The Cultural Caveat

Whatever you call it, developing nations or third world countries, typically these countries have more natural resources and simply a different way of living than "more developed nations". The reality is corporate greed can be found wherever there is an opportunity. Many of these "clean cooking" methods which seek to change the cooking stoves and cooking fuels that these countries use. 

 

One must ask are companies seeking simply to profit in a climate where climate change is necessary - in manners that are simply not areas where climate change initiatives are needed or will make the strongest impact: profit simply for profits sake.  

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Again, "developing nations" typically are rich and natural resources. Wood can easily be replenished by planting another tree. Buying something that one neither needs or is in there budget can cause unnecessary economic burden. However, if all of the world now changed to these new technologies: cooking stoves and fuels that open up new markets and require continuously purchasing fuels rather than using what God has given us freely: wood - such moves and motives can keep "developing nations" just that a developing nation. Encouraging borrowing and financing for technologies that are not necessarily a need.

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The bible encourages us to be lenders and not borrowers. In fact some of the best restaurants in the United States use wood and more traditional stoves creating some of the most delicious foods. In fact these "developing nations" often eat less processed and refined foods, which lends itself to better health. There farming and food production processes are less based on science and chemicals and on traditional, natural and biological processes. Again, resulting in healthier eating. The United States being one of the most obese countries with poor diets lacking much needed nutrients. The foods found in the United States are too often full of chemicals and scientifically manufactured food products and additives as well as a plethora of foods produced on industrial farm complexes. 

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Indeed, small local farmers and consumers in the United States are seeking to move back to more organic food production practices often found in these "developing nations". The simple reality is that these cook stoves must be manufactured. The question around manufacturing is always: what is the carbon footprint for producing these so called climate friendly technologies. How are the fuels prepared for use? What is that carbon foot print for that? When a climate change analysis is done, which approach is more advantageous to producing positive climate change?

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Nearly a 5th of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States comes from gasoline vehicles. The majority of greenhouse gases come from developed nations with the rest of the world producing about the same emissions as China alone. China being one of the world's top manufacturers of goods. So, perhaps we should ask ourselves first what we can do as developed nations to circumvent greenhouse gas emissions. Perhaps we should ask these "developing nations" what they are doing right. Perhaps manufacturing so called clean cook stoves is not the proper solution. Perhaps NGOs do not always offer or produce the best results for the "developing nations" they so often propose to be helping. Perhaps developed nations are very good at producing ideas motivated by profit rather than putting people first.

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Of the developed and between developing and developed nations Japan and India respectively do the best job at curtailing greenhouse gas emissions. India having nearly a fifth of the world's population. Japan making up a small portion of the world's population.  

Source: Shidonna Raven (TM) Garden and Cook. All Rights Reserved. Copyright.

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An excerpt from Next Billion:

DEFINING ‘CLEAN’ TO REACH IMPACT

But the key questions remain: Which of these solutions can be scaled, and which can be classified as “clean” cooking? There continues to be a considerable debate on how cleanliness of burn is defined. But based on the internationally defined clean cooking standards, there are only a few solutions that meet the cleanest (tier 4 and 5) standards, which eliminate household air pollution. And few of these solutions are scalable today, and able to meet the SDGs in the near term. Let’s take a look at some of these approaches:

• Electric cooking powered by solar or mini-grids is growing in the clean cooking conversation. But even with the reduced costs of these technologies in the past decade, few affordable solutions currently exist for low-income consumers living in urban areas let alone rural areas in emerging markets.

• Ethanol cooking has failed to demonstrate scale over the last 20 years, because the supply of this clean renewable gas is unreliable and constrained by logistics costs, which means it must be localized. The supply is also based on harvest and climate patterns, and the scale-up of its supply chain is complex and expensive.

• Biomass pellet stoves have been gaining a lot of attention in the past few years, with a recent World Bank program aiming to reach over 17 million people in Bangladesh. But like ethanol, the supply chain for pellet production and distribution is complex, geographically limited (requiring localization), and still unproven at scale. A major draw-back can also occur when customers misuse the stove or burn biomass other than pellets, losing the tier 4 emissions and efficiency benefits.

• Liquified Propane Gas (LPG) is the cause of much debate in a development industry rooted in renewable energy solutions, because it is a fossil fuel. Despite conventional LPG being non-renewable, LPG is the most cost-effective, cleanest burning fuel which is widely available. While there is a slight rise in C02 with LPG, net climate impact from cooking comes from non-CO2 emissions like methane and black carbon – therefore LPG contributes less to global warming than even efficient biomass stoves. This means there is a net climate benefit in converting a household from using a traditional stove with unsustainably harvested charcoal to a clean-burning LPG stove.