Protect Guatemalan Forests with Clean Cookstoves

TRL set up an environmental education station at both schools, where Isa spent the two days teaching students and families about a connection that's easy to overlook: the amount of firewood a family burns affects both the health of the surrounding forest and the health of the people cooking over it. Reducing firewood use means less pressure on local forests. It also means less smoke inside the home—one of the leading causes of respiratory illness in this region, particularly for the women and children who spend the most time near the fire.

This kind of teaching is a core part of how TRL works. Adopting a cleaner-burning stove is a meaningful step on its own, but the change tends to last longer when people understand why it matters, not just how to use it. That's the role Isa played at the fair: not just describing the technology, but explaining the reasoning behind it, so families could connect it to their own daily lives.

Each day, as the fair moved from one school to the next, TRL's station gave students and families a chance for direct, unhurried conversation with our team. It's the kind of outreach that doesn't always make headlines, but adds up over time.

At the center of all of this is a simple goal: the environment we leave behind for these kids. Every forest protected, every home with cleaner air, is part of the Santiago Atitlán that today's students will grow up in and, eventually, care for themselves. Teaching that connection now—between how we live and the health of the land around us—is how that legacy takes hold.

We're grateful to Mayanza for organizing the fair and creating this space, and to the mothers, young leaders, and fellow organizations from Chu'ul and Puerta Abierta who helped bring it to life.