Food for Fuel

While the chocolate toast and chocolate pizza I've concocted and happily devoured in recent weeks has done little for me in the way of energy, sugar appears to be quite useful in this regard in Haiti. The sugarcane charcoal (pictured left) is currently on view in the exhibition, Design for the Other 90%, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. I must say that the exhibition lacks artistry. Though, I don't believe art or design to be the point, but rather points of entry to important and timely facts about access to food, water, energy, education, etc.

What seems especially pertinent in the context of the Upper East Side: “The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises.

On the topic of sugarcane charcoal: In Haiti, the production of wood charcoal, the primary source of cooking fuel, contributes to severe deforestation and environmental degradation. More than 90% of Haiti is now deforested. Many children die of respiratory infections from breathing indoor cooking fumes. Sugarcane charcoal was developed as an alternative to wood charcoal. Dried bagasse, the waste product from sugarcane processing, is burned in a simple kiln, carbonized, mixed with a binder, and compacted using a press to produce sugarcane charcoal briquettes, which burn as well as wood charcoal. Other agricultural waste materials such as corn cobs are being explored as other “food for fuel” alternatives...

Learn more at http://other.cooperhewitt.org/.