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Monarchs & Fuel Efficient Stoves
High in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Michoacan, Mexico, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies from across North America find shelter in ancient oyamel fir forests. Arriving in November, the butterflies come in such numbers that for many years people believed the butterflies would suffocate the forest.
While the butterflies still arrive in these amazing numbers our understanding of the relationship of the butterfly and forest has greatly increased. The survival of this carpet of butterflies is intimately dependent on the insulating qualities of the virgin forest . . . insulating qualities which disappear when holes are punched into the forest as wood is harvested. Like any blanket, the insulating qualities are reduces by holes.
At times the degradation of the forest is significant enough to cause the death of the butterflies. In fact there have been two recent cases of die-offs where an estimated 250 million butterflies have died--nearly one third of the North American population in a single night.
Trees disappear from the forest one tree at a time--some in the hands of mafia-fueled illegal loggers, others in the hands of local families searching for wood for cooking.
Read about our new program to plant trees around the Reserves.
Almost half of the people in the world prepare some of their food over unvented indoor wood fires. The smoke from these fires kills 1.6 million women and children a year. That works out to one woman or child every 20 seconds. This does not include the effects of ongoing respiratory ailments or accidental burns on an open fire.
Worldwide, the cutting of trees for these cooking fires is a leading cause of deforestation, watershed loss, and increased carbon emissions. Globally, the current rates of fuel-related tree harvest are unsustainable. In many parts of the world, this problem is easily addressed.
In Mexico the installation of the high-efficiency Patsari Stove is a powerful tool for addressing not only the conservation issues of open fires for cooking but family health as well. Let's face it: a family with little or no income must care far more for their immediate health than for the conservation of the butterfly--even if their futures are inexorably linked.
See where our stoves are and the people who benefit from them.
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