Household Air Pollution (HAP), caused by primitive cooking, affects more than 3 billion people around the world; more than 40% of the world’s population, and causes 4 million premature deaths each year.

Primitive cooking is also very detrimental to the environment because of excessive use of wood, dung and other bio-mass fuels and the large amounts of black carbon, or soot, that’s put into the atmosphere.

We decided to see how we could help alleviate this problem, in Nepal.

We focused on the rugged mountainous regions.

In 2010, our founder, George Basch, was inducted into the Explorers Club, and one of his sponsors, Sir Chris Bonington, gave him some invaluable guidance as to how to structure HSP's distribution efficiently, and opened some very important doors for us.  George's idea quickly progressed to a test-market in late 2010. We sent over 4 dozen stoves.

Field inspection in 2011 found enthusiastic acceptance from the communities.

Our Himalayan Partners INSISTED that recipients make a small cash or in-kind contribution so that they had an investment in their stove.

In 2012 we delivered our first shipping container of stoves and we’re delivering our sixth and seventh containers in spring and fall, 2019. By then we will have installed just over 6,000 family / domestic stoves.

Plus, we brought over 48 of the larger mass-feeding stoves as part of our 2015 efforts to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Nepal. Our small, nimble organization raised $100,000 in aid, and we were able to quickly relieve significant suffering in many of the communities that we were serving, with tarps, tents and other shelters, water purification and solar lighting systems and other desperately needed aid, and of course, stoves for families and mass-feeding.

Combining the impact of our family-domestic stove deliveries and our emergency Earthquake Relief efforts, we’ve affected the lives of more than 50,000 people.

It costs only $150 to bring a stove system to a family, transforming their lives forever.

Most of the communities we serve are remote and hard to reach. Sometimes we have to fly the stoves in by helicopter or use 4-wheel drive trucks just to get them to the beginning of the trail. From there our Himalayan Partners and their porters carry them in on their backs, sometimes only for a few hours, sometimes for days, over torturous and dangerous mountain trails.

Our non-profit US based charity raises money from individuals, businesses and organizations from all over the planet. We are passionate about transforming people’s lives and helping to save the planet, and expect to continue being “lean and mean” as our volume grows, so that we will be cost-effective in every aspect of our operation. We have a small staff due to our many dedicated volunteers, all of whom are very supportive and passionate about transforming people’s lives and helping to save the planet.  

Since our Stoves use up to 75% less biomass fuel, we have a smaller impact on de-forestation and allow more yak-dung to enrich the soil, rather than “going up in smoke”.

Our stoves work very well using small sticks, which is a huge benefit to the many “single mom” Nepalese households (whose husbands are working outside of the country to earn a living) so that they can literally pick up sticks rather than having someone chop down a tree.

The harsh realities of global warming are becoming more apparent.

In February 2019 the results of a comprehensive multi-year study about the Himalayan Glaciers (often referred to as the third pole) were released.

On February 4th, 2019 the BBC headlined that “Warming threatens Himalayan Glaciers” and went on to say, “The glaciers are a critical water source for 250 million people living across eight different countries. The towering peaks of K2 and Mount Everest are part of the frozen Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges that contain more ice that anywhere else on Earth, apart from the polar regions. Over the next few decades, the melting could accelerate thanks to warming and increased air pollution from a growing population."

As you probably know, carbon in the atmosphere; particularly black carbon, or soot, is a major cause of global warming. A recent study found that if CO2 emissions are not cut rapidly, two thirds of these giant ice fields could disappear. The efficiency of our stoves results in reduced soot, or black carbon, output into the air.

We are asked, frequently, whether we'll expand beyond Nepal. The estimated need in Nepal is for 1 million stoves. We're very proud that, with continuing and increasing support, we will have, by the end of 2019, delivered over 6,000 stoves, so we only have 994,000 to go.

Our message is “donate a stove, or two or ten, and enhance the lives of that many families, AND help slow the growth of global warming”.

You can also be a part of this evolutionary, aid to reshape and enhance our communities, environment and planet.