TckTckTck partner Oxfam has released a startling interactive online documentary about a village in Bangladesh devastated by Cyclone Aila, a massive storm that affected millions of people and caused widespread destruction across India and Bangladesh.
The Oxfam project, created in partnership with the Guardian (UK), shows in vivid detail how, “in places like Gabura in south-west Bangladesh, climate change is costing lives – now, today.”
Severe weather events and natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change. Oxfam hopes to educate people about the fact that this is not some problem your grandchildren will face in the distant future, but rather a reality affecting communities around the globe right now.
The documentary features shocking footage shot on cell phones as the cyclone hits, and shows frightened residents reacting when they’re told to evacuate their villages.
The storm ultimately claimed over 330 lives and left over 1 million people homeless in India and Bangledesh. Cyclone Aila also caused massive flooding, contaminating sources of drinking water, killing fish that people depend on for food, and setting the stage for epidemics of water-borne illnesses. Its effects will be felt for years to come.
TckTckTck’s growing ranks of individuals and organizational partners are actively working to raise awareness of the current impacts that climate change is having on our planet, and calling for swift global action to ensure that future generations don’t face much worse circumstances.
With less than three weeks to go before world leaders gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a global climate agreement, tools such as Oxfam’s new documentary can help to convince those who think of global warming as a distant future problem – or no problem at all – that there is great urgency to act now. We need to pressure leaders to achieve a fair, ambitious and binding agreement in Copenhagen, or else scenes like those in Oxfam’s footage from Cyclone Aila will become all too common.
Check out Oxfam’s documentary website, and please help TckTckTck spread the word about the importance of urgent action to address climate change.