The impact of global warming and freak weather is visible everywhere in our daily lives, whether it is mild winters in cold countries like Russia, unexpected flooding across Europe as happened two years back, high summer temperatures in temperate countries or warm conditions as witnessed this winter in North India. The phenomenon, though not established beyond doubt, is a matter of serious concern.

This fact has been highlighted in some film documentaries produced by award winning and upcoming young film-makers who have highlighted complex issues of climate change in different parts of the sub-continent. One such film, by Geeta Singh, ‘A Green Agony’, produced by the British Council was recently screened at the India International Center.

This film looks into some problems caused almost entirely by climate change in the unique eco-system of the Sunderbans. “The Sunderbans is an extremely vulnerable area and is a naturally subsiding delta. Most of these islands are submerging and they face a major threat from climate change,” she says.

“We made this film in 20-25 days and I realized what a massive question-mark hangs on the lives of people in these submerging islands of the Sunderbans,” says Singh. “The problem is so acute that many people informed us that people from the mainland are not ready to marry into the islands anymore.”

She stressed that, “We all think that climate change is very far and distant but this is a real threat and not very far off. It affects us all.”

Another film, ‘A Degree of Concern’ by Syed Fayaz, explores the effects of climate change in glaciers and mountain eco-systems. The film brings out graphically the steady but slow warming up of the Tibetan plateau. Leh has been warming up in recent years and major river systems like the Indus and Ganga river are not expected to stay perennial. Fayaz’s film especially high-lights the on-going glacier melt and ethnic people’s efforts to slow this down in high-altitude regions.

“The situation is very grave; how long can people hold the tragedy back by making artificial glaciers. This earth may not give us a second chance and we must do something about it,” says Fayaz.

Two other films highlighting the climate change are Delhi-based director Nila Madhab Panda’s ‘Climate’s First Orphans’ that tells the sad story of thousands of homeless villagers in the coastal regions of Orissa and Vijay Jodha’s ‘The Weeping Apple Tree,’ focussing on climate change in the apple growing belt of Himachal Pradesh.