A solar cooker being used to prepare food in Madhya Pradesh, India.
This story was identified by Call to Earth guest editor Rodrigo Pacheco. He is a chef who grows sustainable food at his restaurant and creative permaculture project in Ecuador, and he is a former UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Goodwill Ambassador.
(CNN)From cool, dewy European mountain ranges and humid Central Asian forests to the urban sprawl across North America and the arid landscapes of the African continent, millions of people are cooking with only the sun's rays as fuel.
This culinary magic is known as solar cooking. Instead of burning a fuel source, solar cooking uses mirrored surfaces to channel and concentrate sunlight into a small space, cooking food while producing zero carbon emissions.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.6 billion people around the globe cook their daily meals over open fires. Fuelled with wood, animal waste, kerosene and charcoal, these fires produce highly polluting smoke and contribute to deforestation, soil erosion and ultimately desertification -- but solar cookers could provide an alternative.
Solar cookers and shrinking forests
Solar Cookers International (SCI) is an non-profit that advocates for the adoption of solar thermal cooking technologies. SCI says it knows of over 4 million solar cookers around the world, which people are using to cook and bake in the direct sun or through light clouds.
One of these people is Janak Palta McGilligan. The 73-year-old is a member of the SCI Global Advisory Council and director of the Jimmy McGilligan Centre for Sustainable Development in Madhya Pradesh, India -- which she founded with her late husband in 2010. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
