There are only 4 more days to vote for Nepalese innovator Sanu Kaji Shrestha and his organization FoST in the global competition organized by BBC World.
Voting closes this Friday, 16th November, so if you haven't voted yet or if you haven't told your friends and family to vote, do it now!

Why would you vote for FoST?

To be honest, all the 12 finalists are great and doing fantastic work, but very important is that FoST is not targeting only one certain group or only one certain problem. They are looking for answers and solutions to stop the vicious circle the rural and urban poor are facing not only in Nepal, but on our whole planet.

With their simple, but highly effective solutions they are fighting important global problems such as:

- POVERTY (by educating and empowering communities, teach them how to save costs, creating opportunities for them to earn extra money and even start their own business)

- POLLUTION (by introducing more sustainable technologies and clean renewable energies such as solar power for daily use)

- WASTE AND GARBAGE (by using waste such as paper, saw dust etc... to make briquettes as fuel)

- DEFORESTATION (by using briquettes made from waste instead of wood)

- DESERTIFICATION / LANDSLIDES  (caused by clearing of trees and plants for firewood)

- ILLNESSES CAUSED BY INDOOR AIR POLLUTION such as eye and lung diseases (by introducing more efficient cooking stoves creating less smoke)

- ILLNESSES CAUSED BY CONTAMINATED WATER such as diarrhea, parasites, cholera... (by introducing simple water purification systems working on solar power)

- ILLNESSES CAUSED BY LACK OF HYGIENE (by introducing simple hygienic solar drying devices - food is longer kept and of better quality)

- HIGH FUEL COSTS FOR COOKING (by teaching people how to make their own fuel briquettes from waste materials, therefor lowering their daily costs of fuel (20% of daily costs). Fuels such as fire wood, kerosene and L.P. gas are becoming more and more expensive)

- OUTCASTS (by empowering and educating orphans, handicapped, blind, deaf, mentally retarded, people suffering from diseases or suffering because of an accident... FoST empowers them by education and teaches them skills enabling them to be independent and important to the community)

- TIME CONSUMING DAILY TASKS such as fetching wood for cooking (by creating more efficient cooking devices - cooking with briquettes and / or solar power)

To vote go to: http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/cooking.php  (Cooking without gas)

thanks, Sandra Wijnveldt - www.gorpproductions.com  - http://blog.gorpproductions.com/

I'll keep you posted as soon as we know if Nepalese org has won...

..... sorry, just keeping this thread alive. In a few more days I will not bother you anymore and hopefully I will have good news for all you Nepalese..... take care, Sandra

Good job ,Sandra.

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!!!

Yep Voted twice today for a good cause.

Already voted three times, hope we win

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS!!!!!!! 

Being an environmental idiot myself, i found Mr. Sanu Kaji Shrestha’s works very interesting. Wood and vegetable/plants/hay etc based briquettes should be workable there too as the practice has been highly successful in some countries like Haiti. But i could not be sure whether a Rs. 2000 plus briquette maker would be affordable to all. Therefore, when all people cant use the technology the question of sustainability still hangs on. Nonetheless, his effort and work deserves the recognition. MY VOTE WENT FOR HIM.

 

I wonder would it be pragmatic to push for one common briquette maker instead of one for each household. Villagers in Punjab, India, usually have one common tanduri-bhatti, and they don’t find it impractical too. I think we too can work that way back home.

Hi Kishnekale, you're right and that is exactly why Sanu Kaji is even giving his designs of briquette presses to the villages, so that they can make their own briquette presses - for communal use. It's not per household, it's per community. for more info: www.fost-nepal.org