Climate Change Factsheet

by Crossing Footprints

Open / download a quick-read PDF Factsheet here
Supporting links and media for GHOORNI – Bangladeshi climate theatre

What is ‘Climate Change’?

Think of the hundreds of cars queuing on any big road in the rush hour, multiply that by all roads like that across the entire world and how much fuel they must burn, then imagine that 100 years ago they weren’t there. It’s the same picture with all the fuel being burnt for flying aeroplanes, for industry and manufacturing, transporting all our food and non-food shopping, and even to power the big data centres for the internet. The amount of CO2 gas released by all this fuel is now enormous, it’s building up in the atmosphere and making the world a greenhouse – the sun’s heat gets in and some of it stays trapped. The world is getting warmer year by year, that’s why it’s also called ‘global warming’.

What damage does it cause?

Life on Earth is very sensitive to the average temperature, even a small amount of warming causes big changes and damage. Glaciers and ice caps are melting faster, sea levels are rising and some parts of the world are going under water. Extreme weather is becoming more common – heatwaves, droughts (when there’s not enough rain), floods and powerful storms. Animal species are being lost, less food can be grown, risks to our health increase, more poverty and people losing livelihoods, people are forced to become refugees.

Who gets the worst effects?

The poorer people are, the harder it is to recover from failed harvests, destroyed homes, and health crises caused by climate change. Poor countries have never had so many cars, industries and gadgets, so they didn’t cause the problem but still get the worst effects. Bangladesh will not be able to avoid losing land to sea level rise because over 60% of its land is less than 15 feet above sea level but it only produces less than 0.5% of the global greenhouse gases that cause climate change like CO2 – which is almost nothing.

How can we adapt?

Adapting to the global warming is a big challenge. Buildings and towns will need to be planned differently, nature has to be protected, the fire, police and health services will need to do more, agriculture and food production operations will need to change.

Can we stop it?

This is most important, there are many things we can do but often we don’t know where to start. Using your voice is probably the most important. Tell others, tell the politicians to do more, join or support a local group or campaign. Rethink your diet and transport, change who you bank with, protect and support green spaces and trees, reduce how much you buy that has to be thrown away too soon or repair it.

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    “The oil and gas giants have made $2.8 billion in profits EVERY DAY for 50 years, wrecking our climate and driving up bills. It’s time they paid to fix it – here and abroad.”

Why don’t we do more about it?

We all get used to the way things are and it’s an enormous and daunting problem. Many things we enjoy damage the climate so it feels easier to look the other way. The media doesn’t help, there is a lot of damage being caused that we never hear about, and we never see the people who make huge profits from the burning of fuels at our expense. So, we all have to take some responsibility and do something as a part of our daily lives.

A deeper dive into important news items and information

 – 2024 was the hottest year since records began, officially surpassing the previous record set in 2023. Global temperature average was above the critical 1.5 degrees increase which countries across the world agreed to stay below when they met in Paris 2015, to protect vulnerable nations and ecosystems; https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2025/2024-record-breaking-watershed-year-for-global-climate and https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-confirms-2024-warmest-year-record-about-155degc-above-pre-industrial-level

– In the UK, wheat harvests are reducing due to climate changes, causing more needed to be imported and costs rising; https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2025/years-worth-of-british-bread-lost-this-decade-as-extreme-weather-bites

– Poorest communities in the UK are the most affected by climate change https://www.aru.ac.uk/news/poor-uk-households-more-vulnerable-to-climate-shocks

– In Bangladesh, “fisheries and crop sectors have experienced substantial financial losses over the past decade due to climate change”. https://banglajol.info/index.php/SAJA/article/view/80235 and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402203239X

– How much public money is spent on climate change adaptation in Bangladesh? “Bangladesh currently spends $1 billion a year, 6 to 7 per cent of its annual budget, on climate change adaptation.” https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/bangladesh-uncovers-crippling-cost-climate-change-adaptation

– How much global warming was caused by Bangladesh? “At just 0.4 percent, Bangladesh’s current contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not significant. But with its large population and fast economic growth, if the country follows a ‘business-as-usual’ development pathway, GHG emissions will increase substantially.” https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/10/31/key-highlights-country-climate-and-development-report-for-bangladesh ; “Despite producing only 0.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions (2022 data), Bangladesh ranks ninth on the 2024 World Risk Index of countries

 

 

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