New 'Smokeless' Fire-Building Method Reduces Pollution in South Africa

March 06, 2012 from VOA News

Domestic coal fires in so-called "informal dwellings" are one of the major contributors to high rates of air pollution and respiratory disease in and around the city of Johannesburg. But this situation may change, thanks to a new fire-building method invented by a South African grandmother. Emilie Iob reports for VOA.

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Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg, Joni, eGoli or Joeys, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan ... Explore this topic

Air pollution

Air pollution is the introduction into the atmosphere of chemicals, particulates, or biological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops, or damage the natural environment or built environment. The atmospher... Explore this topic

South Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres of coastline. To the north lie the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mo... Explore this topic

Nobelungu Mashinini

Nobelungu Mashinini is a South African grandmother credited with creating a new, simple method of building domestic coal fires with dramatically reduced emissions. The technique is being promoted under the title "Basa njengo Magogo," which is Zulu for "make your fire like the ... Explore this topic

Smoke

Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires, but may al... Explore this topic

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature a... Explore this topic

Shanty town

A shanty town is a slum settlement of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes. Shanty towns, which are usually built on the periphery of cities, often do not have proper sanitation, water supply or aqueduct, electricity or telephone services. Shanty t... Explore this topic

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitro... Explore this topic

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions. Cli... Explore this topic

Voice of America

Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA provides a wide range of programming for b... Explore this topic

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Johannesburg

Air pollution

South Africa

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