Podcast (Remix) (Katherine Russell)

The speaker talks about a project they did on climate change affecting farmers in Kenya. They mention how unpredictable rainfall can be and how it affects crop growth. They discuss the challenges faced by Kenyan farmers and the importance of climate smart agriculture. The speaker urges listeners to appreciate the convenience of being able to buy food from the grocery store and highlights the struggles of farmers in Kenya. They end by expressing gratitude and hoping that listeners have gained something from their discussion. Welcome back everyone. I know everyone is just as excited for the weekend as I am. I just drove home today actually and there's nothing more I want than to sleep in tomorrow morning and wake up and make a good breakfast for myself. Today's topic is going to be a little bit different than what I normally talk about, but it really struck a chord with me in class as I started to learn about it. It was actually brought up in my English 102 class, which we know this is my second English class, my freshman year and my second semester. Anyways, long story short, we had a project where we had to pick an assignment and I ended up picking climate change and then we had to narrow it down more specifically and I ended up doing climate change affecting farmers in Kenya, which the more I looked into it as we did it over the course, the more shocking it got to me. I mean, we really don't have to deal with those things in our day-to-day life and farmers in Kenya are constantly trying to stay one step ahead of climate change, which already sounds exhausting. I know, blah, talking about climate change, but it's actually really shocking because how much, well we already know how unpredictable rainfall can be living in Tuscaloosa. One second you're walking and it's sunny, the next second it's pouring down rain, but it's on such a larger scale. It could rain Monday through Wednesday and then there could be no rain for the next week, which is difficult when you're trying to grow all these crops to feed your community. And it's not like here where I honestly, I don't recognize anything farmers are doing and I know that sounds bad or like what they're struggling with because like we can all just go to the grocery store and get food and they don't have that. Farmers are producing food to be able to sell them at markets and that's how everyone's getting their food. Like unless your parents or you know someone who's a farmer, like how much are we in the United States thinking about that? Like really and truly, like if you think about your problems, like right now, it could be anywhere from you want a good grade on your chem test. You like, you don't know if a boy likes you, girl, et cetera, vice versa. And like my problem right now is I can't find another good coffee creamer that isn't 10 bucks. And I've been trying to find one for so long. Like that is my problem right now. My problem is how am I going to drive home next weekend or how am I going to make it to work? Like problems that may seem big, but they're really not. They can't really do much to like solve this problem. A big thing that they're trying to implement is climate smart agriculture. And that's what I found like throughout the whole time of me studying this is climate smart agriculture and the use of agriculture sustainable land management, which I know what even is that. I also had to look it up when I was doing some research about it. And it's basically like making sure you get the most out of the land you have and use it very, very wisely. There's some other solutions to this, but they're not going to be as effective like resilient sea types, water management, stuff like that. I won't bore you with all the rest, but climate smart agriculture is the main one they're pushing for. I mean, any way you look at it, Kenyan farmers have to adapt to be able to tackle climate change. And I know even after all this, you're still probably thinking how was this so shocking and interesting to me, but like really think about it. Like what is a problem in your life? And does it compare to that? Like truly, if you think about it, you can go to the grocery store and get food. These people can't think like that. And these farmers are struggling to grow crops to be able to get money for one themselves to support their family. And also the community relies on this food and these crops to be sold to have for their families. And the more I think about it, the more I just think, wow, I should be grateful. And we all should be grateful for the fact that we can just, you know, go to the grocery store or even our markets and get, or get fresh fruit and vegetables or whatever it is, whatever the crop is. Anyways, not to bore you guys or get too sappy. I think I'll end it here, but I hope you took away a little something from this long rant of mine and I'll see y'all next week. Bye.