Vignette, through funding provided by the ONE campaign, documented stories about energy poverty across Sub Saharan Africa.
There are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires – from leaving women vulnerable to attack while collecting firewood, to high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. This story documents the struggle for adaptation and the challenge innovators face as they try to convince people to change century old habits for the sake of the planet.
The challenge for this assignment was to find a story that global readers would find compelling about an issue that is hard to tell a impactful story about without losing the interest of the viewers.
This story was featured on the Huffington Post.
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- Kenyan women and girls bring back firewood they collected to their villages, near the town of Susua, Kenya, Friday, August 7, 2015. Women and girls are usually in charge of collecting firewood for their houses. The firewood is used for open fires that are the source for cooking, cleaning and boiling water for a household. The hours searching for wood prevent better use of their time, which could be used for attending school, farming, or holding a paying job. Additionally in some places there is danger of violence while women collect wood far from their homes. Globally there are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- A Kenyan man chops and burns trees, on land that the owner hadn’t gotten permission to clear, in Narok, Kenya, Monday, August 17, 2015. The forest rangers plan on arresting the owner of the land for not having the appropriate permits. Deforestation is one of the many problems associated with open fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – along with high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like charcoal, wood, animal dung and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Ene Mututua, age 37, nurses one of her children inside her hut as a three stone fire smokes up the room, in Susua, Kenya, Thursday, August 13, 2015. Ene has a bio gas stove in a new hut next door, but still uses the three stone fire as well. Inside her hut it is very hard to see as the smoke fills the small room quickly. There are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Corporal Thomas Nchoe from the Kenya Forest Service, surveys private land that has been illegally chopped down, in Narok, Kenya, Monday, August 17, 2015. Deforestation is one of the many problems associated with open fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – along with high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like charcoal, wood, animal dung and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- A Kenyan man sells charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, August 20, 2015. There are a whole range of problems associated with open fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Kenyan workers at the Burn factory work to create clean cookstoves, in Ruiru, Kenya, Tuesday, August 11, 2015. The Burn factory creates cleaner more efficient charcoal stoves, but some complaints are they don’t cook food as fast and that the prices for their stoves are too high. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low because of issues like these. These more efficient stoves are trying to tackle a whole range of problems associated with open fires and traditional charcoal stoves – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants.(Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Kenyan men sit near charcoal piles for sale in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, August 20, 2015. There are a whole range of problems associated with open fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Fridati Peter, center, age 26, uses a cleaner cookstove as well as a less efficient charcoal stove near Liberty village, Kenya, Monday, August 10, 2015. There are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- Keneth Ndua, age 42, center, founder of a clean cookstove company Stamps, attempts to explain the problems with cooking over a three stone open fire to a group of women, in the town of Ngewa, Kenya, Saturday, August 8, 2015. There are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs like Keneth develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- An old, inexpensive and broken charcoal cookstove is seen in the town of Ngewa, Kenya, Saturday, August 8, 2015. This is a typical cookstove that people use in Kenya, which has many problems associated with it – from high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke to mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)(Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- A Kenyan man takes buckets to a well which has unclean water, near Liberty village, Kenya, Monday, August 10, 2015. Many people in Africa have to walk several miles to get water as a result of deforestation. This is one of the many problems associated with open fires and inefficient charcoal stoves – deforestation and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Additional health problems are also enormous when using inefficient stoves, like high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
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- A teenage girl collects firewood near the town of Susua, Kenya, Friday, August 7, 2015. Women and girls are usually in charge of collecting firewood for their houses. The firewood is used for open fires that are the source for cooking, cleaning and boiling water for a household. The hours searching for wood prevent better use of their time, which could be used for attending school, farming, or holding a paying job. Additionally in some places there is danger of violence while women collect wood far from their homes. Globally there are a whole range of problems associated with open cook fires – high death tolls related to the inhalation of smoke, and mass environmental impact from half the world’s population cooking with solid fuels like wood, animal dung, charcoal and other pollutants. Solutions abound as many entrepreneurs develop more efficient cookstoves, but adaptation is still very low. (Photo credit/Tara Todras-Whitehill)
