Solutions journalism is news about how communities and organizations are responding to social and environmental problems. The solutions stories in this collection illustrate a diversity of responses to the environmental and human health challenge of cooking over an open flame, including how three women entrepreneurs in Mali are using solar energy to power clean cookstoves, and how a for-profit, social benefit company in Rwanda has rolled out a business model where customers buy the fuel (pellets) and receive the stove for free. Finally, Undercooked: An Expensive Push to Save Lives and Protect the Planet Falls Short critically examines the global clean cookstove movement and suggests strategies for how it might achieve greater success.
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Throughout the world, some 3 billion people prepare meals each day over an open flame or rudimentary stove, releasing black carbon (soot) and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and harming human health. Thousands of varieties of cleaner burning cookstoves are now available, some of which can cut emissions by an incredible 95 percent. Project Drawdown lists the widespread adoption of these stoves as among the most powerful strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Join the Earth Month Ecochallenge to take action on this climate solution.