Little Claudia was so excited when we built a new clean cookstove in her kitchen in El Porvenir, El Salvador. This new cookstove will reduce indoor air pollution (IAP) in her home by 90%, saving her from an early death from diseases related to IAP, such as pneumonia.
Posted in Photo of the Week
Tagged clean cookstove, El Salvador, human health, indoor air pollution, pneumonia
This is the seventh year that I have had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful country of Nicaragua, a country that continues to inspire and amaze me with every visit. The capital Managua, compared to years past, is booming – commerce is active, people are jovial, and the streets are lively. The country enjoyed a growth rate of almost 5% last year, a level not seen for over 10 years, and it is visibly evident. Add to that a level of safety more akin to its model southern neighbor Costa Rica, than its more similar northern neighbor Honduras (Nicaragua has 15% the homicide rate of Honduras), and you have a unique and promising set of conditions in a region characterized by high levels of poverty and violence and low indices of human development.
Nonetheless, there is still much work to be done in Nicaragua. Much of the rural population is remote, and lives on the margins of society, with many communities at a full day’s distance or more from Managua’s bustling markets and commerce. Somewhere around 1/3 of Nicaragua’s people are not connected to grid electricity, a condition which keeps them even further from developing full, productive livelihoods. It gives me great pleasure to be able to say that Trees, Water & People (TWP) is working to close this gap in my seventh year of collaboration with the people of Nicaragua.
This year marks the operational launch of TWP’s energy access initiative, a collaborative effort between TWP, our local partners AHDESA in Honduras, PROLEÑA in Nicaragua, and Árboles y Agua para El Pueblo in El Salvador, with support from PowerMundo of Colorado and Peru. Together, we were awarded a grant from the U.S. State Department’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, which will allow us to join the effort of bringing clean energy technologies to rural markets throughout Latin America. By tapping into the vast networks that TWP has developed over 14-years providing energy-saving clean cookstoves to Central America, we are partnering with Power Mundo to also provide solar lighting, solar mobile phone charging, and other life-changing products and services to off-grid rural communities.
As we track the impact of our work, we expect to see rural livelihoods strengthened, levels of education rise, and rural communities become more integrated into the modern lives we in the west enjoy and often take for granted. Follow our progress on this blog, as well as on the TWP and Power Mundo websites, as the project develops over the next three years. Thank you for supporting Trees, Water & People, and for allowing us to put your donations to work for the people at the base of the global economy who hold so much promise.
Energy Poverty can be defined as the lack of adequate modern energy for the basic needs of cooking, warmth and lighting, and essential energy services for schools, health centers and income generation (Practical Action, 2012).
According to PowerMundo, “Over three billion people worldwide do not have access to appropriate technology to meet their basic needs for simple activities such as cooking meals, lighting homes, or purifying water. As a result, billions of people suffer from energy poverty, preventable illnesses, and deplorable living conditions.”
The International Program made a BIG impact last year though their clean cookstove and reforestation projects, empowering communities to sustainably manage their precious natural resources. These community-led projects improve human, environmental, and economic health! Thanks to all of our partners who make these projects a success.
Learn more about these projects at www.treeswaterpeople.org
Posted in International Program
Tagged 2011 Impact, clean cookstoves, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, reforestation
A proud group of trainees at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center learned how to install a ground-source heating system, utilizing the power of the sun to heat the new Red Cloud Training Annex. Thank you to The Carolyn Foundation for funding this training!
Our Office Energy Challenge goal at the TWP office is to reduce wasted energy and phantom loads by 10% each month. We did that, and more in December 2011, by reducing energy consumption at the office by 15%, the lowest December since we have been tracking!
Are you interested in supporting TWP’s Office Energy Challenge? A number of our supporters are matching our efforts, going “ton for ton” with us. For every ton of carbon we keep from burning up in the smoke stacks, you can match through our carbon offset program! For details, contact Pete Iengo pete@treeswaterpeople.org .
Click here to learn more about the “Office Energy Challenge”.
Jam Cruiseres work together to seed 6,000 citrus trees in Labadee, Haiti.
With support from Haitian non-profit Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (S.O.I.L.) and Trees, Water & People (TWP), Positive Legacy and Jam Cruise passengers led the charge in seeding 6,000 citrus trees, thus launching a 10,000 seedling nursery at SOIL’s rural compost site in Limonade, Haiti.
Thank you Jam Cruisers!
Positive Legacy and Trees, Water & People have partnered to offset Jam Cruise passenger’s carbon footprints since Jam Cruise 6, a collaboration that has netted tens of thousands of trees planted and hundreds of clean cookstoves built. Jam Cruise 10 represented the most ambitious carbon offsetting effort to date, as the establishment of this nursery will lead to a healthier environment, stable livelihoods, and increased tree cover in Northern Haiti for years to come.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this event; it wouldn’t have been a success without your enthusiasm and energy!
Posted in reforestation, Haiti
Tagged Haiti, Jam Cruise 10, Positive Legacy, SOIL, Labadee, planting trees
A Zanmi Pye Bwa clean cookstove, manufactured in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the people and environment of Haiti.
Interested in learning more about the Zanmi Pye Bwa Clean Cookstove Project? Click here for more information.
Today we are remembering Haiti, two years to the day after a devastating 7.0 earthquake further devastated the country and took the lives of over 300,000 people. Since 2007, we have been working with the people of Haiti to bring clean cookstoves and reforestation projects to communities in need. Together, with our partner organizations Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT), International Lifeline Fund (ILF), and Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), we are empowering communities to better manage their precious natural resources through improved technology (i.e. clean cookstoves) and community-led reforestation projects.
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These photos show a glimpse of the progress TWP and partners have made since the 2010 earthquake. After a period of rebuilding, reorganization, and forming solid partnerships, we have made huge strides in developing a sustainable clean cookstove project that creates local employment, directly improving the social and economic well-being of hundreds of Haitian families.
We are continually humbled by the strength and resiliency of the Haitian people and look forward to the years ahead. Thank you to everyone who has supported these important projects.
If you are interested in donating a clean cookstove to a Haitian family click here.
Posted in clean cookstoves, Haiti
Tagged AMURT Haiti, clean cookstove haiti, Haiti 2 years later, ILF, remebering haiti, SOIL, Zanmi Pye Bwa
Labadee, Haiti
Together with Jam Cruise 10, Positive Legacy, and Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), we are planting 10,000 native tree seeds today in Labadee, Haiti! This hands on project is part of Positive Legacy’s mission “to create meaningful opportunities for music fans and musicians to become active participants in reducing the environmental impact of the events we participate in, and to do something positive for the communities we visit.”
The trees will be transported to a nursery built at SOIL’s compound in Cap Haitien, Haiti and will be raised with care for introduction into communities around Northern Haiti. If every passenger and artist participates in the project by taking just a few minutes to contribute, we can easily reach our goal of planting 10,000 seedlings to start the nursery.
Native tree seedling
Thousands of diverse indigenous seeds will be made available for this activity, ensuring that our efforts will increase biodiversity, stabilize hillsides, improve soil quality, provide food security and create income-generating activities for the communities of northern Haiti.
Stay tuned for photos and video of the tree planting event.
Thank you to Positive Legacy, SOIL, and all the Jam Cruisers for making this event possible!
The first shipment of "cleantech" solar products arrive at the Asociación Hondureña para el Desarrollo (AHDESA) office, ready to light the homes of families in Honduras.
According to an October 2010 Wireless Intelligence report, Latin America is now the second largest wireless consuming region with more than 530 million users representing over 11% of the global market. There was also exponential growth noted in the Caribbean region. With prices of phones ranging from USD$30 – USD$100 or more, it is evident that even impoverished people with limited resources will find a way to invest in products they consider important to their lives. This market penetration of cell phones may well serve as a model for selling other high-benefit technological products, but it also provides a significant incentive for the successful introduction and adoption of solar technology, in that all these cell phones need to be frequently and consistently recharged. For the many rural people living off-grid, this is often a considerable problem requiring frequent resolution with associated financial and time costs.
The Fire Fly is a solar lamp with a mobile charging station included.
At Trees, Water & People, we are working to address this issue by providing innovative new products such as solar lanterns with phone charging capability, making it possible to fulfill the increasing need for phone chargers, while at the same time introducing solar technology that provides additional economic and educational benefits, such as allowing families to work or study at night. These gateway renewable energy technologies are opening up great possibilities for lower carbon growth and development while improving access to modern energy products, services, and business opportunities to those currently without regular access.
Our new project will utilize our community development experience and new partnership with experts PowerMundo to provide a variety of inexpensive, high impact “Cleantech” products (i.e. items that improve household productivity and efficiency while reducing energy consumption, cost, waste, and pollution.) These will include items such as solar lanterns, solar cell phone chargers, solar panels, and human powered radios.
As Carl Pope recently wrote in Yale Environment 360, “More than a billion people worldwide lack access to electricity. The best way to bring it to them — while reducing greenhouse gas emissions — is to launch a global initiative to provide solar panels and other forms of distributed renewable power to poor villages and neighborhoods.”
We are proud to be a part of this global initiative, helping to bring impoverished families in Central America access to one of the most basic resources: energy.
Posted in cleantech products
Tagged ECPA, energy poverty, Powermundo, renewable energy, solar cellphone chargers, solar lamps
