Title:
Project Seeks to Cut Deaths, Build Market for Clean
Cookstoves
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced a
plan to get cleaner-burning cooking stoves into
developing countries. The plan aims to reduce deaths
caused by smoke from the traditional use of solid
fuels and open fires. Almost half the world's people
breathe smoke from coal and biomass fuels like wood,
dung and crop waste. The smoke can lead to lung
cancer, heart disease, low birth weight and other
problems. It also increases the risk of pneumonia, a
leading cause of death in young children. Women and
children are most at risk because they spend the
most time in the kitchen. Also, in areas of
conflict, the search for fuel puts women at
increased risk of violence. The goal of the Global
Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is one hundred million
homes using safer cookstoves and fuels by the year
twenty twenty. Secretary Clinton said that clean
stoves could make as big a difference in the world
as bed nets or vaccines. She said: "The World Health
Organization considers smoke from dirty stoves to be
one of the five most serious health risks that face
people in poor, developing countries. Nearly two
million people die from its effects each year, more
than twice the number from malaria. And because the
smoke contains greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide and methane, as well as black carbon, it
contributes to climate change."Founding partners in
the alliance include governments and United Nations
agencies, nonprofit groups and the energy company
Shell. The alliance hopes to raise at least two
hundred fifty million dollars within ten years. The
United States has promised to donate more than fifty
million dollars over the next five years. The aim is
to create a strong global market for clean
cookstoves. The alliance will identify target
markets and work to get women involved in business
operations. It will also develop indoor air-quality
guidelines, test clean stoves and fuels and develop
"research roadmaps."The United States Environmental
Protection Agency has donated six million dollars
towards the effort. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
says the problem of cookstove pollution is really an
issue of poverty. For VOA Special English I'm Alex
Villarreal. You can read and listen to our programs
-- and learn more about projects in the developing
world -- at voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
