Bloop Blop Bleep Stop Climate Change!

I’m not sure if anybody actually reads my blehg but a couple weeks ago, I was gloating about the new garden that I planted. I also encouraged you to grow a garden. I still think growing a garden is a great idea but I have recently been thwarted by climate change. Everyone in my village had thought that the rains had come to stay but it turned out to be a big mother nature pump fake. Here you have the rainy season and the dry season. Either you get no rain or lots of rain, never just some rain. A couple of weeks ago, we had 3 solid days of rain and everyone thought that the rains had returned. It also was about the time the rains used to return. Dry season usually starts in May and ends in September. As of the last few years the wet season hasn’t returned until October. At the beginning of September we got those 3 solid days of rain and everyone thought the rain was returning to its old schedule and planted their plot. It turns out that it wasn’t and as a result, everyone’s crops died and they are going to have to dig again and replant. This means a loss of seed which also means a loss of money. I know I’m not a climatologist and that this unusual change in weather can be explained though many different reasons but it’s not only me noticing it. I was spending time with a friend who is an agriculture professor at the local university and told her that my garden died. She started to tell me that my case fairly common. For hundreds of years farmers have been on a similar schedule. The rains rarely fail or trick them. The changes in weather have left farmers confused and growing less.

It’s not that big of a deal for me. I’m sad I wouldn’t be able to eat any fresh veggies or basil before I go, but I don’t make my living growing crops like 92% of the population in Rwanda does. The earth’s condition is life or death for billions around the world and we must take care of it.

My time here in Rwanda has brought me closer to the earth and shown me just how important it is to take care of God’s creation. My neighbors all around me make their living from the earth and if we keep continuing to poison the earth our neighbors will have no means for survival. We are all in this together. Please, do your part in protecting our earth.