Earth Day 2013, celebrated this week, focuses on the climate change issue. Environmental health is an essential value of the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project. We are proud to include our work with mitigating climate change in these efforts, as people around the globe pause to acknowledge the home we all share. And as part of the celebration, we joyfully announce our new website, www.internationalcollaborative.org. We invite you, one of the very first people to view the site, to share comments with us, as we prepare the site for public launch. Please link the new address at your website and Facebook. By letting others know about our work, you make a real difference. Thank you. We invite you to read about our experience at the recent stove conference in Cambodia, and get an inside view of our research into particulates. Happy Earth Day + Twende!
Robert V. Lange, President
Maasai Stoves & Solar project of the ICSEE
|
Our stoves and the effects on pneumonia occurrence
Each year, four million die from pneumonia, with many more sickened, caused by smoke from indoor cooking fires. The disease is caused by particulates--small particles that are in the smoke when wood or other biomass is burned.
| Smoke from indoor cooking fire
|
The Project is dedicated to improved health and we know that our stove is excellent at reducing smoke. The chimney and the burning efficiency combine to get out 90% of the particulates.
We wish to do more. But first we need to be sure if we are getting indoor pollution down to the level that actually reduces pneumonia occurrences. We are intensifying our research in this area.
We are also designing research to study the effects of small changes in cooking practice, and experimenting with using fireproof materials to seal smoke pathways.
Making a real difference requires marked lowering of particulate levels, as expressed in the interesting graph below pertaining to child pneumonia, from the World Health Organization.
We believe our new studies are likely to demonstrate that our stove gets the average daily exposure of particulates down into the range between 25 and 125 micrograms per meter cubed.
| Exposure-response relationship pneumonia |
|
Women's empowerment and the Cambodia conference
It was good to meet so many new friends at the second Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves conference, recently held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
| Corinne Hart and Kisioki Moitiko |
Corinne Hart of the Alliance invited Maasai Stoves & Solar Project Manager, Kisioki Moitiko to join a panel exploring women's empowerment and stove work. We were especially pleased to participate because women's empowerment is not just a goal for us. It is a core value and an essential part of the International Collaborative methodology. Our Project had to find people in the villages who cared enough about home improvement to take on the installation of chimneys. Of course, those people were the women! Thank you to Corinne and the Alliance for the opportunity to share ideas. Read more at our new website.
|
While in Cambodia...
Riding on an African elephant is unthinkable, so Kisioki was amazed to see riders on the Asian elephants during his trip to Cambodia for the conference.
 | Kisioki in Cambodia |
|
|
|
Quotes from our new website
|
"Respect for the other is not based on silence or hiding ones ideas and reactions.
We must be a resource of the kind that is authentic for us.
Then and only then will we create partnerships that fully benefit from what others can authentically bring, as well."
--Robert V. Lange, Cambridge, MA
|
A video about our work |
View a video from our early days and see Maasai Stoves & Solar and our community in action, filmed by Brian Petchers.
Soon we will add our new videos--stay tuned.
|
Welcome! |
Welcome to the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project of the International Collaborative (The IC) also known as the International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in America and Tanzania. Like us, are you dedicated to improved quality of life, health, and well-being for the developing world, and to a healthier environment for all? Read about our values. For more information contact: Bob Lange(ICSEE) Maasai Stoves & Solar 81 Kirkland Street Cambridge, MA 02138 +1 508.735.9176
|
Volunteer Opportunities
|
Are you seeking meaningful volunteer opportunities? Contact us about opportunities to participate directly in the work of our organization. Blogging Contact management Database consulting Digital marketing Editorial services Event planning Facebook Filing Internship Management Photo file management Research Social media Tech support Writing
|
|