Thursday, February 19, 2009

Grass Roots Recycling

We have seen this quite a few times in our travels here (elsewhere too but I don't remember where). If I have this worked out correctly, the cow pies are left out to dry in the sun (first two pictures), then they build huts out of them. Then, they stuff them with more dried cow pies. They are then used for fuel for cooking and for heat. I bet that just a few years ago people would respond with "yuck" or something like that to this kind of thing. In today's world of carbon footprint concerns, oil volatility ($35 to $150 and back again per barrel swings), and the worry on the part of many people about the dependence of the world on the sources of the oil (some of which may not exactly agree with the people to whom they are selling said oil), I think many people might think something more along the lines of "Hey, great Idea!"

On another, less philosophical note, look how cool the "cow pie huts" are. I have seen quite a few of them and they have all looked like someone was paying a lot of attention to detail when constructing. Actually, they are kind of beautiful. I probably would still not want to live in one. Even if I could fit.


2 comments:

Alana said...

Wow, I lived in Bangladesh for 4 years and seen lots of patties, but never a hut built out of them! That's a great picture!

Joe and Kristina said...

Hi Alana,

Thank you for the compliment. Believe me, it's the camera, not the photographer (me). Yeah, it was crazy. I have to admit this was kind of out of the way but still.

Cheers,
Joe