‘Tis the Season for Giving Back
At OpSense, we believe in doing what we can to make the world a better place. For several years our parent company, Mission Data, has committed to a philanthropic cause close to our hearts: the Clean Cooking Alliance.
Food is our most essential human need, and yet, every eight seconds someone dies from the harmful effects of exposure to cookstove smoke. According to the Alliance, three billion people around the world depend on inefficient “biomass” resources for cooking such as wood, charcoal, and animal dung. The noxious fumes can cause respiratory ailments and are also harmful to the environment. Women and girls, who often spend hours cooking and collecting fuels, are disproportionately affected.
The organization originally known as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was launched by the United Nations Foundation and former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The Alliance works to distribute cleaner-burning stoves to underprivileged nations. The stoves burn biomass fuels more efficiently, or burn liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, also known as propane) which burn much more cleanly, reducing the harmful smoke given off during cooking while having a negligible impact on the climate.
While the Alliance has met some resistance to the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels — people often prefer their traditional methods for cooking — the development of a variety of clean cooking technologies has led to progress in converting households to clean cooking.
Since 2010, more than 115 million clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels have been distributed and sold globally by Alliance partners. Based on current sales and distribution trends and projections, the sector is on pace to exceed the Alliance’s goal of 100 million households adopting clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020. Furthermore, the Alliance is working to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030.
Learn more at Clean Cooking Alliance.