Friday 31 July 2009 2:16:36 pm

There is one project Solar Cook by ID cook where there is a suggestion to Africans to use a lens to cook and not fire wood.

I would suggest this gentlemen to imagine what is like to be a poor African woman who has to feed five hungry children with two potatoes and instead of using wood fire for half an hour she must struggle for two hours with an European invention on which she must spend her half year earnings.

Meanwhile this very gentleman is driving his car in Europe to work for an hour burning fuel, cooks his meal on a gas stove, heats his home with gas exhausting 20 times more toxic emissions than the poor African lady's wood fire.

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Friday 31 July 2009 3:22:31 pm

Despite your rather windy repost, Margarite is right !this is a bloody silly idea, and is an insult to Africa . Cooking by mirrors ideed ! Bah Humbug to you sir !

A few day ago, I fell on the floor with uncontrollable laughter, a totaly daft man was writing about showing Africa Sustainability . I have got news for you the african Knew all about sustainability long before the White man presumed to teach him a better way.

The masai have for centuries, taken blood from the cow and mixed it with milk. Pure Cholestrol Good for the Body .! ( despite what The chemical-doctor Says)
What do you get if you kill the cow, a couple of meals before it starts to rot in the African sun .

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Friday 31 July 2009 4:07:28 pm

Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who has instigated a program of greening and terracing the formerly deforested slopes of his hilly country. Kagame is no tree hugger. Thanks in part to the environmental policies he has put in place, he has presided over economic growth of 10% per year for more than a decade. His plea for dealing with climate change is a hard-headed one. Rwanda has learned to recognize the economic power of ecosystem services.
To enable other developing nations to harness this economic power, we will need a slew of financial mechanisms to support developing countries in both adapting to the climate change that is already inevitable, and in mitigating their emissions. We will also need to rethink the architecture of our current financial institutions. The World Bank, for example, can no longer fund old high-carbon infrastructure with its right hand, while attempting to encourage the path to a low carbon world with its left.
When it comes to economic activities, it is clearly not just possible but imperative to seek models of low carbon growth. Some essential features of this will include an urgent halt to deforestation.

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Friday 31 July 2009 4:23:59 pm

Well if you can help the environment, while also helping africa, I don't see where your problem lies??

Moreover having a fertile land is important.

For the record, do you think everything you eat comes from Europe? Dont you think some fruits, cocoa, agriculture comes from Africa? So you refuse to help African soil fertility?

If the enviroment issues are global, some solutions are local.

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Friday 31 July 2009 4:58:36 pm

Vice President Al Gore set out his own vision for low carbon growth. For him, this is a problem of consciousness. The threat of climate change is very real, to business as much as to the public as a whole. Now we need to respond with the urgency that this threat deserves.
In this regard, Vice President Gore pointed out that China is already putting the US to shame. Each year, he said, China now plants more than twice as many trees as the rest of the world together. It has already overtaken the US as the nation with the biggest installed wind capacity. Their approach shows us the interconnectedness, not just between the problems we face, but between the solutions we can choose to follow.
Vice President Gore told us that “we can be pleasantly surprised by how quickly things can change.”
As Al Gore has said, deciding to be part of the solution is critical.

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Friday 31 July 2009 7:15:26 pm

Mr Le Clercq,

I fully agree that deforestation is a great issue for Africa, but it is mainly due to business interests foreign to Africa not by domestic cooking.

If you want action for stopping the forest cutting look around and if you see anything made of exotic essences wood (FLOORING, FURNITURE, ETC) you might get a clue.

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Friday 31 July 2009 9:10:39 pm

Margrit You can see the non sequiter quite easily, It is not the poor African Woman cooking with a few twigs that causes the big problem.

Also I find that exotic woods are not realy suitable for our UK Climate . We have different bugs which like to Eat them .

Export of exotics should be banned . It is simply big bucks for a bad construction choice.

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Friday 31 July 2009 9:23:14 pm

ID COOKS Team,
This is a valuable idea, however my problem is to what extend have you managed to develop strong working relationships with African countries to enable them buy your ideas as it appears such Ideas require a political will as well. For example, us in Uganda, we are working with the government, environmental Agencies and ministry of housing and health who are so supportive about our product of using Clean energy from LPG which seems to be working well. My worry about your product though is that in case there are no African governments which are interested in this innovation, it might require you to carry out a feasibility before it is bought into. However it is a good idea which can enable an African woman to spare energy for something developmental rather than going to the bush to look for firewood. It would also create enough time for the girl child to have enough time to read rather than spending most of the weekend and evening looking for firewood. As your energy would be readily available.

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Friday 31 July 2009 9:50:50 pm

I think what is being innovated here is something which can help preserve the forests in Africa. Whether the Masai drink blood or not there is something which is forgotten about Africa. I think African continent has enough Energy from sunshine which can feed the whole world. For example recently it has been anticipated that European Union is investigating in investing €500billion in harvesting Sunshine from Africa to Europe. Now why should Africa export sunshine when itself is not able to use it.
If there is a way how Africa can generate its own clean energy through sunshine it would be the greatest innovation anybody has ever thought about. For example ID Cooks Team idea is great because the materials involved in harvesting sunshine is great but my problem with their idea is how to store the energy harvested. Come on ID Cook, we need an explanation.

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Friday 31 July 2009 10:04:10 pm

As much as I appreciate that forest destruction in Africa is about foreigners, in terms of timber, but what you forget is that about 90% of Africans use fuelwood as a source of energy for cooking and heating. Countries such as Britain has policies which condemn importation of timber from Africa. Even if this is not effective, there is a way of curbing some of bad practices which have been used to destroy forests in Africa.

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