Once upon a time, people burned copious amounts of
wood to heat their homes. They sucked in lots of smoke and cut down a ton of
trees to make it work.
Then some smarty-pants folks built contraptions to contain the smoke and carry it out of the home. That was healthier. Some really fancy folks even thought up ways to make the fire burn hotter, and cleaner - like traditional masonry stoves and korean ondol beds. Those were ridiculously cozy, healthy, and efficient. Only really well-to-do folks could usually afford to have something like that in their homes.
Then, way more recently, humanity advanced to the point that we figured out how to make super easy-to-build, hyper-efficient, exceedingly clean-burning wood stoves. They called these
Rocket Mass Heaters, because of the wooshy sound they make as they suck the flame sideways.
The
Rocket Mass Heater's achievement is this: As efficient as the finest traditional masonry stove, but just about anyone can build one, on any budget.
A group of folks made some really thorough movies about Rocket Mass
Heaters and called it
Better Wood Heat. They made them into these things called DVD's, which people used to use to watch movies. Things change fast, don't they? Few now can play these 'Digital Compact Disc' relics, a short decade later. Almost everyone streams videos on their devices these days.
Now, people all over the world are facing the possibility of a cold, potentially deadly winter. People will do what they have to do to stay warm, which may mean burning green wood in inefficient ways - cheap wood stoves, poorly installed, even open-fires if stuff gets bad
enough. People will suffer. We don't yet know how bad it will get. This is what we call a trigger-event for deforestation. Which leads to . . . let's just say heaps more problems.
So we have this situation. If people only knew about the amazing, affordable solution at their fingertips! There is a brilliant solution to a massive global problem, presented clearly and concisely in this package called
Better Wood Heat - but all the images look like this archaic media, the DVD. It could be that this appearance is one reason more people aren't flocking to this miracle achievement of humanity.
I can't snap my fingers and make everything slick and modern, but I can splash together something a little more current. A handful of screenshots, a tablespoon of Canva, and dash of GIMP, et voila: images that don't like super dated, representing information that is timely and imperative. So me and Margaux made some up, and we're inviting you to use them. Or better yet - make better images of your own.
If you know your way around some image editors, please - have a go. Make some better images than these and plaster them all over the web. They say an individual may have to see something 13 times (thirteen!!) before becoming open to it as a new idea. So let's get it out there, in more ways, in better ways, in more diversity of ways.
If you have an amazing
Rocket Mass Heater of your own, tidy up your space and take a handful of the best pictures you can. Make it look really good. Invite your photographer friend or your niece with an iphone 13 max. She's probably the best person for the job, honestly. Then post your pictures here, and all over the web. fb, pinterest, all the other places most permies tend to avoid. Spread the word with beautiful images and help RMH with its PR. We're a few viral images and
video away from making truly lasting, global change and helping millions of people through a cold winter.
Here's a few that we cooked up. I'm using these images to promote the 8-movie set at woodheat.net. You have my permission to steal anything you want, as long as you point it to woodheat.net or another of Paul's RMH products, links, or videos.
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