This powerful and poignant photo essay about the dirty business of scavenging for charcoal in Manila’s slums appeared today on National Geographic online. The Charcoal Project is quoted on the second page.
This being the UN-declared Year of Sustainable Energy for All, we hope policy-makers and all those pushing for clean fuels in the developing world will look into the eyes of this little girl and remember that solar and wind are not the only solutions. The world needs clean charcoal, too.
A big thank you to reporter Jeff Smith, the amazing photographers, and National Geographic. You can view the slideshow on the National Geographic website by clicking on the photo below.
"No Birthdays" (Photograph by Hartmut Schwarzbach) This soot-covered girl was six years old when the photo was taken, but she didn't know her exact birthday, according to photographer Hartmut Schwarzbach of Argus Fotoarchiv. She had yet to go to school, and instead was searching for scrap metal to help her family. They live near an area where tires are being burned.
This article will continue to inspire me to work hard and help the environment especially the people in the urban/poor areas in the Philippines who are affected by this problem. I also hope that they will learn to accept charcoal briquettes as well and I hope that the government will do something about it.