No Ark: A Documentary on Faith and Climate Change in Bangladesh

Religion, especially Islam, plays an important role in daily life in Bangladesh because it influences how people think and make decisions. In the documentary, imams are the local religious leaders, they serve as key figures who shape community understanding about climate change and environmental responsibility.^[5][6] The documentary also highlights fatalism where some people interpret floods and environmental changes as tests from Gods. This shows that beliefs can influence how communities respond to climate change, which sometimes leads to acceptance rather than action because their mindset can limit themselves to take any preventive actions to control climate change.

At the same time, religion can also encourage people to protect the environment as their responsibility. For example, Islamic teachings emphasize the stewardship of the Earth to encourage humans to care, respect, and protect the natural resources and environment.^[7]

The challenging question of the documentary is “who is responsible for climate change?”. From the scientific perspective, climate change is caused by human and industrial activities that emit greenhouse gasses and disrupt the ozone layer, which leads to global warming, flooding, and other natural disasters. However, these activities come from more developed countries, and not Bangladesh. As a result, this creates an imbalance because people in Bangladesh face the greatest impacts from natural disasters, even though they are not the primary contributors to the problem.^[8] Additionally, people may not fully understand the global causes of climate change and believe that environmental changes happen due to god's will instead of human actions. This can reduce the urgency for action because they may not feel the need to take action or prepare for these changes, showing a bigger challenge in explaining climate change because people’s beliefs and lack of information can affect how they respond to climate change.

Despite these challenges, faith can also serve as a positive force when religious leaders emphasize human responsibility and environmental stewardship because this can encourage the communities to take action.^[9] Stronger beliefs with understanding about climate change can motivate people to work harder and take action because they feel a sense of religious responsibility. When individuals believe that protecting the Earth is part of their faith, they can be more committed to making changes in their daily lives, such as conserving resources and helping the community prepare for environmental changes.^[10]