solar box cookers a hit in rio

amidst all the lengthy discussions, negotiations, treaties, and heavy intellectual work going on at unced and the global forum, something about the concrete, direct approach of sbcs caught peoples attention. many appreciated that sbcs were an accessible, hands-on technology that could provide them with something they could "do" to help the state of the environment.

the sci team gave two hands-on workshops in which participants spent part of the day building their own cookers and then set them up and used them right there in flamingo park. a resident of the favelas (the shanty towns covering the hills around rio) discovered the sci booth and returned with a group of excited young people from the favelas. sci volunteers held an impromptu workshop behind the booth and sent the cooker back with the young people, after being sure that they would know how to make more.

the media gave sci unprecedented attention. dozens of radio and tv programs, journalists and video makers interviewed bob metcalf for stories on sci and how sbcs provided a effective solution to environmental problems being discussed at unced. bob felt that the large amount of media attention they got in those two short weeks would have taken sci five years to achieve without unced. he felt this exposure at unced was extremely important in furthering sci's goal to make people all around the world aware of the feasible and practical option of cooking with the sun.

contact was also made with hundreds of ngos and development organizations who got to see for themselves how sbcs work, and who learned how they could incorporate sbcs into their organizations programs.

the sci team left a few cookers in brazil with groups they had worked with while there, and returned home very tired, but very satisfied with the two weeks well spent and the decision to attend unced having proved to be an important one for the expansion of sbc awareness. it was also auspicious that it didn't rain once the entire time.

a proponent of solar box cookers explained how peasants can use cheap, sunlight-powered ovens instead of wood burners to heat food. in the afternoon, british actor roger moore hosted a brief opening ceremony on a stage built on the beach.

but amid the grandeur of it all, there are some small people who are doing small things that help people in a small way. for example, there is solar box cookers international. robert metcalf set up his booth at the global forum, a parallel conference by non-governmental groups. with millions of acres of land being stripped by people in search of firewood, their only affordable source of energy, metcalf promotes the use of a simple insulated box with a glass window on the top. it traps sunshine and cooks food without other fuel. "there are 2 billion people in the world today who, when heat is needed, think only of fire," said metcalf, of sacramento, calif. "the only alternative, if you survey the world, is sunshine. that's all they got." -- there is the "trickle up program." this is capitalism at its lowest level.

among the exhibits was a solar-box cooker, which relies on the sun to cook foods. it was shown by jerry klamon, an electrician from st. louis, mark osborn, a soil scientist from bowling green, mo., and linda mueller, a carpenter from st. louis. they belong to the st. louis rain forest alliance. "this is a very low-technology way of helping people cook their food using the sun without using wood-burning fuel," klamon said. he said visitors were enthusiastic.

"people are really excited about these ideas," he said. "it just seems like environmentalism is coming into its own. people are realizing it's not something for elitists, but rather to save the planet for their children and their children's children."

rio de janeiro--may d'marie, a retired librarian from sacramento, is handing out apple slices cooked in a solar stove at her side.

"this is where you cook only with the sun--no gas, no electricity or any of that other stuff," she said.

d'marie is one of thousands of environmental activists participating in the global forum, a serious-minded carnival of non-governmental organizations that is being staged in conjunction with the u.n. conference on the environment and development.

d'marie, a volunteer with a group called solar box cookers international, is cooking apples with sunshine. her stove is a foil-lined cardboard box with a glass top and a foil reflector. "it can get as hot as 150 degrees centigrade or 300 fahrenheit," she says.

and at the anti-summit, called the global forum, the low-tech was on proud display. it included a cardboard box lined with tinfoil and topped with glass: put it out in the sun and you've got a "solar box cooker." too simple, too doable, for the big thinkers at the united nations, huffed robert metcalf, a california state university biology professor, who had a pot of beans simmering in the display model. the brundtland commission, which brought sustainable development into the broader vocabulary in 1987, didn't even recognize sunshine as an energy source for basic human needs, he said.

"ours was one of the very few booths that was showing a solution to problems, not just lamenting problems. and the solution was nothing high-tech," he said. metcalf and others say solar cookers provide a realistic way to cook without fuel -- even in sacramento, where there are usually 200 days a year of sun. the boxes can be used also to pasteurize water, eliminating a source of disease for millions.