Cleaner Cook Stoves for a Healthier Indonesia
Ratinem, a farmer living in Central Java, explains why she uses a traditional stove that uses tree bark for fuel. She gathers the wood, she says, from nearby fields.
“I use a traditional cook stove because it’s cheap. I don’t have to buy gas,” says the mother of three.
Ratinem’s family is among the 24.5 million households in Indonesia who use traditional biomass for cooking.
Unaware that smoke they inhale from the stoves cause illnesses, families keep cooking with traditional stoves because they are considered cheaper. Women and children are particularly vulnerable because mothers, lacking help for child-care, often have their children closeby when cooking.
photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/geres_environnement/7096375541/">GERES - Energies, Environnement, Solidarites</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>