Two main themes which I give recurring coverage here on Keyboard Culture are deforestation and cultural change. If we really want to fight global warming, we must eliminate deforestation on a mass scale but we also must effect permanent social change so that living and working green becomes a matter of personal and professional pride for people the world over.
However, such concepts are wholly alien to the billions of people who live below the poverty line, struggling to survive (and often losing) every single day. They don’t have nice things like Internet access or the money to afford carbon offsets to green the planet while retaining access to material wealth. No, many of the poorest people in the world cause deforestation because their survival depends on it, not that they enjoy despoiling their home.
The island nation of Madagascar is a prime example. Already scarred by the loss of more than 90% of its boreal forest cover, Madagascar is home to many thousands of people who live in or near the remaining sliver of forest. However, they have neither the skills nor the tools to live in harmony with the forest. Instead, they slash more and more of it every day in order to make charcoal for cooking.
To us, this method of food preparation seems grossly inefficient. Of course, it is but these poor people have no practical alternative because they live in abject poverty.
What is to be done?
Enter innovations such as the solar cooker. Costing just €5, this device is ingenious in its simplicity. Called the Kyoto Box for its ability to aid developing nations in complying with their reductions in greenhouse gas emissions dictated by the global accord, the solar cooker recently won the Financial Times’ Climate Change Challenge and with good reason.
Why is it such a powerful product? Well, it allows people who ordinarily cook with charcoal wrested from endangered forests to use the power of the sun and leave the trees standing. Moreover, no greenhouse gas emissions are involved once the product is created and delivered because it is solar powered, solar-thermal powered to be specific. Last but certainly not least, the Kyoto Box can be reused many, many times whereas charcoal generally is useless after a very short period of time.
There are ancillary benefits, too. The Kyoto Box can be used to purify water, which can have a huge impact on the incidence of cholera and other water-borne diseases plus assist people in living father from dwindling sources of fresh water in the developing world. I commend inventor Jon Bøhmer for his work and exhort everyone to fight for adoption of exciting innovations such as Bøhmer’s Kyoto Box in the developing world.
To learn more, visit
kyoto-energy.com/kyoto-box.html
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
Credit: greenlaunches.com
Ask
a Question or Leave a Comment
(0)
Digg This 
Del.icio.us