Practically Eco: Stove Man

Episode 1: Woodwalk from The Paradigm Project on Vimeo.

Love the ethos of this project. It's easy to forget that the harvesting of wood and cooking over a fire is still a HUGE issue in many developing countries. Women have to walk miles per day for daily basics such as water and food, as well as wood to cook with. Cooking with wood has created two major issues: One, deforestation is epidemic. Lack of vegetation is creating desert conditions, stripping the soil of nutrients. The lack of root systems is also contributing to desertification due to erosion, washing valuable soil away. Second, cooking over an open fire indoors is leading to major respiratory problems for women and children. For more on the issue, check out Stove Man with Austin & Greg, a series put together by The Paradigm Project - a non-profit organization that is attempting to distribute 5 million high-efficiency stoves in countries such as Kenya, Guatemala, Tanzania and Ethiopia.  So far they've distributed 13,163 stoves, which has impacted 32,500 people. Amazing huh? Check out their progress here. Let me know what you think! I'm thinking this would be a good candidate for Pure Green Magazine's advertising donation program - if you haven't heard about that, PGM donates a percentage of our advertising revenue to non-profit organizations that support the environment around the world. For more information please contact us at advertise@puregreenmag.com