We empower local people in Central America to build life-saving, fuel-efficient cookstoves for families who would otherwise be cooking over dangerous, smoky, open fires. Each of these locally-sourced cook stoves reduces fuel use by 50% and protects an average family of eight people from the dangers of smoke inhalation while preventing up to 15 tons of CO2 and black carbon from entering the atmosphere. To date, StoveTeam has impacted the lives of over half a million people - Please join us!
Today, 4 billion people lack access to a safe and efficient cooking method. Smoke inhalation from open fires leads to over 4 million deaths each year. In Guatemala, 54% of families (9.3 million households) cook over open fires. Inhalation of smoke from these fires causes 4,500 premature deaths per year, 700 of which are children under age five. World-wide, open cooking fires emit more than 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually and are a leading cause of deforestation and climate change.
For over 13 years, StoveTeam has empowered local people in Central America to launch and manage their own stove-building projects. Right now, we are focused on our newest project in Guatemala, and our current goal through this campaign is to provide 100 cookstoves during the upcoming year. The cookstoves we provide have been studied extensively and proven to completely eliminate smoke inside the home while reducing total emissions into the environment by 86%.
The distribution of 100 Justa model cookstoves in San Martin Jilotepeque will mean that approximately 750 people will be able to cook their daily meals without compromising their health. Women, children, and babies will no longer suffer from lung disease, burns, and eye infections. Families will save time and money on firewood, and our team of local stove builders and craftspeople will continue working, and energizing their economies in areas of Guatemala that need it most.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
