Mirador works with local families and community management in rural Honduras to build improved household cookstoves that use just half the amount of wood.  When you burn less wood, you reduce CO₂ emissions so each family saves the planet about three tonnes of CO₂ each year.  With more than 150,000 cookstoves in the field, one million tonnes of CO₂ have been reduced since the start of the project. With your continued support, another 20,000 cookstoves will be installed this year, in addition to the one recently installed for Doña Doris in Bacadia, Honduras.

Doña Doris, a mother of three, including a month-old infant, wanted a Mirador cookstove—she had seen them in neighbors’ houses, how well they worked, how much wood was saved, how nobody got sick from smoke in the house—but her husband, Don Mateo, hesitated. “Mañana, mañana,” he said. “And look, you have all that space under the stove to store wood, why do you need to save it?” Doña Doris, knowing her husband, patiently and good-naturedly persisted. It took just a week before he said, “Well, maybe.”

Local staff from Proyecto Mirador explained to Don Mateo how the stove worked and how simple it would be to install. Don Mateo would provide bricks and mortar, and the project would provide construction assistance, know-how, and specialized stove parts. The stove was completed in just a few days. It works perfectly. Doña Doris is thrilled. Don Mateo, who spends a lot less time collecting and hauling wood home, is now part of the overwhelming community support for this project.  “A smart solution for cooking,” he says.

Smart indeed, helping people improve their lives while helping the environment. There are already 650,000 people in Honduras benefitting from these cookstoves, plus, now Doña Doris and her family, and thousands more, will get one soon. All of them send a warm “Thank you!” for your support.