Is Climate Change Making Us More Religious ?

It’s like they’re selling the end of the world, and they feel justified in their belief.

Shuvo Shams
The Environment

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Image by the author via leonardo.ai

I was in Rajshahi a few days ago, a small town in Bangladesh, where climate change is wreaking havoc. Amidst it all, I experienced something called the marriage of frogs. The tradition dates back thousands of years; when there is extreme summer heat, people marry frogs as a kind of prayer for relief in the form of rain.

While I’ve seen small, playful traditions like this before, this time was different. It was a massive event — there were candles, smoke, and music. It was an entirely different spectacle, which made me wonder if people are becoming more superstitious these days.

Then I read this book called “Gun Island”, which deals with climate change-induced migration. In the book, I came across a fascinating idea: the resurfacing myth of a snake goddess.

Here’s a bit of background: during floods, snakes often get washed into people’s homes, where they bite the residents, leading to deaths. So floods, disasters, and snakes have an ancient connection. The snake goddess in Bengali culture is Manasha, and her myth would re-emerge during years of constant disasters. People would revere her more and fear her wrath. In the Sundarbans, which has faced…

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Shuvo Shams
The Environment

Trying really hard to have one epiphany at a time in this dystopia.