This past week’s Rose Café was incredibly fascinating and provided a snapshot into Ruth Magreta’s life in Malawi. She spoke about her childhood and all the subtle adversities she had to face, yet never considered them adversities until much later on in her life. It was truly amazing to me, as someone who grew up around such plentiful amenities, that so many people often have to live without these things and I am truly impressed and appreciative of not only what I have, but also of all the people who are able to live happily without it. I am almost envious of their ability to not center their life around technology and trivial matters, but focusing on family and more important matters.
I also think her research is very important for Malawi and it is incredible of her to pursue research that would ultimately benefit her home and improve lives of those there right now. It is admirable of her to focus on a pressing issue that addresses the matters of climate change and how its affect is taking a grave toll on Malawi. When she mentioned how people back home do not know what the term climate change really is or about, but they all know something has changed. I think that is such a simple, yet groundbreaking truth. Climate change has affected so many third world countries, and the farmers who must cope with all of these natural changes are the ones who are genuinely very aware of the extensive environmental changes.
Ruth Magreta is truly a remarkable woman, I hope to hear about more of her success that I know she will achieve in the future.
I also attended this event, and you hit on one of the points that also struck me as incredibly important in her presentation – the fact that people in her hometown know that the world has changed, without knowing the scientific mechanisms and reasoning behind this change. I totally agree with the fact that climate change has a dramatic impact on the lives of people in less-developed countries, and I think this is the great danger of climate change as we know it. Developed nations – like our own – have the ability to combat climate change, but those same advancements that give us that power to change the world are also shielding us from the major effects of climate change. I hope Ruth Magreta can get her work out into the public, because I think we all need to be reminded occasionally that climate change is real, and it has very real effects on the world.