sites/all/files/south_africa_0.jpg

Imagine if you used the sun to cook your food instead of using the electricity or gas? Well, in the sunny balmy climate of Cape Town South Africa they are doing just that! On November 27, 2010, 1,000 people will sit down for a meal together that will be cooked exclusively with solar cookers. But before the community sits down to feast they will engage in an intergalactic photo shoot. They will create the above image out of the solar cookers and will have a 59 second window where the design will be photographed from a passing satellite.

People all over the world are joining this event in South Africa by donating $150 to buy a large solar for this event and as a permanent solution to carbon reduction in the Khayelitsha neighborhood of Cape Town.

Here is the deal in Khayelitsha, many residents do not have access to electricity and those who do generally can’t afford more than the government’s Basic Allowance of 50kW per month, which seldom lasts more than a couple of weeks. The rest of the month, and those households without electricity, people end up cooking with parffin, scraps of wood or other flammable and carbon-intensive materials. Energy is also very expensive in South Africa. The NGO, South South North, estimates that in neighborhoods like Khayelitsha 25% of a families income is spent on energy service. These cookers are an immediate and critical solution to the energy crisis in this community that also helps to relieve the financial struggles of local families.

Please email [email protected] if you are interested in donating to the solar cooker project or would like more information.

This project is being organized by the Canary Project, an arts collective that has been producing art and media that deepen public understanding of climate change since 2006, as well as several South African NGOs.