We had something new today in that we received a link to video from our presenter to an interactive presentation – a complete performance with no live real person! How virtual can you get. However it was very good, interesting and thorough. Programs Chair Katha Danz introduced Forest Resener. She said he is a musician, environmentalist, and wilderness enthusiast. As the Operations Director for the StoveTeam International, Forest is excited (virtually) to raise awareness for the issue of open-fire cooking, while continuing to create innovative solutions that maximize the efficiency, reach and scalability of StoveTeam’s programs.

Some years ago, Nancy Hughes was living in Oregon and lost her husband and was looking for new pursuits. She went on some Rotary trips in Guatemala and realized that the people there were suffering from smoke inhalation from open fire cooking. She researched what could be done and with the aid of collaborators, developed simple and inexpensive stove tops which greatly improve the deleterious effects of smoke by venting it out of the kitchen. Now, the organization which she founded has facilitated the placement of safe, affordable, fuel-efficient cookstoves in collaboration with local communities to support families and protect the environment. StoveTeam’s innovative model for assisting entrepreneurs in Latin America has won numerous awards for creating local employment while improving health and reducing air pollution. To date, local projects started by StoveTeam in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaraqua, Honduras and Mexico have produced more than 78,000 stoves, improving the lives of more than half a million people and preventing nearly one million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

Left above: Forest Resener (left) and (right) Nancy Hughes, founder of StoveTeam International.

Above right, children and families displaying the stoves.

Some things that were emphasized in the video, were that with the stoves, women did not have to carry as much wood every day - less than 1/2 was need, the open stoves produced the equivalency of smoking 3 packs of cigarettes per day, which was greatly eliminated, children did not run the risk of being burned since the stoves are cool to the touch, and are constructed by local people which is good for the economy. Now there is great need in the world for these stoves, and the StoveTeam organization would like to fill that need. You can imagine the need with billions of people cooking with open fire and the implications for fighting climate change.

You can go to https://www.stoveteam.org and find out more details and even see their marvelous video.