Well, in the least surprising news ever, Joe Manchin is already signaling that he will not support the Build Back Better Act less than a week after the Progressive Caucus caved and decided to vote for the so-called bipartisan infrastructure proposal. So in an article for Newsweek, John Jackson writes, Manchin signals hesitation to passing Biden's social agenda with inflation getting worse. Now he doesn't explicitly say that he's not gonna vote for this because of inflation, but really what he's doing is laying the groundwork for his inevitable no-vote on Build Back Better. He tweeted out, By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not transitory and is instead getting worse from the grocery store to the gas pump. Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day. So he doesn't cite Build Back Better, but of course his excuse when he votes no will be, I couldn't support any new spending during this time when we see inflation like this. Now, John Jackson kind of reads between the lines to deduce what I think is pretty logical that this is him kind of telling everyone I'm a no-vote. Shocker. Manchin doesn't specifically cite Biden's plan in his brief Twitter post, but earlier this month he spoke about his hesitation regarding the potential impact the spending package could have on the economy. Throughout the last three months, I have been straightforward about my concerns that I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our nearly $29 trillion in national debt that no one else seems to care about, nor will I support a package that risks hurting American families suffering from historic inflation, mentioned said during a November 1st press conference. Simply put, I will not support a bill that is this consequential without thoroughly understanding the impact it will have on our national debt, our economy, and the American people, Manchin added. Let's get one thing straight. He doesn't actually care about inflation. He doesn't actually care about whether or not the American people are suffering. If he did, he would support policies to improve their lives, such as build back better. But this is about him appeasing his corporate donors, and one Republican billionaire donor is actually holding a fundraiser for him very soon, perhaps to thank him for tanking his own party's agenda. So this is not shocking to me, but knowing the way that Joe Manchin is knowing how dishonest he is and that he would pull out whatever excuse to vote against this. Now I have to ask myself, do progressives in the House regret voting for the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill before the Senate voted on build back better, knowing that this was not just a possibility, but a likelihood? Remember, the reason why Ro Khanna decided to support this in an interview with Jack Uger, he explained that he believed that there was a simplistic agreement between him and the president, and that Manchin ultimately would be a yes vote on build back better. I think publicly, Manchin doesn't want to make those commitments. But our belief is that the president has a private commitment from 50 senators that he could pass this and that he didn't come to us for many, many months, and he only came to the progressives once he had that commitment. I personally believe that he will pass the build back better agenda than Manchin ultimately will be a yes vote. Turns out that might not be the case. And again, less than a week after they passed the so-called bipartisan infrastructure deal, he's already signaling that he's not going to support what you wanted him to vote for. Because why would he? He got his corporate handout in the form of the bipartisan infrastructure, aka toll road bill. So he has zero incentive to support this, especially when his corporate donors are in his ear, saying, don't support this. Now, Pramila Jayapal, she got assurances from people in the House who are conservative as well, right wing Democrats, allied with the Manchins and the cinemas of the world. And she thought it was necessary to vote for the infrastructure bill because they looked her in the eye. I wish I were kidding about this, but this is actually something that she said. And every single one of those individuals looked us in the eyes and said they are voting for it. Yeah, so what's to stop them from also suddenly having a change of heart because of inflation concerns? I mean, this is why they should have never caved. Now, in an interview with Rachel Maddow, Pramila Jayapal still is indicating that she believes that progressives won somehow. And she is very, very adamant that there's going to be a vote on billback better next week. We'll see about that because they're waiting on an economic impact analysis to be conducted. And it doesn't seem as if it's going to be finished by then and even if it is finished by then. I mean, even Rachel Maddow kind of seemed as if she was skeptical that they wouldn't just come up with an excuse as to why they wouldn't support it. It's really sad to see things play out the way that I expected it to play out. But again, if you are even somewhat savvy, you know that this is what Joe Manchin was going to do and Progressives got rolled. The bad thing, however, is that Joe Biden is probably going to sign the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill into law on Monday. And if that happens, then that's it. Joe Manchin is probably not going to be a yes vote on billback better, which means that we're net worse off because of that bipartisan infrastructure bill when it comes to climate change. See, if you don't pass both of them simultaneously, then overall we're doing more harm than good. And that's really sad. And I would like to think that maybe this is going to be some sort of a learning experience for progressives. But odds are they're still going to be weak. Odds are they're still going to cave in future negotiations, hence why Democratic Party leadership is never going to take any of their threats seriously because they're not serious and they will cave.


YouTube new playoff cards are out new playoff promo. We are on playoff promo number three It's a time to go to 60 60 playoff cards Let's see. I'll show you guys what I got. I'll honestly tell you Honestly tell you no Because ghost is just too good ghost has too many good players. They're too huge or two their gods on on defense Let's take a look at what my team is still rocking out right now. Here we go. My team Offensively, I still think this guy's the best in the game right here our boy William Perry Stroud could be the best if you're using stroud God I'm not gonna argue that he's the best, but I just feel like physically the best cards William Perry is the fastest quarterback He has that trust ability that you can't fumble and I listen in my life of 36 years of playing Madden I have fumbled with the quarterback way too much. So if you give me an ability where I won't fumble for half the game I'll take it. So I'm gonna use William Perry. He is on 50-50 ghost I have 50-50 ghost 25 playoff So we get one speed on playoffs and three plus three speed on the ghost cards still using Hayward Bay Megatron Johnson will play the entire year the rest of the year Deon Sanders, those are my three wide receivers. We're using James Cook We do have Derek Henry and we actually do have Peyton Hillis for the red zone both with angry runs glowing So I can run people over get some extra yards break more tackles on the run game. If you want to win games It's really good to have I don't think any other glowing abilities for wide receivers I kind of like rack them up with Deon, but I'd rather have the running back So we have Henry and we have Peyton Hillis on the bench just to bring in and run over and score touchdowns So we are cheese balling with that, but I'll use James Cook up and down the field Isaiah likely my tight end runs a drag He runs a flat route or a whip route and he jukes and I mean I like Isaiah likely But Gonzalez is probably still the best tight end honestly But I like likely and a lot of people use Tony G for that one AP tight an apprentice I don't use that because I use bunch and bunch He's actually not a tight end and regular bunch and bunch offset. He's a tight end, but in regular bunch He's a slot receiver so that ability wouldn't work. But yeah, that's what I got. That's my offense We put two AP on Calvin Johnson for slot apprentice I know there's one AP slot apprentice where she rice is probably the number one guy you guys will tell me But I'd rather have the best receiver in that spot because it's such a crucial spot on the field So I'll sacrifice the AP and spend two AP on that guy to give him slot apprentice and with quarterback I think William Perry still has the best stack for me because I do not use hot route master gun slinger for zero gift wrap for one and set feet lead for five so six AP for the stack I said stroud is good. I don't think I need hot route master So I'm still rocking William Perry But if you guys want to use hot route master stroud would be the move if I had stroud It would just be all eight of my AP on stroud. I probably have the same thing I just have a slower quarterback without that trust ability and on top of things having a fat quarterback is that's content We like that we like that boys. All right defense. We run cover three pretty much every single play So I'll put Bo Jackson in my middle safety with deep in knockout and pick artists That's only one AP total Randy Moss and Darius Slayer on the outside with deep knockout and deep zones Our rainy moss does have lurk artists two for zero then in my other safe that have Ryan Neil I spent four AP on Ryan Neil because mid zone is two first of all he's six three ninety six speed 96 zone. I mean this guy is really a great player I would probably tell you the best between him and slay for their zone discounts are the best cards in the playoff promo for me You guys can correct me in the comments or the chat wherever, but so I'll use mid zone for two That's a discount. So it's two AP and then I'll put pick artists on them I know it's two on them, but he's in such a spot right there where like he's in a mid zone He can make plays he can you know, obviously knock the ball out and then if you throw I truly believe that pick artists make zones play way more aggressive They attack the ball a lot better with pick artists and when they don't I truly believe that and I've gone out to save every card Had pick artists the game would be a lot better So that's what I got on him right there in that yellow zone or a purple zone one of the other and he's a beast in my slots I'm going to actually run Malik Hooker who has pick artists for zero I'm going to use Julius Pepper. So as a lurk artist or zero once again those cards having lurk artists or pick artists I swear they play better. They attack the ball and they get interceptions for me So that's why I put those guys in a slot in my dollar cover three every play and then right now We're using the minister of defense. We're using Matabuki, Matabist, the minister of defense and mr. Monday night Keith Bullock all three of these guys are pre-lit I have inside stuff on Matabist. So all three of these guys are pre-lit They'll be glowing. I think this this card right here. I know he's not a limited So, you know red red you might be too expensive But this ability right here is better than the unstoppable force one the dual threat is the best shedding x-factor in the game This one is actually OP boys. So you guys need to check this out. Check out this card.  He's a god. So that's what I got right there. That's my team. We're rocking with it like I said 50 ghosts and 25 playoffs I still think those cards are just entirely too good If you just break it down at Gronkowski Randy Moss Julius Peppers Bo Jackson Carmichael what other defensive players can we put out there? Those five players alone or just like how are we benching? Six foot eight six foot six six foot four zone players in this game right now I just don't think it's it's the move right now. So that's my team. Let's get it Let's see how they perform if you're liking the videos. We're still pumping out that man content Please hit the like button subscriber closing in on 70,000 subscribers the road to 100k. We're right there boys Let's get it. Oh, they need to give these cards these cards need every chem Let me let me put this let me put this out here for the boys. I don't care about the comp pass and the field pass I think they're a great idea.  That's the biggest deal Like they need to be better like when there was Randy Moss and and Darren What's in card was actually really good at the time like there's been some good cards But what they got going on now is like piss and I will tell you this I've heard a lot about mudmaster I feel like this system is better than mudmaster It is I didn't like mudmaster like Tillman What was a good mudmaster because he was just a god in the game But like when we had Sam Mills mudmaster like that was the worst thing ever even if he got better and better and better and better I like the variety of different cards each season. They just need to be better They literally just need to be better like let's go out here and put this on a limb These cards need to be borderline the best cards in the game. They do why not?  Why not give me the best card for free if I complete the field pass That's you know I'm saying like you can that's it's not even about the passes being bad It's just about the players they give you They've had some good ones and then they've had some shit ones And tie law is a shit one and he could be better if you just gave him every team chem Like why not you can if you're gonna give my limited that's gonna cost me a hundred dollars to get every team chem You can give this card every team chem at this point of the year because you know if it's if at this point of the year If you don't have a certain team chem you're in a relevant card If you gave this card playoff chems or or ghost chems He would be that much more relevant like he I don't even think I wouldn't tell you he'd be the best But he would be like usable and he'd be like effective doesn't he get like a new ability to all he gets that deep zone knock That's a good ability Deep out for one. I mean he's actually a god. Hold up. How fast is he right now? But that's what I mean like he can't play right now Damn, it's okay really down like broken for the Don't I'm getting power. I'm getting power. Well, I've seen enough.  Oh my god.   What am I listening to?  Well deserved or can we stop 15 RPOs here? What's up? Do you think we stopped 15 RPOs?  Yeah, why wouldn't you catch that?   You can't have that much time to do that. Oh my god. Fuck. Why am I not in cover four? Why am I audible is not set right now? Fuck.  I really am.  Nice No way.   Thank God.  How long are these D. Lemon blinking? Honestly, he probably saved me because I was gonna chuck right at Carmichael.   Man, we just got a high ball this here I mean Drake is this he is soft as shit But I mean he just makes too much good music and so many too many types of like and then people say Drake is pop Like that's a compliment. Only people do that or people that aren't aren't Successful and can't make it if if all these rappers could make songs that would play in target. They would do it That just adds to like versatility. Oh Drake plays target music.  That's what's kind of killing me a little bit to be honest Yeah, like that. Yep That's exactly what I need and then you want to make that though. That's fine. I need that contain to contain So I got to do better with my user.  Oh, yeah, mr. Monday night talk to me Midzone, thank you I mean if you throw a corner over a cloud over here like I mean come on dude like what fourth and nine here we go boys.    That was a good defense though. He manned up the tight end guard that guy just if I get a fourth and five I'm definitely blitzing people. I mean dude. I don't know how these lit up the dudes really work Like honestly, but like these motherfuckers been on for him.   That's just got Patrick her card. We're gonna get low here. I'm sorry. We're just getting low with him I mean, holy. Are we serious?  I don't believe in stream sniping.  Do you run an rpo here? Like you got it Get some timing down Yeah, that's all I need if I get all that like you're not going if I can contain right there you lost There it is. He wants to roll out. That's what he wants to do. He wants to roll out You see it. They want to roll out back to this meta, but so you got to like get this contain here. We need to do We need this contain. So we got to like yep got him. He's dead. He's dead. He's dead. You got that you can add that You're down.  I double that. You're dead.  Yep Give me that contain. They can't do nothing.   That's such a dot dude. That's such a dot GG GG GG GG


If you come for as much time as you can give us to help us understand all that's going on and particularly as it relates to the latest financial relief bill and what it means potentially to the state of Vermont. So with that, I don't know what screen I'm just going to put you on as the speaker and let you take it from here if you are ready to do that. Are you there? I'm here. Oh, great. Oh, there you are. Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you.  So welcome, Peter, and I'm so glad to have you. Well, actually, I was not early when you were giving your intro and I want some of those cream puffs. OK, we could use some cream puffs down here. Yeah, that's for sure. Actually, the chair of our appropriations committee, what a wonderful rose of the world is a cream puff fan as well. So I'm going to pass that on. Senator Kitchell, thanks when I see Senator Allen this year, Senate President, first woman to run the Senate, you know, you've guys got a chance to get something done between the appropriations chair and the Senate president. All our money chairs are women. Well, I mean, that's in good hands. Yeah. That's that's pretty that's pretty good. Yes, Senator Cummings, my old chair, I see her right there. And of course, the mayor. You know, it's just so I'm stuttering around here because I'm so happy to see you. It's really, really wonderful to be with my old colleagues. That I said I've served 13 years in the State House. And honestly, when I think about my work here and the intimacy of the relationships in the State House, the fact that everybody has to do their own work, that you actually have to work it out with face to face or zoom to zoom interactions. There's an enormous benefit to that part as it is to be doing all that work. There's something that's very intimate, both in my memory of the interactions I had with many of you, as we try to work out the best path forward. And also just that connection you have with the voters that you represent. It's really, really extraordinary. And when you're in the midst, when you're in the midst of it in the Hurley Burley, sometimes it's easy to forget that. It's easier to remember who you're mad at for what they just did, but you're going to look back at this extraordinary time where you had to help guide Vermont through a once in a century event. And more work continues. This began a year ago. And I remember coming back to Vermont after we passed one of our first bills and the governor just declared the state of emergency. And I might have told the story before. It just showed we were in a different world. I was on my way out to Reagan National Airport to fly back to Vermont on the 10 o'clock flight. And I got a call in the car, it was American Airlines. This is when American Airlines used to fly three times a day back and forth between Burlington and Washington. The person said, Congressman Welcher, are you still planning on taking the plane to go into Burlington? And I said, well, yes, I'm on my way. And they said, well, as soon as you get here, we're ready to leave. I was the only person on that big plane. That's how much our economy just went into shock when the decision was made that the threat of this pandemic was so severe. And of course, that was a year ago. Now we're here today. And of course, we just passed the 500,000 mark of real people in Vermont and all around the country who died as a result of this. So it's been pretty devastating. And then of course, you guys have had to deal not just with the proper response in the health care element of this, it's really brutal. But just the economic pain and the anxiety that parents feel when they're worried about their kids, their health, worried about school, trying to get schools back open, trying to keep your downtowns and your community centers together. And Senator Westman trying to help with our farmers that are already laboring under incredibly low milk prices and have to deal with this. So there's an immense human factor here, not to mention exhaustion that all of us have, I think, of being just disrupted from our normal routine and our ability to interact with our friends and with our family. We just think about the thanksgivings and the Christmases and Hanukkah, all the holidays that we had, it's really taken a toll.  And what's so important about the job, we've got to get the policies right. We've got to get the resources back to the state. But there has to be a communication from political leaders of confidence, of directness, of steadfastness, and respect and empathy. Because each of us needs that. We need to convey it when we have a position of public trust so that we from honors have confidence in our institutions and have the capacity with solidarity to continue to get through this. So I just want to say that to you as a citizen of Vermont that I really respect and value the challenge that you're facing and how you're facing it. It really, really makes a difference.  It's very frustrating. In a similar situation, most of our committee work is on the equivalent of Zoom. It's very frustrating to me that I can't interact with my colleagues. But it's the way we have to do it for now. Now, the good news is there's two pieces of good news. One is we've got the vaccine. And we didn't know we'd have it a year ago. I think Dr. Fauci was thinking maybe sometime this winter we'd get a vaccine and it's been accelerated. So that's really good news and you're getting distributed. So we know the end is in sight. The second, I think, piece of good news is that, in fact, there has been, at the federal level, a very substantial economic response that has been a lifeline to mitigate but not eliminate the incredible dislocation that we're experiencing in our economy. Saying that in a general sense is not to disregard the specific pain of people, the folks who run restaurants or a performance space like the Flynn or Catamount Arts, these organizations that are in our communities that are so essential to the well-being in the vitality of local life. So that's the, that's, but it's good news that we have had a federal response. And I think that in the CARES package, so far about four points, eight billion dollars has come to Vermont. Some that you've managed, some in the form of checks to individuals, some in the form of unemployment compensation, some in the form of the payroll protection plan that helps small businesses keep people on the payroll. That has really made a difference. Just think about where we would be if we hadn't had that help come back to Vermont. We in Washington, me, Patrick and Bernie have been advocating very adversely that the money that does come to Vermont, especially through the state, that you have a lot of flexibility. I really do believe on the basis of my experience sitting in your seats. During the 13 years I served in the state Senate, that the House, the Senate and the governor have a much better handle on how best to allocate those resources. So the flexibility that you've been advocating to me and to Bernie and Patrick that you have, we've been advocating here. The CARES package had less flexibility than we liked, but we in the last December package got the deadlines extended later than I would have liked because it already had to make decisions on the basis of the laws it was then. So that's just by way of introduction to what's up now. On Friday, I'm going to be voting here in the House on a $1.9 trillion supplemental package. And I think you probably from Joint Fiscal from Steve and Catherine and others have the outlines of that. So I won't go through it in super detail. But the bottom line here is that one, it's very significant, the amount of money, and that's based on the view of economists that our economy is very fragile and the future is uncertain. And it's better to err on the side of doing a little bit more than it is to err on the side of doing too little. And the rationale for that is that with the combination of vaccines, then the potential, the likelihood that when we get fully vaccinated, we get to herd immunity, the economy is in a position to have a self-sustaining recovery. But if as we're crossing that bridge on one side of the river now, walking across that bridge to the vaccine, we've got to have economic aid so we don't leave people and businesses behind when we get to a fully vaccinated country. We've got to continue to provide help to individuals. We've got to continue to provide help to states and localities, and we've got to continue to provide help to folks who've lost their jobs. 10 million are still lost or out of work from pre-pandemic levels. So this $1.9 trillion, the elements in it, as you know, are specifically directly for COVID for vaccine make certain that we get the vaccine vaccines to you and that the federal government, not the state government, pays the cost of that supplemental support for the efforts to do the mitigation, the contact tracing, the surveillance that's part of the public health response. There's money with individual checks. So for monitors, many will get $1,400 checks that will obviously be helpful to them in meeting their expenses. There's money in there to help reopen our schools. There's an expense associated with that. It's really, really tough to open schools because they've got to be open safely and that requires that the schools make some adjustments in the physical space. Sometimes it affects personnel. So there's money in there with the expectation that that'll be utilized to help get our schools open and open safely. I think we all want those schools open. The kids need it and the parents need it. In addition to that, we'll continue unemployment benefits for folks who are about to lose it on March 14th. And those are folks who really have been hit hard because they lost their job or they really lost a lot of hours. As a result of COVID. And we can't leave them high and dry. We have things in for rental assistance. And for my husband, doing a great job on that. And our hope is that there'll be maximum flexibility so that the way you can use that money is to best respond to the concrete needs of the monitors who are without income and can't pay their rent. A big provision in there that obviously is going to engage you for this session is the $960 million in aid that will come to Vermont in the House bill for state and local aid. This bill has under that bill, the state of Vermont would get about $600 million in our local communities, we get about $300 million. This legislation has a lot more flexibility than we have in the original CARES package with our municipalities. They'd have some flexibility to say partner with a local food shelf or with a local nonprofit to try to help the citizens in that community meet the needs that are defined. You know, I see Bob Helman here and I know how much you've been involved in local affairs and I know how much you believe in local control. Well, I think there'd be a lot of flexibility here with the money that goes to community for the local officials to make the decisions and also to partner with some local organizations that were trusted to help meet the needs of citizens. So I'm very strongly in favor of this legislation. And I see my job here and I think Bernie and Patrick agree that our job is to try to get the resources back to the people of Vermont and to the governor in general assembly of Vermont for you then to do that hard work of implementation in those micro decisions that are so essential to the wise in productive use of the funds that are going to come to help us get through COVID. So you have an incredible, incredible responsibility because this money becomes it's not for free. You know, at some point, this money's going to have to be repaid a decision. We've made a decision here that the circumstances require us to borrow it to mitigate the harm. But we're going to be successful based on the practical micro decisions that you make as a general assembly. Pardon me on how best to use this money. So I I'm going to stop here. But just tell you the timeline. We're voting on that in the House on Friday. Pardon my cough. We're voting on the House in Friday and then the Senate is going to begin their process and it's going to be that reconciliation process where it'll take basically 50 votes plus one year to get passed. And the goal is to have it done by March 14. So why don't I stop there, Madam Chair, and turn it back to you and open it up for questions. All right. Thank you. Please. I hope you're just need of water and that you're not coming down with something. We need you there in your vote. So March, March 14 is what you think some of those cream puffs. I know I would I would bring them to you directly, but I might have to arrange with Senator Starr's trucking company to get them to you. So I am going to have to have people put their hands up so I can see on the bar if who would like to ask the first question. Why don't I give the committee chairs the opportunity? So Senator Cummings, and then if you have a question and then I'll move to Senator to Representative Ansel and Representative Hooper, and then we'll open it up to I see we have Senator Pearson has a hand up. And so Senator Cummings, do you have a question at this point? Or if not, we'll move on. No, I'm fine for now. I'm still in listening mode. All right. Thank you. Representative Ansel, thank you. So my only question has to do with the money that's going to county government and what kind of flexibility is there in the act currently and is it possible for us to be able to since we don't really have a much of a county government in Vermont? If there's how or what you would suggest to us. Well, Janet, that's been an issue down here that we've been trying to work out. A lot of the New England states don't have much of a county government. So but a lot of the rest of the country does. And what we're trying to have is basically a formula where it'll get down to our municipalities into our smallest towns. And that's got to be part that we believe that's got to be part of the distribution formula so that it will be determined in advance. The flexibility, I think right now is quite substantial. You know, we have different situations for different towns. Sometimes I've had greater expenses associated with COVID than others. And the money is supposed to be spent for COVID related expenses. But I had mentioned early on, I think one of the things that will be flexible. I mean, let's say Bob Helm in his town. They could partner with a local food show or a local organization that is doing something, providing some services to folks who were adversely impacted by by COVID. So the flexibility extends not just to how you use the money. It is supposed to be COVID related. But how you partner with others that are assisting many of our small towns and don't have an infrastructure to set up for the distribution of funds. OK, I'm going to move on then. Representative Hooper. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Welch, for for all that you are doing for us. It has already made a tremendous difference. The flexibility is particularly important. So thank you for focusing on that. I am curious about the focus, not just on responding to COVID or the pandemic, but I hope that there will be room for how we move out of the pandemic and to be able to make investments that help us recover more fully from this and help us recover in kind of the new Vermont, as opposed to the old way that we used to do business. And you know, first of all, congratulations on assuming the chair position. There's two things. All right. Number one, the COVID packages are really intended to help cope with COVID. And the consequences of COVID are health, but also economic. So the money is supposed to be related to COVID expenses. And as I mentioned, that can be somewhat broadly defined, but it should be COVID related. And, you know, all of us in Vermont have seen how extensive the COVID impacts are. But this is not an alternative for, say, an infrastructure plan or an education bill that we might be considering things that would be necessary for us to do, independent of COVID. So that, I think, is the broad parameter. And obviously there's going to be a lot of gray area and there has to be judgment used. But the bottom line here is this is where I think you all have enormous responsibility to Vermont, because are you going to do things that can be durable? You know, what decisions do you make? Is it going to just be short term or longer term? And how you do that in a way that responds to COVID, but also has a benefit beyond COVID? And this is why I am so much in favor of flexibility, is that you can make those decisions better than Patrick, me and Bernie down here. Okay, that really is your job. So I'm doing all I can to get the maximum flexibility, but it's not flexibility that allows you to do anything you feel like. All right, it's got to be your good judgment applied to how you're addressing the COVID related impacts and do it in a way that provides the maximum longer term benefit for Vermonters. That's our challenge. I have Senator Pearson, followed by Representative Feltas, and then Senator Brock. So Senator Pearson, you're next. Thank you, Congressman. Nice to see you and. Hi, Chris. I'll need to heap praise on you, but I think I hope you already know the first recovery bill has made a world of difference and really kept us going and kept state revenue going in a very, very important way. As you talk about the next bill, we've also heard that money would be coming directly to schools. And I wonder if you have any details to share there. Is it is that part of the local money that you described or the state money or is that something separate coming down the pike at another time? Because you know, and I would also just add, I guess it is COVID related, but helping our schools and our students recover from the myriad of challenges that the pandemic's brought is not a one time thing. So I'd love I'd love to understand any details you have and could comment on. Well, there is there is money in here to help reopen schools. Okay, so there'll be some flexibility on that. I'm not quite sure how that gets distributed, whether it goes through the legislature, it goes directly to schools, but I think I think you're going to have a role in that. But there is there's a recognition that if we're going to open schools and we're going to do it safely, it's going to there's going to be expenses associated with that. You know, I went to Manuski when they were, I just saw how extensive the changes they had to make. They had personnel outside, people taking temperatures. They had to have a lot of spacing within their classes. They had students separated much more. They had to have more room and you could see there was a greater demand on personnel and a lot of those things. The practical implementation is such a challenge, you know, and that's in addition to dealing with the concerns parents have, like my kids get sick, well, they can bring home the virus. It's the in addition to certain teachers have about their own safety. So there are expenses, but I think it's money that's going to go through the legislature, but it's definitely included in this package to help us be expenses associated with COVID. Okay, thank you. Representative Feltas. Yes, thank you very much, Congressman, for being here and for all of the help you've given us in the past. We all have worked very hard on the two bills that we've received so far trying to be as flexible and as strategic as we can. And I appreciate that this new batch of aid, as you say, needs to be related to COVID expenses. And I think we all have lots of places where we think that can be appropriately applied. I wonder however if you can comment on the likelihood that we have heard that there might be a piece in this bill that would have a much broader impact in terms of raising them in minimum wage universally across the country. That obviously it has a much broader impact rather than just direct support or just direct recovery from the pandemic. Can you give us an idea of how likely you think that might be? Well, I expected that will be included in the House bill. So I think it will be part of what I vote on and I will vote for that on Friday. In the Senate, as you know, they're talking over there about a so-called reconciliation process. Now we're getting into legislative arcana with a bunch of geeky legislators. Second reading, third reading, motion to recommit, all that stuff. So in the Senate, the filibuster means you've got to get a supermajority to get anything done away around that procedurally as you have used the reconciliation process, then it's 50 votes plus one. And in the Senate, the parliamentarian who used to work for Senator Leahy, she's the parliamentarian, but she is going to have to make a decision as to whether including the minimum wage is in violation or in compliance with the verbal whatever that is. All right. So I'll come on certain. I think the minimum wage will be included in the House bill. In the Senate bill, it's very divisive. Democrats in the Senate support the minimum wage by and large, although Joe Manchin doesn't. And any one of them can, the Republicans oppose it. And we don't know what the parliamentarian has to say. So I can't predict that outcome. Thank you. I was just curious. And I know that there's a phase in, but that's a level of detail that we can look at later. It is a five year phase in. No, keep in mind, it's like when we did it in Vermont, there was a phase in, of course, the minimum wage. This is actually the last time, I don't know if it was the last time, but when I was there with Governor Douglas, we put in a class living adjustment as well. So, you know, you've got this absurd situation federally, where in effect, we really don't have a minimum wage, minimum wage is $7 and 25 cents. That's $14,000 a year for somebody working full time. We just don't have a minimum wage. So what it should be, and how it should be phased in, and what its impact is on some of our businesses, those are things that we always had to debate and appeal here when we were considering the minimum wage increase. But down here, we haven't had that debate for over a decade. So we've essentially abandoned any commitment to a federal minimum wage. But though it is a five year phase in on Jane. We have Senator Brock and then Representative Harrison after that. So Senator Brock. Great. Well, thank you again very, very much. Share my colleagues enthusiasm with your being here today and with the help that you've been to us throughout this process. As you know, one of the things that we've learned from the COVID epidemic is the importance of communications and particularly telecommunications. The presence of it has helped the absence of it has not. And we have this tendency of almost becoming two Vermont's one rural and one urban. With the funds that we've gotten from the CARES Act, one of the biggest problems has been the scripture in terms of having to essentially spend the money and spend it now, as opposed to doing things that are more long term in nature. And as a result, it's limited what we could do. Do you have any hope that in the current bills that there would be more of a long term focus to help us do things that are good for fixing the problems we've had with COVID, but also have a longer, a longer life and also to be able to use funds that can be leveraged rather than simply spending them outright that could be leverage and providing either guarantees, building up reserves or reserve funds for organizations like Vita to use or in subordinated debt or other almost semi equity positions that could be leveraged with the private sector so that we can take the government money we have and use it more effectively and with more of a long term view in mind. Do you have any thoughts on that? Well, I do, Brandy. Thank you for that. My preference is that you get as much flexibility as possible. This bill is going to have much more flexibility than was in the CARES Act. But the flexibility still has some constraints in that it's about COVID. Now, there's a lot of gray area because, for instance, you mentioned broadband. We have to have broadband, okay? And we need it now so people can get health care so they can go to school and so people can work, right? And the two remarks you're talking about where some have broadband and some don't, we need it now. Now, if we use COVID money to help on broadband, that's not going to just have a benefit right now. That's going to have a benefit for the long term. So that's an area where I could see the broadband money that's in there is focused mainly on schools and hotspots as being beneficial to deal with COVID but also being beneficial to Vermont into a stronger community. So you're going to be wrestling with some of that because there's gray area but much more flexibility than we've had in the past. On the other hand, my expectation is after we do this COVID bill, we're going to get into an infrastructure bill. And I know all of you know that we really need to do something about our infrastructure and the states need some federal help. And that's been a bipartisan point of view for a long time. And part of an infrastructure bill has to be the commitment to wiring, getting high-speed internet throughout America. And my view, and this has become much more bipartisan since COVID, is that we've got to have really high-quality, high-speed internet in rural areas. And we've got a future proof. We don't want to give second string internet to rural areas because it's better than what they have only to see the technology leap ahead. But for rural areas to be stagnant. So I do think there's going to be, on this question of internet, there's going to be another bill that is not COVID related, it's internet related, and I hope will be extremely ambitious. Now, this question of the public-private partnerships, I always think it makes sense to be trying to figure out how do you best leverage the resources you have. And this is, again, you know, you have some things in mind, perhaps, but we certainly don't have them in mind here about how that would work in Franklin County. You know, what could you do combining local initiative with some federal money? But my preference would be to give you as much flexibility to be creative on that as possible. Bottom line here is you've got to have accountability. You can't be wasting money, and there's a huge risk of some fraud. In Southern California, a lot of money being stolen out of some of the unemployment system. You know, we don't have that big a problem in Vermont. But as long as we have accountability, the purpose has to be to help you deal with COVID. And if you can do it in a way that is going to provide some long-term benefit, great. That's fantastic. We have Representative Harrison next. You there, Jim? Thank you. Yes, I'm here. Congressman, it's good to see you again. I have a similar question that Senator Brock had, not on broadband, which is certainly very important, but we all became painfully aware, and our constituents became even more painfully aware that we have a legacy computer system for our unemployment. And we could, you know, certainly COVID-related. It's the economic well-being of many, many Vermonters depend on that. And when the system can't handle the additional traffic, a lot of people suffer or wait. And, you know, so we could all argue that it's COVID-related. However, to fix it and invest in a new system, you know, it takes several years. So, you know, it would be, we would be looking in the rear-view mirror, hopefully, on the pandemic. But we fix it for the next issue and certainly day-to-day. Any idea or guidance as to whether or not that kind of investment would be applicable to the funds, federal funds in the current stimulus bill? Jim, I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is that the computer system we have in Vermont and just how antiquated it is, that's replicated all across the country. You know, our unemployment system is ancient. It just doesn't deal with sort of modern employment patterns, including part-time work, contingent labor, gig economy, all of these things that really are part of the economic reality. The unemployment system, not just the infrastructure of this computer system, but the eligibility criteria and so on all have to be revamped. And there's an effort down here to really try to do that. You know, in the unemployment benefits really widely vary from state to state. That's one question. The other thing is that pre-pandemic, if you were a self-employed person or a gig economy or you were from a minor who plowed driveways in the winter and did landscaping in the summer, you lost all your income. You weren't eligible for unemployment. You just couldn't get it. So we need to build the computer infrastructure and I support that, whether we can, you can use the money that comes to the state to do that. I don't know, but it'd be from my perspective of a wise use of some funds. But if it's not then, then that's a looming issue where we have to help the states out with modernizing the infrastructure. I mean, by the way, I just want to say this, it was so heartbreaking for me, and I know for you, when we passed this legislation, this was early on in the pandemic, with that $600 supplement, it really made a difference for people. I know some employers had some issues with that, but we passed it, and then people were wondering where it is, and they didn't get the check, and they needed it. They hadn't went through, and that's so frustrating as a legislator to pass on legislation, and then it gets held up for like bureaucratic reasons and people are counting on it, and it erodes people's confidence in their government. So we've got to fix that. I'm with you on that. I have a question from Representative Yacoboni. David. Thank you. Thank you, Congressman. You may have addressed this, and if you did, I apologize. Do you anticipate there will be a date certain by which money to states and localities might have to be spent? I'm not seeing that right now. We had that in the CARES package, and then we amended it in the December bill, and that was my legislation, along with some others that did that. This legislation has given me much more flexibility. So the constraint is it's got to be COVID-related in a flexible way, but I don't think we have the time certain where you've got to spend the money. It doesn't make sense to spend it because there's an artificial deadline looming, but in fact you might get a lot more bang for your buck if you decide to do it in next March instead of next October. Thank you. Let's hope it stays that way. Other questions? All right, Senator Starr, and then Senator Pearson is again, I think, after you. Thanks, Peter, for being with us today. Certainly appreciate it. I'm wondering, as you know, I've worked many years on ag issues, local foods, promoting all of that. Do you think the money that's coming to the schools, say, would help in the food part of the school business, say with universal meals, buying local? And I don't know if you've heard this yet, but we have in Vermont dropped under 600 dairy farms. So we're getting there's more land being opened up where we could grow more food and crops. And I'm wondering if the state money is coming just in general money to us, or is it going to get some divided up like schools, state government, including all the departments? Or will there be some Pacific for certain businesses like ag? Bobby, this is where, first of all, I'm really sad about the bridge fire, the beautiful bridge in Troy. Really sorry. It was a sad day. Oh my god, it was. I think I crossed that a few times with Uncle Jack. There's significant food assistance in here. And you guys know that a lot of Vermonters are hungry. And it's invisible. It's really heartbreaking. Many of you have probably been to some food distribution sites, where the lines are incredibly long. People showing up who've never had to go to get help with food before. So there's money in this to provide further food assistance. There's not specific money for the farms, but the flexibility that you had, I know you included some money for for our farms out of the allocation that went to the state before. So I think you'd be able to do that again. The topic you're talking about, Bobby, how do we revitalize our ag economy, obviously, is crucial now with further relentless pressure on our dairy farms. So I want to say thank you. Jane, I'm going to, they call votes and we do our votes in a rolling routine, socially distanced down here. So Mike, I'm W. So I'm at the end, but we're getting towards the end. Okay, I'm going to ask Senator Bray. You have one quick question and then we will let you get, we don't want you to miss your vote, obviously. If you have to leave, you have to leave. So Senator Bray. Sure. I'll jump right in. Good afternoon, Peter. Great to see you. Thanks for all your help. We've talked about, and I think you have as well, the whole notion that pandemic revealed a lot of strains that were already inherent in the system, but maybe masked until the pandemic showed them to us all more clearly. One of those things is energy burden and energy poverty. And we're really looking in Vermont to build stronger programs to address climate change and the costs associated with energy. So I know that there's been a lot of discussion around things like a green new deal. I don't know if you can say anything briefly about what the opportunities for Vermont might be to make progress working with the delegation in your office. Well, it's, that's obviously incredibly important question. And I think if we do it right, provide some economic opportunity as well as environmental benefit. But the COVID package is not focused on that. Some of that money may be available to help retrofit schools. It may be things that could result in efficiency, more efficient buildings. It's really part of how we're going to get greenhouses down. And I think I recall that some of the money, I guess you've got a budget item that is going to increase weatherization funds significantly. But I don't think that this COVID package will be addressing those very, very important concerns directly. So I do apologize that I've got to go across the street. Now, please, please, we appreciate your time. And thank you for being with us today, Peter. It's always good to hear from you. And we're, we're, we are available like whenever you want us. Okay, because you have the hard work, the decisions you make are going to be felt by Vermonters for a generation or more. And you're doing it under very difficult circumstances. So to the extent I can never be minimally helpful, we're here. And, you know, I'm on the clock now. So this is not in a position. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you, Congress. Bye-bye.


The study investigates the chemical composition and in vitro antifungal activity of mentha times piperida L, peppermint, essential oil against plant pathogenic fungi, revealing that peppermint yield can be used as an additive in the food industry and as an active substance in pharmaceuticals due to its antifungal properties. This article was authored by Masuma Vakili Gardeval, Hoseina Rui, Shiva Gammohamadsadi, and others.


Welcome, welcome back to why in the morning and it meets Tuesday. It's entrepreneurship Tuesday. My name is Michelle Oshira. You can find me across all my social media handles. That is at Michelle Oshira. This particular session you dive into an interesting conversation when it comes to matters pertaining environmental conservation and also community service through Router Art Club. A student I'm joined with Lamec Opio is an environmental conservation champion, humanitarian, youth leader, changemaker and activist from Nairobi, Kenya. Hi Lamec. Good morning. Good morning to you. Thank you for having me. I don't know about the weather on your end and I just hope you're doing well. So for the first time, introduce yourself. Thank you so much. My name is Lamec. I'm a student at Kenyatta University. I do environmental science and community development. Other than that, as you've heard, through my introduction as well, I do a lot of things in regards to conservation, giving back to the community, mobilizing young people to make a difference in the community as well. And through this, I've been able to work with different people. But in regards to mostly Router Art and Rotary, it's something that I've built me over time. Since joining campus, I found something home away from home, whereby we have young people coming together to do something, go to the community, young people coming together to make a difference, which really encouraged me. And I'm here to stay as well and I'm here to maybe encourage like-minded individuals to join us. And also in regards to conservation, we've done a lot of activities and we still continue to do a lot of activities as it's a wake-up call for everyone here. And I'm happy to be here today. What are you posting back in school? I said I do environmental science and community development. So it's my profession and it's an interlinked. When did you join Router Art? So I joined Router Art in my second year in campus. I think second or first year that was back in around 2018- 2019. And I joined it out of curiosity because now I was interlinked by a friend of mine. So basically I told you I love community service. So there was these fine days we were having an event at the Nairobi National Park in regards to conservation. We were having a cleanup exercise then now within the cleanup exercise we have different groups of people coming together. We have different youths from maybe another campus and the same. So there's this lady I think she was from not I think she was from Multimedia University. She invited me for okay she told me okay the next day was on a Saturday. So on Saturday we are having an event at there's a certain children's homes children's home within Rungai. And we are doing at a party festival. Imagine you've been told you're doing to party festival and I'm always passionate about your parties. I know how well to cook it. Okay so I said okay I'm back to the challenge I think I can make time then come tomorrow. Then I exactly did that. So when I went there for the very first time I found different groups of people young people we have almost almost 100 of them and these were from Rotorak clubs. So we have Rotorak club of Langata we have Rotorak club of Mew, African Nazarene and all the same. So I was curious okay. So I was just invited I saw a poster somewhere something interesting. So okay so tell me more about this thing. Then she told me this Rotorak club young people having fun in service. So I asked how can I join. Initially I wanted to join the one for high for institution which is MMU but for me I was from KU. So she told me or I asked her am I in a position maybe to be to join to then she told me no you just have to join one. So after that she linked me up to the Rotorak club of Kenyatta University. Then some months later because on holiday I was able to officially join the club. Alright so for someone who is hearing us mention in Rotorak club Rotorak yeah. So tell us what is Rotorak Rotorak club all about and what do you guys do in this particular club. Thank you for that question. I told you okay so I'll touch a little bit on Rotary. So Rotorak is a program in Rotary for young people age around 18 to 35 years. So basically what we do it's international humanitarian based organization or movement of sorts and these young people as I said they first of all they are leaders. In Rotorak we believe that everyone is a leader regardless of where you're from, regardless of your religion, regardless of your status in the community. Second of all we believe that they are change makers. These people these are people who are able to go as an extra mile. We normally have a motor by there and our motor says service above sale which basically identifies service above sale. The unselfish volunteering action that we normally have on the same. So these people are people who are ready to volunteer without being paid anything. These are people who are able to go an extra mile to even though they don't have the much resources that you must say but the leadership that we have we try mobilize and do something good to the community. We try mobilize and make a difference wherever possible. So we do a lot of projects as well. Then mostly we focus mostly on the sustainable projects. Okay we do charities as well but we also focus on the sustainable projects like we can identify children some there's need for water or can we fundraise maybe buy them a tank. Are we able maybe also they have a structure that needs to be renovated. Are we able to mobilize the resources to do the same. And through Rotaract and Rotary we have different areas of focus and my best is supporting the environments because I'm an environmentalist and I was really happy when finally the theme for supporting environment was introduced into Rotary such that all over the world we are able to support environmental related activities, environmental related projects and it have already related initiatives which really makes me happy and makes me also go an extra mile and try to at least call out a wake-up call for everyone whether you in any of the fields whether you're engineering because normally we say that everyone is an environmentalist and I'll tell you why. The fact that you're able to breathe in oxygen that you all enjoy. The fact that you're able to get food all this comes from the environment and and it's just like most of us I think at times we seem to say that maybe environment there are certain people who are designated or some certain people who've been tasked to take care of it which is very wrong we shouldn't be that way it belongs to all of us and we all have a key role to play because all depend on it. So I've noticed something like when you're talking I told you no people don't know that we were talking behind the scenes we'll be like I told you so when it comes to also who is eligible to join Rotorac Club I know you talked about this also as well before we went on there probably for someone who's watching this conversation and they would love to be part of this particular club and they're wondering but I am not in your university but I would love to be part of Rotorac Club so who is eligible to be part of you guys. Okay so who is eligible first I say sorry so anyone is eligible provided you have the passion and you have the zeal to give up the community and it's based in we have several Rotorac Club within the communities and institution so if you're not in KU or if not in JQA to any other institution and you live in a certain area let's say for example Westland and you'd like to join you can join so this is how you can join I said maybe you can't be introduced for me maybe you can be introduced by someone so once you've been introduced by someone you're able to be invited you come and see how we do it maybe one or two events or activities okay after you've done with that and you're still interested then you you are taken through a training of which won't take long time then after that you're now officially inducted as a Rotorac. As simple as that. As simple as that. There is a membership fee of course which depends on the club like for us because your students normally pay 200 per year so 200 Bob Keters for your membership but now maybe for institution for community base I think 500 depending on that yeah but now if you have projects because we also do contributors times depending when we have a project or not but the other ways that we use they're like we try to mobilize sources from other ends as well if you able maybe to fundraise through car washing like just these with these small small things of raising money to getting an extra cash in that every time you have a project I don't call on someone to maybe contribute maybe you might not be having on the same so once we have like a club we have certain amount of money that we normally contribute as a little bit those that we are not a project and maybe some everyone not everyone is able to contribute we have something that we can take on to consider doing with the community service as well. Fantastic now let's get into into the whole aspect of the club like in terms of the programs that you guys often facilitate because I mentioned there is of course environmental conservation there's community service is there any other program which one the areas of focus the program yes the program that I okay the core the core one is community service that's the core I talked about leader sorry leadership is also one of them mentorship networking having fun and I think those are the main ones now okay the beat up the best part of it comes through the projects that we do now yeah that's where most people get involved now because we do a lot of outdoor activities the normal we also don't do just community service it's like it becomes a family to you like anytime I need something we're able to meet with plan we meet at someone's place we have fun together maybe on the weekend after the project so it's more of a family once you guys are together you guys have built on friendships it's not only that I'll need you when we need to do a project any time that there is need to do something we're able to convert to talk to talk with each other and be able to do more on the same apart from the just creating the family you need someone is watching this conversation they would like to understand what a couple of other benefits of being part of being a rotor act okay so so other benefits of being a rotor act are okay it really gives you an exposure to the outside world as well because I said you're able to meet different types of people and also I'll also emphasize on leadership bit by the most of us we are not good leaders more so in campus you join there we have parties we have several things that you think you're looking up towards to doing and it's really it's not really like the same as compared to just a normal university student as well then also the opportunities the networking opportunities I know people who've gotten jobs through rotor act people who've gotten endorsements through rotor act people have gone an extra mile to to be recognized as people who are doing good through just through the little thing that they're doing rotor act so it's full of I can't I can't over exhaust that the benefit they are quite many yeah but it really I think it's it's really some something good like a good place for anyone who'd like to join on the same because of the numerous benefits and it just makes you to be something outstanding a global citizen of thought tell me through the environmental conservation projects that you're working on right now okay so the environmental conservation projects I'm working on right now I'm really happy because Reince have now returned after a while I said okay I work with schools this is primary schools secondary schools and also universities then also community we have with our community CFS which are community forest associations in different parts of the country so we encourage the culture of tree planting and tree growing we are moving from that notion of just planting trees to going a step further to tend to these trees so that they grow into maturity so these restoration activities we do them like okay so this is the criteria that we use for instance if you're able to do it with school we are trying to encourage these eco school like we're encouraging the culture of conservation from my younger age like someone who is in class 2 class 3 and all that so we do it under a hashtag one child one tree or adopt a tree so let's say for instance if I go in a school let's say I have identified we're working with class 3s for those people who will be in school okay so basically the problem is the problem that normal comes in in regards to maybe spacing the location of the school do we consider that the school has availability of water in that when we plant trees not just planting but they will be taken care of does the school have a lot of space or does it that it doesn't have a space so that we can do tree planting on the same so when we have these children or we have these pupils they are always very very curious and the one thing that I really enjoy working with them they are always ready to learn keen on to details they ask questions and it really encourages me I see that okay we might we have a bright future in conservation as well so when we work with them we plant and grow trees so after planting we do the follow-ups on the same because now every child have planted a tree so he or she through there we sign like an MOU with the institution so today we are going to plant 200 seedlings we are going to plant 300 seedlings we'll be doing after every one month we see the progress on the same because it's an MOU we've signed so if in case there is something that comes of course maybe at some due to one reason or the other that we want to have the 100% percent survival rate but there is a certain percentage like 80 like at least 80% let it be successful on the same it also apart from that that in regard to restoration through tree planting and tree growing we also we also do programs for the youths in conservation yeah in conservation as well and the good thing why we've worked with several those from the informal settlements as well those maybe in slums in the same because they also doing some good job in the slums even though maybe the resources bit can be a problem to them but there are certain certain empowerment programs that we do with them for instance something like setting up a tree nursery it can be a source of income for them in regards to conservation but they also gaining something from them in regard to the riparian lands through the riparian areas like for instance you know Nairobi River have passed several have cut across several places within Nairobi several residential places within Nairobi so you find that we have a section of the river that passes through Madare a section that passes through Karyobangi and all that so within these designated places we have those grassroots organization that the local like youths coming together most of these youths the good thing is that once they get into this because you know mostly slums are related to matters drug abuse conflicts robbery and all the same so it acts also like a reality rehabilitation path for them like they able now to be more involved in something they find something they are more engaged youths by there when you bring them together and they see there is something that they able to learn and there's something also okay they also they urge to gain because now you also need to pay your bills so yeah so that's where we also also it's a gap that you also considering but because these people very talented we have graffiti we have different competitions as well we write for essays but they also forgot these also essays you write for there is also that competition whereby you find that if there is a child or someone who has been able to write a good essay or something he's awarded something then there are also projects that are done so this project maybe maybe for us as an individual I might not be able to maybe support him or her but you have all to interlink because it's a network when I see you have a good project here leadership development so maybe there is someone in need of something but you see at least this some he's very very trying he's have a very good project so how do we come in even though I'm not able to can I refer him or her to another person or to another person who or she can get help from so that's also the another aspect then I've also talked about communities as well we all we also encourage those dialogues we also encourage those conversations we do a lot of cleanup then okay for me the the the bold step that I normally what I like most is working with people I don't like working alone this is why we have several CBOs several organizations in the space of environmental conservation what if all of us come together yeah so that we do something big even though you're doing something small on your own but now if we come together imagine the impact that we can create on the same then you're also able to network I'm able to get ideas from you you're able to get ideas from me because you know once two or three people are together the way you see things is not the way I see things I see them in different perspective you see in the different perspective so we are able to harmonize we're able to mobilize resources and do the same that's in regard to also cleanups also I do activism activists I'm an activist for conservation stuff and also issues human rights so at times go to we go to the streets not to riot like a protest with violence no it's just like we organize for a walk as a march of sorts awareness like I think on Friday if you maybe you had we had this program called Fridays for Future whereby like young people young activists they're just trying to air in their views for okay you've had about COP26 all that you know most of the pledges are made there may or we are going to cut the mission by this year we are going to release funds for climate finance and all the same but most of the times you find these are always they say so but they don't do the action beach the action beat is not met so like we are trying to remind okay you are telling us you are making us too much of ambitious for nothing but at the end of the day we are going to talk about the very very same problem can you really act now are you able so we normally have certain placards with different formation about environment what we are demanding for and it's it's it's our it's our right I know environmental right is a human it's all a peaceful initiative a peaceful initiative and works of getting yeah yeah and works of getting awareness and the other day yeah with the other day you are from Raqqa to our after round Babadogo yeah yeah and people we had a massive turnout imagine an event planned in less than two days imagine if we have done it in a one week or something but people really turned out people really listen to us I we also do a lot of petitions as well because now there are some things that may be over us but through petitions and through maybe getting to the start away there is a way we are able to reach out to maybe the policymaker that's all something you're working on because there are some some things by there we can't even though we make noise about them but unless there is someone okay there is a policymaker as they make good policies and they implemented is when this one can be successful but we choose not to we choose not to be quiet about things that really matter to us we choose not we choose to like and that's why you guys do the work yeah yeah yeah you speak here what you're telling me Lamech is that also when you touch on something very important on the youth being engaged in this particular community service leadership and development there's an angle that you brought in quite very important that you can actually there's a creation of job in this particular space as well so uh from your experience and also interaction are there sustainable business that young people are running that which who actually rotor act rotor act or or any any any of the groups that we've worked with any of the groups that should work yeah yeah sure sure I talked about this then there's there's one that I really like it's a recycling project these young people are based in Kibra so you find that most of the times we collect this trash we collect this bottle and the same so these people really came up with a very very good idea whereby they are making a lot of good good things through the recycle bottles and they are gaining and they are able to sell them it's also like an exhibition for them whenever they have event they're able to get endorsements as well and there are there are also those who do a lot of uh uh okay there are those who've also engaged into farming like the this aspect I'm not sure if you've heard about it kitchen gardening like you find in an area like Nairobi we have a small small space oh yes and you just can do it on your backyard on your backyard and through this you're able to get something for yourself you're able to reach out to another person I think when COVID hit we were able to work with around seven children's homes within Nairobi setting up the kitchen gardens and two years later the project is still continuing the project is still continuing even though they might not get donors and all the time but at least they have vegetables they can able to to uh to feed on that but if also they are able to sell because it comes into surplus as well and uh for rotor actors because now we're also in the different spaces like uh someone might be in IT someone might be in a different field on the same but because of this network now you're able to be mentored on the same you're able to get someone from another field I'm interested in pursuing this so which is the direction should I take and also within rotor because I believe you're family because you're a family and uh not all of us may be better off as well you might find that as long as we're trying to give back there's one of us who maybe has a problem or something so how do we charity begins at home how do we come in through for him or her that's the first question we ask ourselves all right so allow me to take you back uh there's something you you mentioned that you work with students also different schools yeah and I would like to understand when you're working with the young kids because you're building up a mental muscles whereby now you're creating the aspect of giving back to the society and this is these are young kids yeah uh what is when you're looking looking back with working with these young people signing MOU as well uh what excites you what makes you happy through that process uh what makes me happy first of all the curiosity of the kids are really amazing these people are ready ready to learn and by there when you go okay we also we've also have conflicts within them like for instance you've said we are going to plant 100 trees you find a school has a population of around 900 people 900 pupils so what about the 800 others yeah they also want to do the same but now because of the different reasons you're not able to do the 900 first of all the issue of space the issue of water and all the same so what makes me uh and keeps me going is that curiosity of the kids and they're always ready to learn and also for the support by the there's some school that you'll go and uh are request for the same but you told no sorry it's a good idea but for us here is a no they have their own reasons and you can't force but given that the school has given you that opportunity and you're able to sign an MOU my the best thing that I really look up to is the the the the now this the final results or the progress once I've done something and I'm seeing there is a progress it keeps me going it's it makes me see myself like okay I'm doing something that is really impactful and also it also encourages as young as long as these kids are very young it also opens then their mentality okay so there's something I can do apart from just studies there's something I can do maybe even back at home we also encourage them okay not even that we're planting only in schools but try at home don't don't overthrow your little way we have okay we also at sometimes you also set up the beans as well if you're able to for just for the good connection go green initiative everything green that we are able to do as that now yeah not all but anything that we're able to according to our capacity it's a go green and it's the eco schooling program yeah so what a couple of challenges that you're facing when it comes to environmental conservation okay so first we have diff several of them there's so many I know so so many first of all as I said resources yes I'm not working I'm a student maybe I'm not I don't have a stable source of income and I want to do the project that's a very key issue so how do you even finance the whole movement and the projects as well okay first of all I told you okay we took a lie yes we are okay the first thing I told you is that we come okay it's a network for those people in the space and when we have networks we are able to do more so most of the times by there a lot of what we do is involuntary basis sometimes we ask our members to contribute but if it's a it's a again okay it's it's above us we're able now to maybe mobilize other people but some people have really been kind enough to us in regard to conservation bit some people really like KFS donate seedlings at times seedlings is really important when you have meteor lions and I have one of the person whom I look up to in regards conservation who introduced me is someone called Michael Wajaki is from meteor lions he really does some good job he has a tree nursery he encourages the culture of conservation as well so it's it's bit of a challenge in regards resources and also maybe there are times you approach partners maybe those who who you might have thought they will have been able to help you but in one way or the other they're not able to do so you are able you are you become so much like you are ambitious that you will help but they disappoint you so you find a way on which you can do that but uh personally to say we don't have like this the person that we are actually looking up to in regards to the resource that you need for conservation it it it it entails writing proposals it entails coming together but most of the times we we just try as the little that we have even if it's it means contributing hundred hundred for us maybe forget about the refreshments away together for maybe for the activities of the day that we're able to do that so first of all is in regard to resources the second one is the the culture that I told you the the mindset of the people the people's mindset of that okay why should I do this is really my role to do the conservation bit are they are not uh what is the work of Neema what is the work of KFS why am I entering into their job why why are they going to pay me so these mindset have been really something yeah refusing to be very responsible you are trying as much as you are able to but you people are really discouraging you like for instance if you're doing a cleanup people may end up calling you uh to attack on me like okay for you you know you are not that way you are trying to do something but for other person you may not might not see it the same so there's aspect of mind the mindset and uh also by they working with young people young people don't consider issue the environment to be fashionable they look it at like that's something old age uh conservation why should I even do that uh I plant trees why why should I bother on the same that's also another challenge another one uh another challenge in regards to that is also that uh as I said there's something that are above us the policy like there's something that needs to be policy makers the lawmakers they need to pass these agreements so that it can it can ease in our work so that not every time we'll be going on the streets to uh to talk about these not every time we'll be going on the streets to our views but they're able to also harmonize us on the same so that's also another another challenge you're facing and also uh the support itself by the we don't get a lot of support at times from the government I say the government have really tried its bit by the uh with the issue of uh 10 10 percent forest cover which is really really a good initiative and we have several success stories but we are still not yet there yeah we need the support from them we need the support from the corporates we need the support from everyone so that we can harmonize everything and we're able to do more so they are quite a number of challenges but those are the main ones that we are facing us at now but actually we are not giving up soon we are still continuing to do it the same until we reach there we are the hope is not yet lost and we believe that one day everything will be okay my worry is for the next generation for me I'm enjoying all these benefits what about them yeah yeah there's a there's this joke that says maybe some few years to come the only uh lion or the only okay the kids or our great great grandchildren will only see them on books but for us we've enjoyed seeing them there are we using the the resources we have right now sustainably giving in mind that 10 years from now there's someone who'll be here will he or she enjoy the same benefits so that's that's my main worry like we're doing it for ourselves yeah and also for the next generation and that explains why environmental conservation why conservation yeah why conservation to that extent yeah so for someone as you wind up for someone who's watching this conversation and they would like to partner with Lamac or even get to work with you and be part of Rotterdam club how can they reach out to you thank you so I'm quite vocal on social media not that much but uh on all my social media platforms you can find me at Lamac Lamac if you go on my wall it's matters conservation I think most of you are in most I've met a lot of people through that because they are inspired by the work that I do so kindly feel free to reach out to to me you can get in touch together my contact details are there they also are a link that you can when when you click on it you're able to get in touch directly with me so each and every one out there okay this I have a message but before that maybe you can you can allow me to say something okay so fortunately or through good luck I got to be nominated as a climate change voice of the year award it's a worldwide recognition oh congratulations thank you and it's on we naturally so this is like a platform for people who are doing who are making a difference in regards conservation so I was I got an opportunity to be nominated I think we have like two or three more Kenyans over there we have other people from different parts of the world we have Uganda we have uh India and all that Asia and all the same so basically it's an award that recognizes someone who is making a difference in the community regards conservation he's trying to air his views he's trying to reach out to the people so you guys can also vote for me you can vote for me the voting only takes at least maximum two minutes yeah yeah sure sure sure so what is the voting process how do you go about it so the voting process takes it's this way uh huh there's a link sorry there's a link or you just visit we naturalists it's it's an app it's an app you can install but it's not a must we naturalists we it's a one word we naturalist got it just like it's it's a it's a platform for people who are passionate about environment and they're doing something again so once you get into the app you'll be you'll be expected maybe to have an account of course you can sign in then you send you've been you're sent a verification on your email so once you click on it then there's a direct link that I normally share that now goes directly towards voting to me so once there's another way you can do it there's a link you can share yeah I just hear the link then you go vote directly so can we get it on your social media yes yes sure sure sure you'll get my I I'll attach it to my bio on instagram and also the other ones yeah but so far I've shared it in most of the platforms okay yeah sure sure so I'll really appreciate you guys if you support me on the same we're able to bring this home we're able to more impactful projects and I'm looking forward to partnering with anyone from any part of the country hopefully to because I said I can't do it alone you can do it all together when we come together we're able to do more we're able to make a difference and it's my responsibility your responsibility and all of us we have the address must be to conserve the environment we have that responsibility to look to to take care of our neighbors to reach out a hand of help wherever need be if you're able to and you also have you have the opportunity to be part of Rotor Act and Rotary become part of the the great leaders who are making moves in this community as well okay you're most welcome yes yes yes what would you what would it mean for you to win this award so first of all I think it's cash award is it's $1,000 which I think when we work with hundreds it's about a hundred thousand but yeah a hundred thousand so most of the projects by there I do I don't have any source of funding so I'm looking forward to scaling up what we do and also maybe it's something something sustainable not just for anyone also for myself as well but but okay the main idea behind this award is for me I'm based on impact impact as well I want to I want to scale up the conversation about conservation as well I want to continue doing a lot of restoration activities a lot of environmental conservation activities so it would really mean a lot to me and it would really mean not to me but my group the people who I work with we're able now to one way or the other we're able now to have something that we can look up to look up to and also work to work work with it yeah work with it sustainably and scale up a lot of our activities on the same as well there you have it you have our votes thank you so much also our viewers have had you and definitely they're going to equally vote for you you see you link it to your bio yeah link it to my bio then yeah you guys can vote for me on instagram again okay all social media platform Lamek Lamak Lamek Lamak one word yeah there you have it Lamek Lamak on instagram facebook twitter linkedin everywhere the hummingbird the hummingbird it's a story by there we'll share another day the story of the hummingbird that one of the story that keeps me going it keeps me going because um it reminds me that I have I can make a difference no matter how little it might seem but collectively when we partner with other people we're able to make it yes the story that Wangari Madae talked about yeah where there's okay let me share a little bit about it so it's it's yeah real quick so there's this forest that is on fire and now because there's fire we have different animals you have different wildlife giraffes sorry giraffes you have the antelopes and all that they are running for safety there is this little hummingbird that says no I'm not going to see these forest rain into fire I'm going to do something so it rushes the next stream drop of water drop of water drop of water as fast as it can but now the lion has come it's what are you what are you trying to do do you think that the the drop of water will try to put on off the fire but the hummingbird says I'm doing the best I can I'm doing the best I can imagine if the rest of the other and the other wildlife would have joined it in doing the same the impact the same thing with us as humans if you know all of us do our part if you do your your your your bit wherever you are I do my bit collectively yes it makes a huge difference there you have it the hummingbird story thank you very much Lamek Opio for creating time to be with us and talking about the importance of environmental conservation and also the Rotara Club as a whole we appreciate you and we wish you all the best when it comes to the winning award you have our votes thank you so much thank you so much guys and thank you so much for having me and we should normalize the gospel of conservation so there you have it so much yes so guys back at home make sure you keep the conversation going at y254 channel but michelle she writes where you can find me across all my social be right back with so much by your own entrepreneurship today