Professor Blalock spoke about the troubles of implementing new technology, especially with cook-stoves in Africa. At first, I was thinking that the issue must be somewhat financial or educational. If these people did not know the dangers and costs of the cook stoves they were using, they wouldn’t believe that they needed to use anything else. He explained why this is rather untrue. He used the analogy of car shopping or the cars that we own. For us, we know that some of the cars we own and drive are not as good for the environment as say, a Prius. For some, it is the cost, for others the size or the style. In the end, we have options to finance and test the cars before we drive them.

In Africa, the situation was different. There were not many options for buying a stove or trying it before hand. What Professor Blalock did with his research is allowed a financing and trial option for better and safer cook stoves. They found that when someone was observing the use of these new cook stoves, they were used, however when no one was there to observe, they were not used. They knew what worked and how to use their old ways. It was easier for them just to go back to what they had been using for so many years. I found this extremely interesting because it in a way applies to what we do today.