Why I Like Solar Cooking
By Andy Lächler
Grade 4, Miami Country Day School
April 1, 2006
Solar cooking is very important and very useful. It
helps many people in poor countries. Solar cooking is
important because most people in the world don’t
have enough money to buy wood or charcoal. They still
need to cook because if you eat raw food, it may give
you a disease. Solar cookers can also be used to pasteurize
water and make it safe for drinking and cooking. Solar
cooking is also great because the fuel, sunshine, is
free.
There are several ways to make solar cookers. You can
make them out of cardboard, metal, wood or anything
else that will not melt. A solar cooker does not have
to be complicated. Very simple cookers will do the job
well.
A program that teaches solar cooking is YouthCaN. It
raises enough money to send a Villager Oven to schools
and villages in poor countries. YouthCaN does many video
conferences with poor countries in Africa and Latin
America like Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti.
I first got interested in solar cooking when I heard
about the YouthCaN project at my school. I was in second
grade then. I wanted to get involved, but I was too
young. I had to wait until fourth grade. Well, now I
am in fourth grade and I am in the program. It is really
fun. We created our own solar cookers, we cook food
with them, and we talk with kids around the world using
video conferences. We compare our work with each other;
we see how hot we can get the solar ovens, and what
works best.
 Our
teacher, Mrs. Gerber, is really nice. She helps each
one of us with our solar cooking and she helps us understand
how it works. I met Mrs. Gerber when I was in second
grade in environmental science class, and she is the
main reason that I have wanted to join YouthCaN since
then.
I like solar cooking because it is fun, and I have
learned how making a simple solar cooker can save lives.
I like the solar cooking program at my school, because
through YouthCaN I get to talk to kids in other countries,
I have learned lots of new things, and I am looking
forward to going to New York to talk about these experiences.
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