Before the recent earthquake, Haiti was no stranger to natural disasters. In recent years, thousands of people have been killed by floods and landslides. To understand why the toll is so high, one need look no further than the country’s bald mountains. Haiti has lost about 97 % of its forests. And the main culprit is the nation’s most popular cooking fuel: charcoal. Reporter Amy Bracken looks at one effort to provide a tree-saving alternative: briquettes made from trash.
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