stove Team International’s program benefits the families and children impacted by smoke from indoor cooking fires.
StoveTeam is a nonprofit, organization that assists with the production of safe, durable, efficient wood-burning Ecocina cookstoves to replace open fire cooking. They work with nonprofit organizations and Rotary Clubs and help them place an order for stoves with a local entrepreneur in Latin America to provide the necessary training and support to produce them. Ecocina factories have produced more than 71,000 stoves, improving the lives of more than half-a-million people.
StoveTeam's model has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Partnership for Clean Indoor Air Award for Developing Local Markets for our innovative approach creating local employment while improving health and reducing air pollution.
Can you join the club in supporting this cause? Check it out or donate via Alex Rotary.