This holiday season has us feeling grateful for all the ways that each cookstove benefits every family we can reach!
1: Better health inside a smoke-free home
Every stove means an entire family will no longer have to worry about the damaging effects of smoke inhalation.
2: Kids are no longer at risk of being burned
Thousands of kids across Latin America are no longer in danger of debilitating burns often associated with open-fire cooking.
3: A safer environment and climate for all of us
Every stove represents one of the best ways to offset CO2 emissions and fight climate change. To date we have offset nearly one million tons of CO2, meaning a safer world for all of us.
4: Meaningful employment
Each stove provides meaningful jobs for local people in the areas that need it most! These skilled, sustainable jobs provide great pay and allow local people to learn valuable skills.
5: Resilience in the face of natural disasters
As Central America faces increasingly frequent and powerful hurricanes, each stove helps to build stronger and more resilient communities in the face of this uncertain future.
Photo by Lynn Johnson for Ripple Effect Images
6: Healthier forests due to less demand for wood
Each stove reduces a family’s need for firewood by 50% meaning forests have a better chance of maintaining their delicate balance and continuing to provide this renewable resource long into the future.
7: A stronger local economy
Every stove is made entirely from local materials, sourced from local manufacturers and built by local people. This results in an entire supply chain of manufacturers, technicians, and transportation services.
8: A leg up in the struggle to escape poverty
A stove means family members enjoy the better health, financial and time savings that can enable them to reach out of poverty, toward a better future.
9: More time for education, work or leisure
A stove means it takes less time, and less wood, to cook a meal. This crucial time each family saves can be used for education, work or leisure!
10: Money saved on firewood
Families who receive a stove often benefit from a 25% savings in their entire monthly expenditures!
11: Better sanitation
Stoves elevate the entire cooking experience, so food is cooked at waist height rather than on the ground where traditional open cooking fires are often built.
12: Sustainable warmth
Cookstoves have the added benefit of keeping families warm on cold nights, especially at higher elevations.
Happy holidays from all of us at stoveteam!
For more information on our current projects, check out this week’s blog article written by our in-country staff person Alex Eaton, stationed in Guatemala!