For millions of women in developing countries, the simple act of
preparing a meal is a hazardous activity. Every time they cook
on a traditional wood, coal or animal-dung stove, which is to
say a couple of times a day, their homes are filled with toxic
by-products such as benzene, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.
Little wonder that such stoves are blamed for killing 1.6
million people every year, more than 85% of them women or
children under 5. Traditional stoves are also highly
inefficient, and their soot is second only to carbon dioxide
emissions in speeding up global warming. Which is why when
Nathan Lorenz, 31, and Tim Bauer, 32, of Colorado State
University learned about those problems, they knew they could
help. In 2003, the two founded Envirofit, a nonprofit that uses
their research into clean two-stroke-engine technology to create
greener auto-rickshaws for Southeast Asia and India. Their
expertise, they realized, could be applied to stoves. "When you
visit these countries, you know that people shoul