[Stoves] ABC PODCAST: "Power, domination and the ethics of global philanthropy" — Gwilym David Blunt

[Julien Winter]

Hi All;

I listened to this podcast again, and I think that Blunt makes good
arguments.   That is not to say that he can't be criticized and that
someone can't make counter arguments.  By examining arguments like Blunt's
our own decisions are better informed.

For cookstoves, how much does the supply side or demand side determine what
households end up with?   Hypothetically, if carbon credits were more
available for one type or model of a cookstove and not another, then the
supply side, and not the household, could determine what is available.

Whatever stoves an organization — like The Clean Cooking Alliance — backs
can affect research funding, and business development.  What kind of voice
do the end user households get in that choice?

What if all development funding was only for electric cooking devices and
not for biomass cookstoves?  An argument for this can be made if
exposure to PM2.5 is to be minimized.  But there are tradeoffs in this
choice.

As we all know, the recipients of cookstoves don't have much purchasing
power for imported goods, and they have to make tough choices between goods
such as between medicines and stoves.  So it matters whether a stove is
made, repaired and recycled in their country, or imported from an
industrial nation.  What if funding promoted mass production of cookstoves
in industrialized countries?

My view, and probably a common view on this email list, is that we work
with end-users to develop technologies that meet their needs.  We need a
diversity of economically and environmentally sustainable options for
cooking.  The process should be as consultative and democratic as
possible.  I think that is the gist of Blunt's main argument.  By contrast,
Blunt would argue against the top-down imposition of cooking solutions:

An example of a top-down imposition of cookstoves was a case in Bangladesh
where women were required to use an 'improved' cookstove in order for
their household to qualify for a social forestry program.


Cheers,
Julien.




-- 
Julien Winter
Cobourg, ON, CANADA
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