Gadling: The Himalayan Stove Project is a non-profit organization that has a very clearly defined message and goal. The group looks to improve the lives of those living in the Himalaya Mountains while simultaneously preserving the environment there as well. To accomplish this lofty goal, the HSP intends to deliver 10,000 clean cooking stoves to families living in the region over the next five years.
Despite the fact that the Himalaya are a remote and rugged mountain range, thousands of people call them home. Numerous tiny villages, populated with energetic, hearty people, dot the landscape, even at high altitudes. Most of those people live very simple lives with few amenities and often they are forced to heat their homes and cook their meals over old, inefficient stoves or open fires. Those stoves generate copious amounts of noxious fumes and smoke, which is detrimental to the long-term health of the 
villagers and leave pollutants behind in the environment.
Earlier this spring the HSP launched its first campaign to deliver clean cooking stoves to the people of the Himalaya, and judging from the updates posted to the organization’s blog, it has been a highly successful endeavor thus far. Over the course of three months the organization will hand out upwards of 1,500 clean-burning, fuel-efficient stoves that will have a radical effect on the lives of those who are using them. One recent blog post even told the tale of a family who was able to have dinner together in their kitchen for the first time. Up until then they were forced out of their home due to the overwhelming smoke.
Here in the western world we take things like fuel-efficient stoves for granted, but the work of the HSP is a reminder of just how challenging life can be in the developing world. This is a great grass-roots, philanthropic project that is doing wonderful things at this very moment and it must be an amazing experience for them to witness how they are changing lives on a daily basis.
