What do you say when people ask you, "What do you do?"

I tell a story about a silent killer, helping to raise awareness about the toll that toxic cooking smoke takes on the health, wellbeing, and environment of billions of people around the world. Cooking shouldn't kill, and my organization, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, is working to ensure that it doesn't, by building bridges between the public and private sectors to make cooking safe and healthy.

What new idea or innovation is having the most significant impact on sustainability?

The idea that you can help the poor help themselves -- and make money while doing it; that marketing and for-profit mechanisms, rather than traditional aid, can help achieve the lasting change we all want to see around the world. That is why I am so intrigued by the Alliance's model of creating a thriving market for clean cookstoves and fuels. We are not attempting to parachute in stoves and leave but rather fostering a means for bringing jobs, better health outcomes, and an increased standard of living through the creation of new clean cookstove companies, projects, and opportunities.

What's something that most people just don't understand about your field?

That cooking kills two million people per year, more deaths than malaria or tuberculosis and about the same as HIV/AIDS. Indoor air pollution -- in this case toxic smoke emitted from inefficient cooking -- is the fifth biggest health risk in the developing world.

What's an emerging trend that you think will shake up the sustainability movement?

The emergence of middle-income countries such as BRIC and N-11, and their role in and philosophy toward aid, development, and climate change. The international arena has been dominated for too long by Western ideas. It's a diverse world, and efforts to achieve global sustainability will only work if all the players are at the table and heard.

What's a sustainability trend that you wish would go away?

Any public or private sector actor that embarks on a project alone without consulting their counterparts is getting started on the wrong foot. Public-private partnerships are essential to sustainable international development because they reflect the diversity of resources, finances, experiences, and expertise necessary to achieve scale and create a better world. But they are not a panacea in and of themselves because accountability needs to be carefully incorporated into the relationship. None of us have enough time in the day to partner for partner's sake, but with strong, results-driven metrics, continuous dialogue and adjustments to the model to make sure you stay on track, partnerships can be the most effective way to accomplish a complex global task.

What's an idea you became fascinated with but that ended up taking you off track?