Mukuru Clean Stoves - Hopeful Geographies

Mukuru Stoves is a company that is based in Ghana and is an excellent story of African innovation. It was founded by a woman called Charlot Magayi.

This is an inspiring story of resilience and perseverence.

This Conversation piece talks about the lack of clean fuels for the clean energy transition.

The stoves were one of the winners of the Earthshot Prize in 2022.

I have been using these stoves as an example of hopeful geographies. One woman has changed the lives of millions already through the sales of her stoves as well as the jobs created in manufacturing and selling the stoves and their fuel, which is made from agricultural waste in one of the designs.

Check out the website and the story.

Here's a worksheet that I used with Year 8 to help them interrogate the story.

Mukuru Clean Stoves by Alan Parkinson

Watch the video here too

Climate of Hope in Independent Education Today

An article in Independent Education Today contains a useful article on the Climate of Hope.

Steve Wright introduces the article:

The climate crisis has steadily risen up the agenda for most of us in recent years and, in our various ways, we are all trying to help mitigate the effects of global warming. Among all of this increased awareness, it’s been widely noted that our young people are central – both as the generation who will be most affected by changes to our environment and, commendably, as one of the most engaged sections of society when it comes to sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Our younger generations are, and must continue to be, aware and active in the fight against climate change. But how much responsibility lies with our schools, for continuing to educate our children about climate change and the need for urgent action, and for modelling best sustainable practices? And, specifically, do independent schools have more of a responsibility to step up than state schools due to their better resources?

Following that, there are contributions from myself, Paul Turner and Claire Robinson, along with a mention by me for the work of David Alcock. I talk about some of the work we do at King's Ely.

There's also a link through to the Geographical Association's resources, which are beginning to appear on the GA website, with more to come on COP26.

Don't forget that the GA's Worldwise Week is coming up soon.