CHANGEMAKER: Brice Hoskin

To Build a Better Campfire Ganesha Cookstove Project burns bright

By Mike Horn

Local Brice Hoskin’s inspiration for the Ganesha Cookstove Project is rooted in a simple-yet-powerful question: how do you make the campfire better?

Why does the campfire need improving? Well, more than two billion people around the world still cook over an open fire for every meal. And that can have impacts on human health, and the environment—including air pollution and deforestation.

Hoskin recalled a trip to Nepal in 1992, and waking up to dense, smoke-filled air in a dwelling as his hosts started the first fire of the day. Low-income women often have the most exposure to cooking-related air pollution as a result of preparing food over an open fire.

It was one of the many experiences and stories that inspired him to design and develop stoves to serve humanitarian, recreational and emergency purposes. Stoves that would be portable, burn hotter and cook more efficiently, reduce emissions, and be fueled by any biomass available.

“If you can get them a simple tool that uses half the fuel, that’s a big deal,” Hoskin says. “It’s about sharing technology.”

Hoskin’s first Ganesha prototypes were hand-drawn designs cut out of thick paper stock, so he could envision how the pieces would come together. Then he moved on to tin snips and salvaged roofing metal, before eventually sending his designs to a nearby metal fabricator. Today, the stoves are manufactured in New Delhi, India.

The Humanitarian Stove is designed to be large enough to feed a family of six, according to Hoskin. “We’ve had stoves in Nepal seeing heavy use for eight years, and they’re still going strong.”

The humanitarian side of the project continues to expand its reach. “One of our donors asked that we make and distribute stoves in a way that would serve the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India,” Hoskin says. “Hundreds of Tibetans came with the Dalai Lama when he escaped the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, and Dharamsala has since become the center of the Tibetan diaspora.”

Hoskin says Ganesha is partnering with the Lha Charitable Trust (www.lhasocialwork.org/) to distribute 425 of its humanitarian stoves to Tibetan monks who have spent time in the monastery and are now living lives of solitude and meditation, scattered around Dharamsala. “We will make the stoves in New Delhi and ship them to Dharamsala, where Lha will distribute them to the monks.”

Similar in functionality to the Humanitarian Stove, but in a smaller package, the new Ganesha Ultralight stove was inspired in part by Hoskin’s desire for a “nice, hot cup of coffee” first thing in the morning when he’s out camping, so he can get moving right away. “I’m not looking to build a big campfire that time of day,” he says. 

So with the support of the Idea Launch Lab in Crested Butte, Hoskin designed a stove that boils 700ml of water (enough for several cups of your favorite hot beverage) in less than five minutes, using readily available sticks and twigs. Weighing in at just 7.8 ounces, it’s an afterthought in your pack. It folds completely flat, and is also offered in a super-light titanium version. Like the Humanitarian Stove, the Ultralight will burn any kind of biomass, from wood to dung to dried corn cobs. 

This isn’t Hoskin’s first entrepreneurial venture. The Ganesha Cookstove Project founder has held founder/ownership roles in Mountain Boy Sledworks, Montanya Rum and Mandolin Publishing.  

So it should come as no surprise that Hoskin has found a way to make the campfire better after all, to harness its energy in a way that can have a positive impact around the globe. 

Learn more at ganeshacookstoveproject.com.