Solar Cookers International featured on Radio France
Solar Cookers International's (SCI) exhibit booth at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil 2205 was visited by journalist Sandy Dauphin, who spoke with SCI Program & Science Director Alan Bigelow, Ph.D., and our local collaborator in the Central African Republic (CAR), Polycarpe Charlemagne Mandayen (National Designated Entity for Climate Technology Transfer & CTCN Focal Point for CAR).
Their insights were featured on Radio France – Le journal de 19h on November 19 — highlighting how solar cooking can transform lives and protect the environment.
The French to English translation is available below:
Introduction: Two days before the official end of COP30, he (President Lula) arrives to weigh in and try to motivate the delegations to reach an agreement. And between discussion sessions, negotiators from around the world can also do some shopping, because COP is also a large fair, a trade show where exhibitors come to do business and sell climate-related solutions. [At COP, SCI prioritizes educating people about solar cooking over selling solar cookers—especially as we strongly support local production]. These range from the most high-tech to the most frugal, such as the solar oven described by France Inter’s special correspondent, Sandy Dauphin.
Sandy Dauphin: Alan Bigelow is part of a California-based nonprofit organization, SCI, which promotes solar cooking…
Alan Bigelow: You put the food in here and cover it…
Sandy Dauphin: Demonstration underway, under his pavilion…
Alan Bigelow: You place the wrapped pot inside a greenhouse at the center of the reflector…
Sandy Dauphin: That is, a panel covered with aluminum to direct the sun’s rays. The solar oven is very simple and requires no electrical connection. It replaces traditional and rudimentary cooking systems used in many developing countries such as wood fires, charcoal, and even kerosene.
Alan Bigelow: Approximately 2 billion people cook every day using polluting fuels…
Sandy Dauphin: The Central African Republic distributed 180 solar cookers in the suburbs of Bangui, manufactured locally thanks to support from Europe. Charlemagne Mandayen from the Ministry of the Environment...
Polycarpe Charlemagne Mandayen: In our country, the Central African Republic, women are accustomed to cooking with fuelwood to prepare their food. This creates health problems because of the smoke, and it also causes deforestation, because women go into the forest to collect wood and then return home to cook their food.
Sandy Dauphin: The promoters of solar cookers hope to use COP30 as a showcase. They carried out demonstrations for delegates from Pakistan, Togo, and Uganda (and more)...
… Sandy Dauphin at COP30 in Brazil, with technical support from Olivia Brangé.
Thank you, Sandy and Radio France, for helping to bring the voices of frontline communities and clean cooking solutions to a global audience. And thank you to SCI supporters who allow us to uplift voices such as those of collaborators in the Central African Republic and pursue opportunities such as these to let more people know about solar cooking and empower more people with access to solar cooking.
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