Enlightening Entertainment
 
“Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story” - with Film Director Geert De Belder      
Just as long as the drought doesn’t get worse. Life has become really hard in recent years.

The wind dries out the trees. It’s difficult to find food. All in all, life is hard.

On today’s Enlightening Entertainment we present excerpts from the insightful environmental documentary, “Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story,” directed by the gifted and caring filmmaker Mr. Geert De Belder from Belgium. The film presents the heartrending reality of people to whom climate change impacts are real and now. It has been praised for its unique way of highlighting the human side of the story.

And it’s the poor people of the world, who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the weather.

You don’t just emit CO2 into the air, you lose livelihoods for the poor.

Regarding the film, Tineke D’Haese, a photographer for Oxfam, commented, “The testimonies force you to take it seriously. The situation is clearly shocking, even without showing pictures of catastrophes.” Dirk Hendrikx from the Belgian newspaper “Gazet Van Antwerpen” wrote: “(A film) for all who still doubt, and for those who want to see the damages of climate change. With clarifications by experts, and testimonies and pictures leaving a lasting impression. Highly recommended.”

Maybe in the developed countries you are just reading the books, and looking at the television, and seeing what will happen. But it is already happened.

Wereld Mediatheek Presents Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story

When we had the idea of making the movie, the impact of climate change on the people in the South, we didn’t actually realize the whole problem. I went to a conference on climate change, and especially the impact on the South. And I was shocked in this conference to notice how large the problem was, how big the impact already was – and was going to be. I didn’t know that before.

Around 3 billion people living in developing countries are facing immediate and most severe human costs due to climate change. As the film shows, these vulnerable communities are often helpless to adapt to or prevent the crisis.

The idea of the movie was to confront people in the North with the victims of the so-called “civilization.” I could only hope that people who were confronted with the real face behind a fact or a figure, that they would be moved by hearing the story and hopefully change their lifestyle.

Mr. De Belder’s documentary was made in collaboration with more than ten non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who helped him meet the climate change victims who were willing to share their stories. The making of the film led to a journey to four of the worst-hit countries: Burkina Faso and Togo in Africa, Ecuador in South America and Bangladesh in Asia. They testify to the fast-increasing havoc that they face daily as a result of climate change.

These fields don’t normally look like this because we’re in an abnormally dry period. Because these should be the rainy months. The rains usually last until May in normal rainy season, and [we should now be] in the midst of production. You can see the maize field over there. The cobs should be already formed, but as you can see they’re worthless, worthless. And there are thousands and thousands of farmers suffering from exactly the same drought, no?

We wanted to have these particular stories to make the facts into persons, into real experiences. Many of the farmers we interviewed, they didn’t know about climate change. Yes, they did know, of course, they knew climate had been changing since a few decennia (decades). But they had absolutely no idea where it was coming from, or that it was a global phenomenon.

Director Geert De Belder knew that it was also important to present not only the individuals’ personal stories but also a larger and objective perspective. Thus, he interviewed a number of prominent climate experts such as British climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern and French glaciologist Bernard Francou.

Most of the experts are people in the South. Experts from NGOs, from governments, from the United Nations, from the North. The experts give the large scale of climate change and its impact, things which the victims don’t know. We needed the experts to make the spectators clear that things are happening at a large scale.

The impact of climate change on the supply of water will affect a hundred million, perhaps a billion people. The daily lives of all these people are at risk through insufficient water or poor quality water.

When we return, we’ll find out more about the awakening documentary, “Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story,” through candid comments from the director Mr. Geert De Belder. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to today’s program about the environmental documentary, “Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story,” a Wereld Mediatheek production directed by Belgium director Geert De Belder. With a balance between victims’ testimonies and expert insights, this original film delivers a convincing message to viewers.

The message of the film is: climate is already changing, that there are many victims already, that there will be more and more and more. It’s going to be a disaster that’s overshadowing all other kinds of disasters or wars you could imagine.

The documentary is divided into named chapters, such as: “Agriculture in Decline,” “Fresh Water, A Scarcity,” “Life Warms Up” and “Disaster’s on the Up,” about how the quality of life including aspects of health, and even survival, are impacted.

During the rainy season we use the leaves from particular trees as food. We then wait for the rainy season to end, when the grass sellers come around. The women and children are famished. We, the adults, are stronger than today’s youngsters. If you grow up hungry, you are never strong.

There is also a section called “Sea Levels Continue to Rise,” and “No Choice But to Flee,” which zooms in on the individuals who are on the verge of becoming a climate refugee.

And we know that the coastal areas, about millions of people are living there, maybe 20-30 million people are living there. What will happen to these people?

In the next 20 to 30 years, this land will be uninhabitable. Perhaps we can live here for 30 years. But after that, it will be uninhabitable. It is such a hopeless situation, because we will have lost all our land. I can’t tell the things I’m telling you to the rest of the population.

I can tell you that I have had emotional difficulties a lot of times.

In Bangladesh, for instance, people in Bangladesh are so beautiful and beautifully clothed and so sympathetic. When a woman is talking that she lost her kids in a cyclone, which are more and heavier than ever, it’s not easy to sit there as a part of the North.

There was water everywhere, I had nowhere to go. I have two children, 10 and 5. I went to the Union Parishad with them. The water had risen until here at that time. We managed to scramble up, water flowing all around us. First, my youngest was torn from my arms, and then my 10-year-old daughter too.

But the film also concludes with hope-giving directions with constructive sections titled, “Adapting Out of Necessity” and “Mitigation is Prevention.”

I was so happy when the last interview we did on the last journey, that was Bangladesh, it was someone from the United Nations, a climate expert, and he said, “Yes, it is the fault of the North, they are to blame, but they didn’t do it on purpose. I put it in the film also this fragment, because that’s a nuance that’s very important I think. We’re not really to blame, but yes, it’s up to us to correct this.

In order to correct the far-reaching problem we as humankind have caused, Mr. De Belder urges more and immediate action.

The more adaptation and mitigation, the less suffering. Mitigation is a big effort. We find that it’s a big effort to take the train instead of the car. “I prefer the car.” Yeah, I know, we have to do all kind of things that are not so pleasant as before to save energy. But adaptation, which is the second thing to be done, will ask still much more efforts than mitigation, and it will cost lots more money.

And there are many things we can do we, on the transport side or energy saving side. That’s one thing that has been stressed by governments, etc. But there is one thing still more important: the methane which is caused by the large-scale livestock breeding worldwide. So, it’s even more important to stop eating meat or to downsize the meat on your plate.

And the more we do now, the cheaper it will cost. The more we wait, the more expensive it will cost to stop the negative impact of climate change.

They must stop the over-consumption. They must be brave enough to come out of their comfort zone.

This isn’t a question of giving up paradise; this is a question of giving up a very dirty and dangerous path, and going on to a much more attractive one.

The scientists make their diagnosis. They explain why the climate is warming up and why the glaciers are melting. Now, it’s up to society to wake up to the problem and up to the politicians to take measures without further ado.

Too much I see people stuck in dialogues and battles and negotiations forever and ever. We don’t have the time! We have 10 to 15 years within to address the very serious issues of climate change, of the loss of ecosystems, and of the destruction of diversity. Without these, there is no life on Earth.

“Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story” continues to be shown to audiences in countries around the world. For more details about this documentary and screenings, please visit

We thank director Geert De Belder, the film crew and all involved in the production of “Climate Chaos in the South: The Victims’ Story,” for a film that touches our hearts and informs our minds, while inspiring us to make the more-than-worthwhile lifestyle changes that will save lives. May all of us world citizens awaken now to adopt the simplest and most effective change of all – a meat-free lifestyle – and thus preserve our planet and all precious co-inhabitants.

Thank you for your presence on today’s Enlightening Entertainment. Please now join us for Words of Wisdom, up next after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May our world be blessed with grace and protection.

The great majority of people that have a near-death experience, even though every physical test and clinical observation indicates that they are unconscious or clinically dead, at that time they are having a highly lucid experience.

Monday, August 2, on Science and Spirituality discover more about a phenomenon that is unexplained by medical science in the conclusion of a three part series on the work of Dr. Jeffrey Long, a physician who is on the forefront of near death experience research.

  Shining World Compassion Award: Realizing Equal Education - Mr. Uttam Sanjel,Founding Principal of Nepal’s Samata Schools (In Nepali) 
 Shining World Leadership & Protection Awards: Australia’s Pioneering Bottled Water-Free Town and Macedonian Tree Planting Opera Maestro 

 
  
 
 
Most popular
 World Premiere of “The King & Co” An Epic Saga Written and Directed by Supreme Master Ching Hai - Ep. 1/9
 Shining World Compassion Award: Dr. Ian Clarke – Bringing Health Care and Change to Uganda – P1/2
 Devoted to Love: Sain Zahoor, Sufi Musician from Pakistan – P1/2 (In Urdu)
 Aulacese (Vietnamese) Modern Folk Opera: Filial Loquat-Leaf Medicine (In Aulacese)
 Aulacese (Vietnamese) Modern Folk Opera: The Heavenly Lamp - P1/4 (In Aulacese)
 The Greenest Heroes Gala - P1/11
 Happy New Year 2012 from the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association & Friends
 2011: A Year in Review
 Save Our World” Concert from Mongolia P1/8 (In Mongolian
 Shining World Hero Award: Sean Penn – Movie Icon and Committed Humanitarian