At the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul earlier this week, audiences received a rich and passionate lesson on modern climate change. The two-day symposium was host to a variety of high-profile Islamic and non-practicing speakers; among them were professors, business-owners, religious leaders, UN representatives and others. The symposium encouraged interfaith dialogue about a worldwide problem: a lack of renewable resources and the urgency to find better alternatives.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS A QUESTION OF MORALS
“Faith communities increasingly recognize that the climate crisis is also a moral crisis,” reads the official Islamic Climate Declaration website. The group urges the Muslim public to acknowledge and fight the damages of climate change from a moral standpoint. Nearly 23% of the world’s population identifies as Muslim, and Islamic leaders assert that when united as a community this group has the ability to impact world-wide change through positive action. The Islamic Climate Declaration calls for renewable energy research and conscious, global efforts toward conservation and accountability — and asserts that it is a Muslim’s moral duty to work towards these ambitions.
IT’S “NOT MUSLIM” TO ALLOW ECOLOGICAL DISASTER
The group insists that those with Muslim faith know that humanity was born to serve Allah and to do well for other humans and creatures. The current gaining rate of climate change, they argue, is detrimental to our environment and goes against God’s will and his gifts — air, water, earth, the elements that allow us to live and continue on as a species. From the Islamic Climate Declaration’s viewpoint, it is crucial to honor the earth, as the earth was borne of God.
CATHOLICS ALSO CONCERNED FOR ENVIRONMENT’S FUTURE
Said Islamic leaders are not the only religious icons who have recently called for faith-inspired conservation efforts. Pope Francis, Catholicism’s oft controversial current pontiff, published his encyclical Laudato si’ (Praise Be to You, subtitled On care for our common home) in late May 2015. In it, he decries environmental decline and calls upon humanity to take immediate action in view of global warming. Both the Islamic Climate Change Declaration and Pope Francis call for the end of short-sightedness and suggest that what’s truly vital lies within the bigger picture: humanity’s long-term impact on the planet. “What will future generations say of us, who leave them a degraded planet as our legacy? How will we face our Lord and Creator?” the Islamic Climate Declaration asks. Religious leaders are changing the dialogue on global climate change, and appealing to the moral dilemma may prove rewarding in their case.
