After the Rose CafeI attended in which Ruth talked about her life in Malawi and her work on the environment, I went to have dinner with her. I was hoping to learn more about her personally and her experiences in education at Cornell. It was also the first dinner talk I attended; we all met up at Rose dinning hall and got our food. Then we went up to the Rose Seminar room to talk to Ruth in a quieter environment than the dinning room.

We started the talk off by introducing ourselves again to Ruth, and Ruth reintroduced herself and her friend who also does work at Cornell. We talked about her life in Malawi and how she has been doing in Ithaca. She has not been able to go many places, but she said that she enjoyed everywhere she had gone. She mentioned how different it is from her home.

Soem other students brought up how different it is to experience global climate change in the US than in Malawi. For example, people in Malawi do not have to ability to deny climate change because they see it and experience it first hand. When crops do not grow, people go hungry. And when there are floods, people are injured.

However, in the US, we are so industrialized we are often sheltered from nature. Our surplus in food allows us to eat food regardless of rainfall. And when temperatures go up or down, we have air conditioning and heaters. It is much easier to deny climate change when you’re sheltered from it.

Also, it was really funny and cute to see the kids playing with each other. When Ruth panicked because the little boy was locked in the cabinet was actually precious. I think because she is a mother, she is more inclined to make sure kids are safe. Even though the kid was not in danger, her concern was heartwarming, and the way she made sure he had enough air was cute.