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<font size="-1"><font face="Tahoma">Hi all, <br>
<br>
My name is Rhiya Trivedi - I got access to this group from Cecil
Cook, I hope you don’t mind. I am a <a
href="http://www.watsonfellowship.org/site/fellows/12_13.html">2012-2013
Thomas J. Watson Fellow</a>, which means I have funding for
twelve months to travel the world and investigate any topic of
my choice. My funded topic deals specifically with efficient
stove distribution and construction as a climate change solution
for communities historically disempowered by climate change
rhetoric. <br>
<br>
I was a very involved climate activist for five years in the
American, Canadian, and international climate change movements
but was obviously dismayed by the extent to which Northern
powers entirely dominate and oppress Southern, vulnerable
nations within multilateral negotiations. Recent climate science
on the impact of cooking fires and black carbon on short term
climate change offers some remedy to this unequal power dynamic;
developing countries have some agency over the climate and I’m
out to see whether stove deployment is at all possible on the
scale necessary in the time afforded us by the climate (in the
absence of action from the world largest carbon emitters). <br>
<br>
I’m coming from Malawi where I’ve split my time between two
major stove efforts, one of which was specifically working to
mitigate black carbon and one which was not. In South Africa I’m
hoping to visit as many stove projects as possible and volunteer
if at all possible (I’ve found throughout my life that lending a
hand is the best way to understand the ins and outs of a
project). I'll be spending 7 months with stove projects in India
and Nepal come January. <br>
<br>
So mainly I’m looking for projects anywhere in South Africa (or
Swaziland or Lesotho) that are contributing to might allow me to
come and pick their brains for some time (I’m not doing formal
research so my needs are very low - I just want to be able to
chat with implementers and target communities as freely as
possible). I’m completely flexible between mid-November and
December 31st to come and visit, and quite possibly before that
if those dates don't work. <br>
<br>
My CV is attached if that is at all of interest. I look forward
to hearing from any of you at your earliest convenience. <br>
<br>
Warm regards for a cooler planet, <br>
<br>
Rhiya<br>
<br>
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