[Stoves] [biochar] allAfrica.com: Africa: Biochar - Unfulfilled Promises in Cameroon

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Ron

 

I read you bit about ‘dampening enthusiasm’.

 

Why would you encourage enthusiasm in something that has not yet been shown (as far as Kevin can tell) to meet the (perhaps exaggerated) expectations thrust upon it?

 

I am all for enthusiasm because it drives many organisations, but surely the science should be a bit better understood before we go around promoting ‘biochar producing stoves’ that will ‘save the planet’. It seems a bit of a stretch based on the evidence so far.

 

I am not convinced that poor people cooking with experimental stoves is the right way to do preliminary investigations. I think we should leave this to the agronomists for a few years and they can get back to us with what works. The fact that amateurs want to get in on it is interesting but it is clearly too early for triumphalism. At the present pace and direction, it is inevitably going discredit both stoves and biochar.

 

Regards

Crispin

 

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