[Stoves] Food vs Fuel or Food and Fuel

[acparker at xmission.com]

Hmmm, population control, a somewhat subjective topic, fraught with
complexity over complexity.  In a Women in Development class (a
diversity requirement for graduation, but I ended up enjoying it) that I
took many years ago, the consensus among the students was that the only
ethical population controls were passive.

Statistics, up to that time (late ‘80's), showed that relative
prosperity with industrialization and urbanization resulted in
significant reductions in birth rates among urban emigrants from the
second generation and beyond, while rural areas were effectively
depopulated.  (This is pretty much what happened in my extended family
here in the U.S. after WWII)  Factoring in better education and
business/employment opportunities for women, those figures fell even
further.

In my informal observations since then, I have seen the positive effects
of urbanization break down in areas with low industrialization and high
rural population densities, where migrants to megacities overwhelm the
capacity of the urban economy to absorb them and they remain poor and
unemployed while high birth rates in their native villages quickly
compensate for any urban migration.  I believe that, in these areas,
enlarging the economy and extending education and business/employment
opportunities to rural women is the only way to passively influence
birth rates.  (Of course, some do not view this strategy as passive, as
many cultures do not allow women to modify their status.)

To bring it back to stoves, as simple as it may seem, an improved wood
stove can significantly improve the overall health of women and
children, and significantly (it is hoped) reduce the need to
harvest/purchase and transport wood for cooking and heating.  This, in
theory, can release time and income for education, training, employment
or entrepreneurship.


Andrew P.
(An Anti-Malthusian)