Clean Cookstoves Can Save Lives
It's true.
That's because almost half the world's population — some three billion people — rely on solid fuel to cook their food every day. When burned, fuels such as wood, charcoal, coal, animal waste and others emit harmful fumes that cause cancers, heart and lung diseases, cataracts, burns, and other ailments.
Cooking kills people, to the shocking tune of 2 million each year.
Just think about it — the act of cooking, which is meant to nurture our families and us is the fifth-biggest health risk in developing countries. As you might guess, women and children are the most impacted — from the safety risks associated with fuel collection to the hazards of inhaling cookstove smoke to the lost opportunities for education and employment due to inefficient cooking practices.
So when the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves asked me to come onboard as its newest Ambassador, I leapt at the opportunity to raise awareness about this issue, and to be part of the crosscutting solution to this crosscutting problem.
The Alliance has convened hundreds of international partners from governments, corporations, foundations, academic institutions, manufacturers, NGOs, and others to address previous challenges with cookstoves, and to move forward with a universal strategy to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions.
I'm honored to join Alliance champions like U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Julia Roberts and Chef José Andrés, and do my part to help the Alliance reach their own goal of 100 million households adopting clean cookstoves and fuels by 2020.