Millions of Guatemalan families live in a house that is more or less the size of a small bedroom in the US. In that small space, the family sleeps, eats, cooks, studies, and lives. Usually, the women or children will spend their day collecting firewood from the surrounding areas, and use it to cook every meal over what is called a "three stone fire". A three stone fire is where a pot is balanced on top of three stones (or cinder blocks in this photo) with a fire built underneath it. This form of cooking is extremely inefficient: a large amount of heat from the fire escapes into the air and is wasted. This means that in order to keep the fire hot you need to use a large amount of firewood, which creates a lot of smoke. 

Globally, nearly two million people die every year from exposure to smoke from cooking over open fires. In Guatemala, the leading cause of death for children under five is respiratory illnesses, which has been linked to cooking on open fires in the home.

In addition to the health hazards, cooking over an open fire causes substantial environmental damage. The loss of trees which are chopped down for firewood has led to rampant deforestation in Guatemala, damaging the ecosystem and causing landslides. In a country where six months out of the year is a rainy season, landslides are a constant threat to the country`s infrastructure, doing damage to bridges, roads, and wiping out schools and homes. Globally, Guatemala has the fourth highest risk of death related to landslides, according to a UN report. 

Using open fires also has serious impacts on air quality and global warming. Black carbon emissions, or the soot that is produced from cooking on open fires, is a major contributor to rising global temperatures, second only to carbon dioxide, according to the NY Times.