As a longtime friend of a Bengali and having visited his home before, I was exposed to some Bengali culture but never in the way the exhibit displayed it. My friend’s father was born in East Pakistan at the time (now Bangladesh) and I delved a bit into the history of Pakistani conflicts. This trip really threw more light on the war with the photographs of the women soldiers and the destruction of buildings. I also knew that Bangladesh was victim of one of the highest population densities in the world, which led to very cramped conditions.

Coincidentally, the day after we went to the exhibit, the New York Times had this as their main headline article: “Facing Rising Seas, Bangladesh Confronts the Consequences of Climate Change.” It really is shocking at how much of an impact climate change is having on Bangladesh when people on the opposite side of the world seems unfazed by the issue. There is a lot of injustice in the fact that developing countries are suffering the most from the pollution of industrious, developed countries. The article says that about 18 million people in Bangladesh will lose their homes to the ocean by 2050 and as such, people are arguing that developed countries should open their borders to those immigrants affected by climate. After seeing the conditions in Bangladesh through the photos on the exhibit, I truly feel a lot more sympathy for their problems and really makes me think how much I take for granted.