[Stoves] TED Talks: Amy Smith Discusses Charcoal From Bagasse in Haiti and Corncobs in Ghana (Video or Podcast)

[Tom Miles]

Frank,

Thank you for the comments. Amy is obviously a skilled and engaging
communicator. As a former Peace Corps volunteer I think she is motivated in
the same way that most of us are. Perhaps your daughter will be motivated to
be curious about both the social and technical aspects.   

The video is effective. I would like to see more of them produced. Not just
the 15 minute lecture kind but also the short 3 minute video spot on
differnet aspects of fuel preparation and stove use. Andy Michel showed us a
great cartoon advertisement for the GTZ Probec Injera stove. I recommend the
Probec Ashden Award video at http://bioenergylists.org/en/probecashdenvideo

Tom

    


      

-----Original Message-----
From: stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of frank
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 10:14 AM
Cc: stoves at listserv.repp.org
Subject: Re: [Stoves] TED Talks: Amy Smith Discusses Charcoal From Bagasse
in Haiti and Corncobs in Ghana (Video or Podcast)

Tom,

I watched the vidiocast with my ten year old daughter and it was a real eye
opener. When finding out that most children under five die from smoke in the
house she was thinking it was from a fire place like the one we have and use
about five times a year. We then went through many of the excellent pictures
of stoves in the homes and other info from this web site. We got out the
globe and looked up the countries mentioned in the video. She now has a
better idea of how lucky we are and how poor much of the world is. So thanks
for putting that video on the site. And to think Amy gave that talk about 30
miles from where I live!

If you have more we can see I would appreciate having them.  I think much of
the reason Amy, and the rest of you are not getting more help is because few
know about the seriousness of the problem and few have any understanding
about the way others live -and think. We should teach about the ways others
live in the schools at an early age. She has a science project due at the
end of the school year and I am hoping she will pick something around
stoves.

Thanks again


Frank









Tom Miles wrote:

>See http://bioenergylists.org/en/smithtedtalk
>
> 
>
>This links to a videocast series featuring Amy Smith of MIT. 
>
> 
>
>"MIT engineer Amy Smith designs ingenious low-cost devices to tackle 
>tough problems in developing countries. She received a MacArthur 
>"Genius" Grant in 2004, and was the first woman to win MIT's famed 
>Lemelson Prize. In this talk, she explains the vision behind her 
>inventions, which include eco-friendly charcoal and a laboratory 
>incubator that doesn't require electricity. (Recorded February 2006 in
Monterey, CA. Duration: 15:48)"
>
> 
>
>She discusses how MIT handled problems of briquette compressibility at 
>MIT and Haiti to burn longer and cleaner than wood charcoal which 
>commands revenues of $260 million in Haiti. She wants to make charcoal 
>production a micro-enterprise for farmers.
>
> 
>
>Smith comments that she is also working on low cost water testing and 
>low cost water treatment. She has 30 students per year that work on 
>implementation of these projects overseas.
>
> 
>
>This is a good summary of the discussion we had about Smith's (MIT 
>D-Lab) activities last month.
>
> 
>
>Tom Miles
>
> 
>
> 
>
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--
Frank Shields
Soil Control Lab
42 Hangar way
Watsonville, CA  95076
(831) 724-5422 tel
(831) 724-3188 fax
frank at compostlab.com
www.compostlab.com




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