![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M1nrFzOhiWo/SeeHAllbGII/AAAAAAAACLE/LOdRYMADQdM/s200/16degrees_xl.jpg)
While we are on the topic of development,
The New York Times has a
story today about the use of cooking stoves in low-income countries and their effect on the climate. The basics are that the stuff they burn: wood, dung, charcoal, releases lots of soot or black carbon and this soot can act as a heat absorber and help warm the surface of the earth.
But there is another problem with these stoves: they appear to be extremely detrimental to the health of users. The aforementioned Poverty Action Lab has a
working paper that summarizes the current research.
Photo Credit: Adam Ferguson for The New York Times
I've been around these in villages in South Asia. They are indeed extremely detrimental to air quality, not only locally but also atmospherically.
ReplyDeleteNatural gas stoves are a nice alternative.