HRC supporters are frequently asked why they support Sec. Clinton and I thought it was about time that I contributed one of my own reasons (among many) -The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. I frequently see many of HRC’s advocacy initiatives mentioned and I don’t think I have seen this particular initiative diarized (although I’m relatively new here so perhaps it has been done to death already :))
I learned of this initiative a number of years ago but I never really thought too much about it. I was too consumed by my own first world issues.
I was lucky to travel to China for a month a few years ago with my then 4-year old daughter. I knew there was a major issue with the air quality and I researched child sized respirator masks, talked to pediatricians re the short-term effects of exposure, picked up a Ventolin inhaler and nebulizer “just in case” and timed my trip to miss the worst seasons for smog. It was all academic until we got there.
On the drive from the airport black smoke streamed into the air from manufactories — it was shocking. We checked in to our hotel, we found adult sized emergency respirators in the hotel room closet — that was a first. We wandered around cities shrouded in a perpetual layer of smog — see my pic of a beautiful day in Shanghai (this day I actually remember coming in and my skin literally feeling slightly crispy from the pollution). We spent time in rural China where the fog of industry and automobiles was joined by the smoke of cooking fires — China was beautiful, breathing in China — not so much.
So what does this have to do anything? Well, while we were in China I realized how lucky we were — period. We were lucky to escape the pollution by retreating to our lovely air-conditioned hotels. We were lucky that we were rarely exposed to kitchens where food was prepared over coal cookstoves — with their attendant smoke and particulate matter. We were lucky that the chance of any long term effect on us was negligible. Not so lucky? A good percentage of Chinese people -many rural and poor who still use solid fuel cookstoves to prepare their meals, the use of which directly increases the air pollution within their own homes (and their general environment by extension). Sadly, these people have no escape from the pervasive pollution (indoors or out) and the consequent long-term health effects. Here are some interesting statistics for China and Household Air Pollution (HAP). They are not broken out — if I can find a better graphic with specifics I will post it:
Country Statistics
Population using solid fuels for cooking - 45%
Number of people affected by HAP - 607,812,750
Number of deaths per year from HAP - 1,039,358
cleancookstoves.org/...
So back to The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and HRC. Below is an except from GACC’s “Our Mission” statement and it details their mission better than I ever could:
The use of open fires and traditional cookstoves and fuels is one of the world's most pressing health and environmental problems. Globally, three billion people rely on solid fuels to cook, causing serious environmental and health impacts that disproportionally affect women and children. According to the World Health Organization, household air pollution from cooking kills over 4 million people every year and sickens millions more.
Yet, safe, affordable, and accessible clean cooking solutions exist that can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to harmful cookstove smoke, while providing economic opportunities in communities around the world.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance), hosted by the UN Foundation, is at the forefront of efforts to promote the adoption of clean cooking solutions and spur universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels. Launched in September 2010 by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Alliance has an ambitious 10-year goal to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020. The Alliance and its partners are working to establish a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions by addressing the market barriers that impede the production, deployment, and use of clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels in developing countries.
cleancookstoves.org/...
Yes, Sec. Clinton used her position as Secretary of State, with the backing of the US Government, to champion a fairly non-sexy, quiet type of change that impacts peoples lives at their most fundamental level — the health, safety and security of themselves and their families. To me, her early participation and championing of clean cookstoves confirms her genuine and life-long commitment to helping those in need by implementing change at the macro AND micro level. I think the people at GACC believed the same -here is a video of them thanking her for her work on behalf of the Initiative while HRC was Sec. of State.
Please take a moment to learn more about this initiative at cleancookstoves.org/...