A
photography exhibit in London, England by photographer Peter Canton and
field partner Cris Aoki Watanabe documents the devastation of climate
change on one of the most impacted areas of the world – the low-lying
Sundarbans in India’s Ganges delta.
The Sundarbans, which
means “beautiful forest” in Bengali, have long been considered a region
of ecological and cultural importance. However, the photographers were
shocked to see the ruins that Cyclone Aila had inflicted in May 2009,
as they also documented the increasingly higher water levels and more
intense storms.
Families are continually displaced as they have to relocate to shelters at every coming catastrophe.
Livelihoods
are at dire stakes with the encroaching salt water contaminating their
rice paddies, which renders them useless for the next three years.
With
the people’s lifestyles considered to leave one of the lightest carbon
footprints, the photojournalists’ exhibit highlights the suffering
inflicted by climate change that is wreaking havoc on the isolated and
poor.
A resident grieves: “The water level is increasing and the
temperature too. We cannot live here, the heat is becoming unbearable.
We have received a plastic sheet and have covered our home with it.
During the comi ng monsoon we shall wrap our bodies in the plastic to
stay dry. We also have two children and we cannot manage their food
either.”
Our hearts are saddened to know of our brethren
suffering through the demise of their communities and our planet. May
we quickly change our ways and hearts in consideration for our
co-inhabitants and the environment. In an October 2009 videoconference
in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke with concern for
all Earth’s residents afflicted by global warming, urging citizens and
world leaders to help halt these calamitous changes.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
We also do not forget all the islands and other countries who are
submerging or sinking or disappearing or disappeared because of climate
change. My heart is troubled every day, thinking of all these innocent
people and all the defenseless animals who have to suffer in this great
upheaval we call climate change.
But we still have time.We
could not reverse the effect of climate change in the past. Whatever
happened due to typhoons and floods and earthquakes, etc.,
we
could not reverse the effect. But we could stop future disasters by
returning to the compassionate vegan diet and encouraging others to do
the same. The government has the power to do this. I beg all the
governments of the world, please, do this before it’s too late, for the
sake of your citizens and your own children as well.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-sinking-sundarbans-1862267.html?action=Popup http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-sinking-sundarbans-1862267.html
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