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ANNUAL REPORT CONTACT SCI |
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SUNSPOTS — Fall Equinox 2009
Content
Message from the Board
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| Patricia McArdle |
Those of us in the DC area continue to wage an uphill battle against a barrage of misinformation about solar cooking, but we're not giving up. Efforts to pass a climate change bill that focuses on renewable energy, and the new focus on black carbon's relation to global warming, have given our efforts new impetus.
We have organized solar cooking lectures and demonstrations at the Department of State, USAID and at Peace Corps headquarters. We have solar cooked and lectured on both sides of the capitol building (in front of the Senate and the House of Representatives), on the National Mall, at the Pentagon, the U.S. Botanical Gardens, National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund. Each spring for the past several years we have screened solar cooking films at the DC Environmental Film Festival.
Objections to solar cooking sometimes stretch credulity but we respond to each with facts, numbers and concrete examples. So-called 'experts' have asserted without any solid data that women enjoy foraging for wood with their friends, that they will never give up the 'smoky flavor' of their food or that husbands beat their wives if solar-cooked food is not ready on time. We counter each of these allegations with facts but they continue to surface every time we make a presentation.
Thanks to the incredible work of Tom Sponheim, SCI's Solar Cooking Archive continues to provide us with a rich trove of data on solar cooker projects and technologies that are being used around the world. We consider our advocacy work to be an essential part of the worldwide solar cooking community's efforts to move this technology into the mainstream.
So far the only U.S. government entity that has shown a serious interest in promoting solar cooker technology has been the Department of Defense. It has funded my attendance at conferences and travel to Mexico, India, Honduras and Guyana. Each October for the past two years I have hosted a week-long solar cooking demonstration at the National Defense University as part of the TIDES (Transportable Infrastructures for Development and Emergency Support) program. I am determined to convince other elements of the U.S. government that solar cooking is a viable technology that deserves funding for research and dissemination.
Patricia McArdle
SCI Board of Directors
The Aurora
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| Tanzania project beneficiaries |
One of the most important aspects of development work is not the introduction of a new technology or a progressive concept to a community in need, but the regular follow-up of methods to ensure progress and a sustainable outcome. SCI is currently working with collaborating partners in Uganda and Tanzania to implement follow-up workshops on safe water and integrated solar cooking.
In Uganda*, together with Solar Connect Association (SCA), I will drive the 15 hours north on bumpy, dusty roads, past the Nile River and back to the tiny village of Obia on the border of Congo, where SCI worked with Mary Lou Ozimek and her 13-year-old son Max last summer to develop the first integrated solar cooking workshop in this area. During the initial training, in addition to teaching the 36 participants how to use and make solar cookers, retained heat devices (hay boxes) and fuel-efficient stoves, we also gathered water samples from six major water sources, tested the water with SCI's Portable Microbiology Laboratory (PML) and presented our results to the class during the 4-day workshop. As you can imagine, most of the water sources showed a high enough level of E. coli contamination to warrant solar pasteurization — an essential component of the workshop's curriculum using a CooKit and SCI's Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI). The exciting part is that, in the months following the workshop last summer, the participants got together and created the Obia Solar Cooking Group (OSCG), taking their own initiative to train others in the community how to build solar cookers and use them to cook food and pasteurize water. This follow-up workshop in September will capitalize on the skills this group has mastered, brush up on any procedures or concepts that need work, and brainstorm ways to make the OSCG successful, independent and sustainable for the future.
In Tanzania, a similar follow-up workshop will take place in the northern village of Musoma, located on the shores of Lake Victoria. SCI is working together with Global Resource Alliance (GRA) and TanzSolar in Musoma to provide a refresher course to the 35 men and women who participated in the initial integrated solar cooking and safe water workshop that took place in January of this year. The three organizations will work together to ensure that the original participants are proficient at: making solar cookers; painting pots with locally-found blackboard paint; using and promoting simple solar lanterns; organizing outreach workshops; developing income-generating activities; and creating community-appropriate methods for sustainability. The advantage of having two locally-based, community-minded organizations in Musoma is that SCI can collaboratively support the participants as they work towards promoting integrated solar cooking and water pasteurization in the area.
"The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!" ~ Marvin Phillips
Karyn Ellis
SCI Director of International Program Development
*Due to the volatile political situations in Kampala, Karyn was not able to attend this planned training, but SCI is working with SCA to ensure that the training occurs at a later date.
Solar Synergy
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| Brennan Blazer Bird |
California native and UC Davis senior Brennan Blazer Bird first developed a passion for solar cooking after exploring Joseph Radabaugh's book Heaven's Flame: A Guide to Solar Cookers. Since then Bird has built multiple types of solar cookers using predominately recycled cardboard or wood, and has taught many of his friends how to build and use solar cookers.
Bird is currently an International Research and Development intern with Solar Cookers International, researching potential grants and partnerships to further support SCI's programs throughout Africa. He greatly appreciates the opportunity to be surrounded by SCI's dedicated staff members, who share his passion for solar cooking, and he is also grateful to be learning about how nonprofits receive their funding and support.
Although Bird's dream is to help spread solar cooking the world over, he is currently focused on introducing this amazingly simple technology to the Davis, California community and, more specifically, among young adults his age. Having volunteered in the SCI office and at SCI's annual solar event Shine On! this past August, Bird is continually reminded that he is one of the only volunteers in his age group. In order to increase awareness about solar appropriate technology among his fellow students, this past spring Bird organized an Action Research Team with the UC Davis Education for Sustainable Living Program. The Team of 14 students built multiple solar cookers out of recycled materials, including a solar box cooker and two solar CooKits, which they used to bake cookies for the entire class on the last day of session. Bird and his friends will continue their efforts through a new student organization called SolArising that will be devoted to organizing quarterly solar cooking workshops and other educational events to help spread solar cooking throughout the college community.
Since beginning research on potential grants for SCI's Africa programs, Bird has confronted the constant need for more funding to sustain successful solar cooker projects. In order to help fundraise for these projects, Bird's dream is to organize a nonprofit solar bakery, which he plans to start next year. The hope is that the solar bakery would operate at local farmer's markets and music festivals, introducing attendees to solar cooking and, at the same time, fundraising for solar projects through the purchase of delicious solar-baked goods.
Although the obstacles appear daunting, Bird is positive that he will achieve his dreams by focusing and concentrating his energy like the very solar cookers he so passionately advocates for.
To find out more out SCI's internship program please contact , SCI Office Manager.
The Heliograph
SCI in the News
D la Repubblica delle donne | June 2009
"Antenne da cucina" (Italian)
Public Service Review | June 2009
"Sun in the oven"
Sacramento Press | August 2009
"Solar cookers' Shine On at Sierra 2"