Climate change, Sea Level Rising: Solutions are needed for Bangladesh by City Tech Blogger Rabea Begum

We all know that there is something happening in our weather. We do not feel as cold as we did before. Also the snow seems not to stay as long during the winter. In the summer, trees do not get as much moisture like before. In the New York Times article “Borrowed Time on Disappearing Land” by Gardiner Harris, he discussed the warmer weather and sea level rising. Although, as an ordinary people, we all do not have enough knowledge about the science behind this, but we can easily understand that something is really changing our climate. In his article Harris told us that scientists predicted that global sea level would rise more than three feet by 2100. If that happens scientist say a lot of places are at risk. So far, we know that most of the big cities are founded near the coastal regions.  Climate scientists have also concluded that burning more and more fossil fuels is responsible for creating greenhouse gases, which in turn warm the earth. This warmer climate has melted the glaciers, which in turn causes the sea level to rise and is already impacting countries that have more islands such as Maldives, Kiribati, Fiji, and Bangladesh. Rafael Reuveny, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University at Bloomington said, “There are a lot of places in the world at risk from rising sea levels, but Bangladesh is at the top of everybody’s list.” Reuveny also said that the world is not ready to cope with the problems.  Although there are many countries that have little or zero contribution to the sea level rise, that might end up paying more. In the Warsaw Conference world leaders claimed that rich countries are responsible for putting more carbon in the atmosphere which creates greenhouse gases than developed countries do. Example: Bangladesh produces only 0.3 percent of emissions, but it has to pay lot.  In terms of this article millions of Bangladeshis will lose their home if the sea level rises. Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies and the nation’s leading climate scientist, was demanding for global justice. He claimed that climate change migrants should have the right to move to those countries that emit more greenhouse gases than others. He also demanded that United States should allow climate change migrants to come here. Bangladesh is surrounded by 230 rivers, and it would be heavily impacted by sea level rise since it is more densely populated than other countries. Not only Bangladesh, but other poor countries that are overpopulated will suffer from the impact of climate change. We can also imagine that our beloved New York City is going to see the effect of sea level rise, since it is situated on the coast line.  Bangladesh has little industrial pollution but their environmental pollution is high. Bangladesh is deforesting more than other countries. Bangladeshi people heavily depend on ground water. They do not have not have nationwide water supply and the river water is so polluted that people cannot use it. Most of the water people use is from the ground, and is gotten by using a pump. Dr. Pethick, a former professor of coastal science at Newcastle University in England predicts that by 2100 the sea level could rise 13 feet in Bangladesh. Dr. Pethick said, “a quarter of Bangladesh is less than seven feet above sea level — such an increase would have dire consequences.”  A Bangladeshi ambassador was saying that they need a global solution because any single government cannot solve this problem. He is also predicting that if it cannot be solved now, the Bangladeshi population would be a world problem if the sea level rise as expected.