Support "Clean Cookstoves Act"

Co-sponsors Sen. Susan Collins (R, ME) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D, IL) have introduced an act which would reduce carbon pollution and improve public health by supporting a global market for clean and efficient cookstoves.

What is the problem?

• Nearly half the world's population cooks over open fires or polluting, unsafe stoves, using wood, agricultural waste, dung, or coal. Smoke causes respiratory illnesses and death, especially among women and children.
• The black carbon soot emitted causes air pollution, melts glaciers and snowfields, and contributes to climate change.  A recent Pontifical Academy of Sciences Report, The Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene, called for such action as a key way to protect health of the poor and vulnerable, to preserve water supplies, and to reduce climate change.
  
  

Sen. Collins explains, "Replacing unsafe cookstoves with modern alternatives is the 'low-hanging fruit' of environmental fixes. It can be done relatively quickly and inexpensively and would improve lives, empower women, and combat pollution around the world."

Call our CT Senators; ask them to co-sponsor this  bill:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal: 860-258-6940
Sen. Chris Murphy: 860-549-8463

Visit www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2014/3 for more information.

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Through May 11, our Fair Trade colleague, the Equal Exchange Cooperative, will give $1 to a cook stove project in Uganda for every purchase of their "Proud Mama" fair trade coffee blend. 


It's the perfect Mother's Day gift!  
Check here for details.

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