by Salman Hameed

We have had posts on Irtiqa in the past that have highlighted the environmental efforts in the Muslim world. For example, see Eco-Islam and a "Green Imam" in Tanzania, Green Muslims, and Islam & Environment: Conference and Book. But here is an excellent article by Saleem H. Ali (currently a professor of sustainability at the University of Queensland, Australia), that highlights the difference between a lip-service to environmental thinking and the reality on the ground. Indeed, when I visited Qatar and Sharjah last year for a conference, I was dismayed to see green lawns being watered during mid-day, air conditioned shops in Doha with their doors open, golf courses and an indoor ski resort (yes - you can ski in Dubai in the summer heat). I have praised the efforts of building the zero carbon city, Masdar, near Abu Dhabi - but I hope it is not a gimmick.

I think Saleem Ali cuts to the chase and asks pertinent questions:

Environmentalism has taken root in many Muslim communities but it remains a marginal issue for discussion at the pulpit. Most imams in America, pressed about the importance of ecological themes in Islam, usually offer a polite nod: “Of course brother, Islam respects nature; God’s creation must be valued; Cleanliness is essential and part of our ritual.” Such vacuous platitudes are very common but when it comes to the serious task of educating our children about ecological ethics, there is rarely any attention given.
Unfortunately, the essence of ecology – the natural science of studying how humans interact with their environment – eludes most centers of Islamic learning. This apathy towards nature is emblematic of the growing imbalance which many practicing Muslims have regarding “deen” and “dunya.” They are often drawn to one pole or the other with a reluctance to engage productively with the time-tested Islamic edict of “meezaan” or balance. For livelihoods, they might ostensibly appear to be keeping a balance between work and family but they are in fact compartmentalizing their lives. So yes, most religious Muslims are also successful professionals but do they really try to connect with their world in the same planetary way that the term “dunya” suggests in its natural connotation? Such an ecological lens of viewing their lives would help them keep perspective of this need for “meezaan.” 

For political reasons, terms like “moderation” have been stigmatized and are often branded as a co-optation strategy to drive people away from theology. One young Muslim scholar responded, “all this environmental stuff – what relevance does it have when Muslims are dying in wars or being persecuted?” The response to such thinking would be: Have you ever thought why things are not changing for the better in terms of our predicament? One explanation might be that Muslims have become “denaturalized” – we do not want to make the full connection with the natural world in terms of scientific inquiry, reflective appreciation for the natural world and thus we have an existential angst that comes out in either aggression or apathy. 

Muslims, particularly influential and well-intentioned groups like the Tablighi-Jamaat, simply dismiss requests for environmental education by saying: “Brother, this world is ephemeral and so we should just prepare for the Afterlife.” Such a simplistic vision of the present and the future and human obligations to the planet, however, is detracting Muslims from reaching their full potentials as stewards of the planet – which was the primordial obligation given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

To make a practical impact, he is collaborating with local Muslim communities in the US to emphasize environmental values in their religious teachings:

Once we have the knowledge base to appreciate and understand the natural world, we need to change our day-to-day conduct and consider our impacts on the planet. This means changes in behavior in terms of what we eat and drink and the kinds of products we consume and many of the usual edicts one comes across from contemporary environmentalism. Of particular note might be a reconsideration of the dominance of meat in the diets of many Muslims. Apart from certain rituals, there is no injunction in Islam to consume so much meat (particularly cattle meat) which has become a cultural corrosion and has an enormous impact on resource depletion. 

Perhaps the most salient behavioral change that Muslims can make is greater awareness of their surroundings and realizing the complex web of interactions that sustains our planet and is manifest majesty of the Divine. Experiential learning is the most effective form of inculcating a value for ecological processes. In January 2013, I am facilitating the launch of a new program in collaboration with the Zaytuna Academy in Berkeley, California to help teachers and leaders in Islamic schools and mosques implement ecological learning more easily within their curriculum. Imam Dawood Yasin, the Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College is leading the development of the program. Hopefully this program and others like it will spring up “organically” across the Muslim world and spark a movement of greater consequence. But to have a measurable impact, they will need to be taken seriously by Muslims in their daily lives. Making the connection between science and ecology, and instilling the importance of empirical research within Islamic learning at the earliest stage is the most sustainable way for such a process of inculcation to proceed.

I don't know much about Zaytuna Academy (I think it is the same as Zaytuna College) and their views on science. My skepticism comes from some other Islamic academies (and a number of dubious Christian Evangelical universities in the US) that hold problematic views on science. But if Saleem H. Ali is on board with them - at least on this issues, then I take a bit more comfort on this. I think it will be fantastic if they can shape and export a fruitful and practical green-Muslim narrative.

In any case, read the full article here.

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by Salman Hameed

I often hear in conversations if science and religion are in conflict or are they compatible. The answer to this quetsion is that - well - it depends. There are instances when they clash (often on the questions of "origins") and there are instances of fruitful collaboration. Here is a fascinating example from Ethiopia, where a collaboration between religion and science may end up saving forests (from Science):

Humans have been cutting Ethiopian forests for fuel and agriculture for centuries (1). Only about 35,000 fragments remain in the northern highlands, ranging in size from 3 to 300 hectares. These fragments escaped deforestation because of their religious and spiritual importance; they are protected by, and are an integral part of, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (2). Within each forest, an Orthodox priest and his disciples live, conduct services, and oversee its use. These forests are both a religious and a biodiversity sanctuary (3–6), and they provide local people with essential ecosystem services such as fresh water, shade, honey, pollinators, and spiritual value.

The church leadership views biodiversity conservation as one of its primary stewardships, but the lack of perimeter delineation of these forest fragments threatens their future. Presently, less than 4% of the original forest cover remains in the region (7, 8), and the remaining forests continue to be encroached upon (9), in part because of population increases—Ethiopia had a population of 43 million in 1984 but almost 80 million by 2000 (10). These church forests are also threatened by foraging livestock that increase soil compaction, hindering seed germination and forest regeneration. Sadly, when a forest disappears, the priest, his disciples and others living in the area also leave.

Environmental concerns can allow the develoipment of mutual respect for both science and religion. Carl Sagan recognized this in the late 1980s and made an effort to court the support of religious leaders on issues realted to global warming and on the movement to reduce stockpile of nuclear weapons. E.O. Wilson has also been working with Evangelical leaders in the US on preserving biodiversity. With some of the challenges ahead, we may need cooperation from all elements of the society and develop an interdisiplinary approach to get a handle on the complex social, cultural and economic issues. Here is back to the issue of Ethopian forests:

With such precious few fragments remaining, Ethiopia faces a conservation crisis. Understanding the role that church forests play in the provision of ecosystem services is critical, particularly for soil conservation, fresh water protection, and carbon sequestration. To preserve these forests, and perhaps even expand them, we must take an immediate, aggressive, and multidisciplinary approach that includes all stakeholders. For example, biologists, social scientists, ethnographers, religious leaders, and local people must collaborate. We must work to understand the relationship between local peoples and the forest and empower them to protect it. More immediately, we must establish perimeters to prevent grazing and encourage the planting of local trees in the forest areas (8). By taking these steps, we can protect Ethiopia's forests from further decline.

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This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah and is the author of Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science.

A few weeks ago, Physics Today (a highly respected monthly magazine of the American Institute of Physics) published an article titled “A sustainable house in Tlemcen, Algeria” presenting an innovative and economically attractive architectural project.

The article was referring to a paper recently published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy by energy physicist Mohammed El Amine Boukli Hacene, of Abou Bekr Belkaid University in Tlemcen, Algeria. The author presented the design of a model house which aims at reducing energy consumption, using renewable energy, and providing natural ventilation.

The house is to be built with cellulose wadding and flagstone within a wooden framework; it faces south to enable a maximum collection of solar energy (using heaters and photovoltaic cells).

The important energy savings are achieved by implementing the following ideas: a) wood's low thermal inertia, low construction cost, and low thermal transmission; b) double-glazed windows and airtight external doors to help increase insulation; c) solar-powered heaters photovoltaic cells; and d) ground cooling.

The proposed house is estimated to need no more than 15 kWh/m²/yr for its heating, with a total energy demand of about 50 kWh/m²/yr. This is less than a quarter of what a conventional house needs. Although building the house would cost more than a conventional one, the extra cost is estimated to be recovered in about ten years; in fact, in countries where fuel is much more expensive (say in southern Europe) but where solar energy is relatively abundant, this kind of project can prove to be extremely interesting.

*                *               *

Also a few weeks ago, in a blog post on “Science and a politically assertive Turkey”, Salman mentioned an article on the first mosque in Turkey designed by a woman and posted a few nice pictures of the architectural design. (I particularly liked the mihrab.)

I would like to present a few other innovative plans for mosques to be erected in various places in the near future, while showing a few more pictures (or artist’s impressions) of those.

1.  The Mosque in King Abdullah Financial District

The architectural plan for this mosque was produced by the New York-based firm FXFOWLE; it won an award and much praise at various architectural competitions and professional venues. The mosque is to serve the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and it is supposed to integrate the business, social, and religious activities of the community in the district.

The structure is covered with white marble (a simple of purity), and it is surrounded on all four sides by water; the interior is then accessed through “floating walkways”. The modern geometry (note the absence of a dome, in particular) makes it fit seamlessly into the business district’s environment, while the water sets it apart. Do also note the neat minaret…

2.     An eco-friendly mosque being planned in Germany

In times when Germany is turning away from nuclear energy and toward renewable forms, the proposed eco-friendly mosque in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, has been hailed for its innovativeness and environmental and economic attractiveness. Indeed, the plan proposes to put two wind turbines on top of the two tall minarets and hence use wind energy to power the mosque, reducing by one third the typical cost of such a building. The mosque is proposed to be 1300 square meters large and would cost some 2.5 million euros to build.

3.  An Islamic center in Mulhouse, France

This ambitious Islamic center proposes to include all of the following facilities: a large prayer hall, a multi-purpose room, a media library, an exposition hall, a reception room, ten classrooms, a children’s learning playroom, a computer room, a gym, a swimming pool, a sauna, a Jacuzzi, and a traditional “hammam” (Turkish bath). And in order to help the project achieve financial independence, the plan also calls for a minimarket, a halal-meat butchery, a travel agency, a hair salon, and more.

The project is estimated to cost 11.2 million euros. Almost half of that is reported to have been raised. It is hoped that the center will be completed and ready to open for Ramadan (July) 2012.

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by Salman Hameed

Need to say no more. Just watch the these four minutes of video and hope it will reduce a bit of our anthropocentric thinking - at least for a little while. This is a perfect call for the preservation of our planet. Enjoy.

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This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah and is the author of Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science.

The theme of “Islam and the Environment” has recently gained much popularity, both at the general-public level and with Muslim scholars and institutions. Many conferences on the topic have been taking place: in Turkey in 2009, in Indonesia and in Jordan in 2010, and in Algeria over the next few days; in fact, I am headed to Algeria to take part in the latest one, organized by the High Islamic Council there. Several books have also been published, in Arabic and English (and quite certainly in other languages too), among them, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin’s ‘Green Deen: what Islam teaches about protecting the planet’, which Salman blogged about last December, with excerpts from an interview with the author.

I really don’t know what to expect at the Algiers conference on Islam and the Environment; I don’t even have the program yet. I am told an international ensemble of speakers will be present, and this type of conference is always heavily covered by the local media (being organized by the highly official High Islamic Council). I will report back later on the main themes and highlights; hopefully there will be some serious discussions, not the usual “Islam is great on this issue, and the only problem is that we are not following its teachings” type of discourse. As always, my presentation will be somewhat critical, but I’ll save my views until I’ve attended and listened to others.

In the meantime, I tried to do my homework, so I read a couple of book and a bunch of articles on the topic, including two books in English: ‘Green Deen’ and ‘Islam and the Environment’, a volume edited by Harfiyah Abdel Haleem, including contributions by scholars like Seyyed H. Nasr.

As a bi-product of my research, I published a review of ‘Green Deen’ in Gulfnews, the large-circulation English-language newspaper in the UAE and the Gulf. The editors chose to title the piece “Islamic route to conservation”. Here are excerpts from it:

The author quickly reminds us that "deen" is the Arabic/Islamic term for religion, path or way of life, thus "green deen" is "living and practicing Islam while honouring the principles that connect humans to protecting the planet". He insists that he is not a scholar and that his book is not a treatment of how the Quran and the hadith address our interaction with Earth (although I counted more than 30 verses in the book), but presents the Islamic principles which, in his view, (should) govern our day-to-day relationship with the world: tawhid, which he defines as "Oneness of God and His creation"; ayat, the signs of God that are to be seen everywhere; khilafah, humanity's stewardship of Earth; amana, the trust we must honour with God; adl, the justice we must apply to everything; and mizan, the balance of nature we must uphold.

Abdul-Matin then sets out to apply these principles to various environmental topics, always relating them to people's day-to-day situations, often telling stories of how Muslims in the United States have been dealing with such issues. The book is thus divided into four parts — waste, watts, water and food — each with three or four chapters.

…

On some topics he [was] very effective but on others I was not totally satisfied with his approach…

Let me mention some of the great ideas that Abdul-Matin presents. Most notably, there was the whole "eco-mosque" idea… On each topic the author cites real examples, thus driving home the point that these steps can be (and have been) implemented and made to succeed. For example, he tells us that the holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah recycle water for wudu (ablution), Muslim scholars having authorised it, and important mosques from Arizona to Indonesia have been designed to be environmentally friendly.

I was less convinced by other views of the author, particularly his tendency to oversimplify some Islamic principles to make them applicable to the environment. For example, he has stretched the concept of tawhid to "human beings and the planet are One [tawhid]" (page 43), "we are the environment [tawhid]" (page 114) and "everything has a relationship with water" (page 118) … Likewise, he has used the hadith "the whole earth has been made a mosque for me" to insist that "everything is [thus] sacred".

You can read the whole review here.

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by Salman Hameed

One of the advantages of attending conferences is that you get to meet other academics and researchers who are working in related areas. At the AAAS meeting last week, I had a chance to meet Naser Faruqui, the director of science policy at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada (yes, they still insist on spelling "center" the wrong way :) ). The meeting ended up being a bit odd, as we ended up spending the entire time waiting in line to get coffee - which we eventually did. During this coffee wait, I found out that he is involved with The Atlas of Islamic-World Science and Innovation. This promises to be a fantastic resource and is expected to chart the interplay of science, culture, and politics in 15 OIC countries. Eight organizations are involved in the project, including IDRC, The Royal Society, The British Council, Qatar Foundation, etc. and case studies of Malaysia, Pakistan and Qatar are already underway. Since Malaysia and Pakistan are also part of our own study of perceptions regarding evolution in the Muslim world, this resource will be of enormous help!

But as it turns out, Naser Faruqui also had an oped piece, Turning on the Light of Muslim Science, in yesterday's The Globe and Mail. He brings up the point that the current happenings in Tunisia and Egypt provide an opportunity to "improve the prospects for harnessing science and its values to advance sustainable and equitable development, openness and democracy in the Islamic world". He makes three key recommendations - and what I like about them is that they emphasize on taking advantage of local conditions as well as keeping an eye on the impact on the society as a whole. And of course, the emphasis on social science is absolutely essential:

Investment in science by developing countries helps alleviate poverty and foster openness – but these improvements take time. Many countries with strong R&D sectors can also be authoritarian. Sometimes, periods of military rule can be more supportive of science than periods of democracy. Science, for all its benefits, is no guarantee of development and democracy.

So how can science be pursued in a way that leads to multidimensional development, including economic gains but also greater transparency, voice and freedom? Naturally, scientific rigour is essential, but three other principles are important.

First, science must be local. The best way to achieve sustainable and equitable development is to build homegrown capacity to do research. Rather than importing scientific know-how, people can, with help, acquire the skills they need to solve their own problems – and reduce their dependence on foreign aid.

Second, science must be multidisciplinary. Research for development demands a range of approaches, which should be focused on solving socioeconomic problems with natural or engineering ones. In other words, the social sciences – which tend to be neglected in developing countries, including Muslim ones – are as crucial to success as the natural or applied sciences.

And third, science must pursue equity and inclusiveness alongside growth. While it’s essential to use science to promote growth and competitiveness, it’s not enough. Many countries that have grown this way have widened the disparities between rich and poor. The solution is to choose science, technology and innovation paths that will benefit society as a whole, not just a narrow elite.

Read the full article here. For a fantastic example of local and environmentally friendly science, check out this earlier post on Eco-Islam and a "green Imam" in Tanzania. 

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This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah

Readers of Irtiqa may recall a post last March where Salman, referring to a BBC Radio 4 report, had highlighted the important Abu Dhabi Masdar project: Masdar - Abu Dhabi: The Silicon Valley of Renewable Energy?

Indeed, this is a hugely ambitious project, where a whole city (of 45,000 residents plus 45,000 commuters) is supposed to be “zero-carbon”, or at least “carbon-neutral”. Zero-carbon means no production of carbon dioxide at all, so no traditional cars, no fuel burning, all energy essentially solar or “clean”; carbon-neutral means that any carbon dioxide produced in the city needs to be compensated for, say by trees that will be absorb an equal amount. And anyone who has lived in this part of the world knows how close to impossible this is going to be, for the energy requirements of life (the constant heat requiring 24-hour air conditioning some 10 months in the year, cars are used even for very short distances, etc.). And knowing the current low-efficiency of solar cells or other alternative-energy apparatuses, the investment in large solar panels and such is going to be horrendous. Add to that the very smart designs needed for the whole city, taking into account the non-usage of (traditional) cars, and you get a brand new kind of city and life, one which may challenge even the most patient and environmentally committed amongst us.

All this has been noted by various observers. What I would like to mention today is the graduate-level institute which goes with the project: the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST, or Masdar Institute for short), which is a Master’s and Doctorate-level institution, highly research-oriented and focused on alternative energy, sustainability, and the environment. It established a partnership with the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which provides “scholarly assessment and advice”. The Masdar institute, which aims at serving the bigger Masdar City project and provide pioneering graduates who can produce new solution for urban life of a new, environment-friendly life, opened its doors in September 2009 to 88 students, and added about 100 others in September 2010.

So where’s the novelty, you may be asking, if this institute has been in operation for 16 months, has a small number of students (see their fields of study here), and has not graduated anyone yet or produced any publicized new “solutions”? Well, the new development is that last year everyone was housed temporarily in a building downtown Abu Dhabi, but this past September everyone moved to the new “zero-carbon campus”, and a few days ago, Gulfnews (the largest English-language daily in the Gulf) published a long story about life in such a different environment, interviewing some students and faculty members.

Here are a few highlights of the place and its lifestyle (from the Gulfnews article):

·      MIST “is fully powered by solar energy. A 10-megawatt solar power plant, the largest in the region, generates clean energy to support the ongoing construction activities at Masdar City and power the institute. The plant produces excess energy, which goes into the Abu Dhabi grid. Another 1-megawatt solar-power system has been built on the roof of the Masdar Institute buildings, which provides up to 30 per cent of the buildings' overall energy requirements every year.”

·    “It is car-free. Students who don't live on campus have to park their cars in designated parking lots outside the borders of the city and then walk, bike or jump on the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) to get around. The PRT, an electrically powered driverless car, can carry up to four people and goes at a speed of up to 40 km/h.”

I think this is an interesting experiment, which degree of success will have to be measured in a few years and beyond. The cost of Masdar City, initially estimated at $22 billion, has now been revised to some $16 billion. One may guess that the cost of the Institute alone (construction and operation) may reach around a billion dollars. It remains to be seen whether the returns, over ten years, from that investment, returns in the form of the high education of, say, a thousand M.Sc. and Ph.D. holders in (important) fields like Environmental Engineering, Materials Science, and Engineering Systems and Management, as well as various innovations (patents) and research results, will be judged to be substantial enough to justify the costs. As to the carbon-neutral, zero-waste city, it is not expected to be completed before 2025; who knows what may happen between now and then.

 On a more modest note, my university recently announced that starting next semester, the whole campus will be smoke-free, both inside and outside buildings, except parking lots and areas next to living quarters. Smoking was, until now, not allowed inside buildings only. The administration cited two main reasons for the new law: a) passive or second-hand smoking, even in small amounts, causes health problems for non-smokers; b) campus cleanliness (some smokers extinguishing their cigarettes on buildings or dropping the butts on the ground, leading to permanent disfiguration of buildings and a trashy appearance of the campus). I can only applaud.

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There is definite traction in this idea. In the past I have posted about Eco-Islam in Tanzania, a conference on environmental Islam, and about plans for a green city near Abu Dhabi. There is now a new book out titled,  Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, where the topic of Islam and environmentalism is dealt more directly. Hers is an excerpt from an interview with the author:

What does Green Deen mean?

Green has become the catch-all word for being environmentally friendly. Deen in Arabic means religion but can also be translated to path or way. So a green deen is literally an environmentally friendly religion.

I use green deen to also mean finding inspiration in one’s faith to become more conscious about humanity’s effects on the planet. Islam is a green deen in many ways. First and foremost, Islam recognizes that while God is all-powerful, humans can and do impact the Earth.

Therefore, Islam provides guidance by way of the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) on how to make that impact positive. This is basically what my book is about - what Islam teaches about protecting the planet.

...

How does your book contribute to changing perceptions of American Muslims?

 This is a core mission of my book. Look, everyone wants to know where the moderate Muslims are. They’re everywhere. They go to work, they go to school. Frankly, they’re boring - which is why the media doesn’t do any stories about them.  Why would CNN do a story on Ali the doctor who spends his evenings watching ESPN?

So I’m creating the story by writing this book. I’m highlighting Sarah the Muslim who believes in recycling. As more and more Muslims come forward, describing the positive ways they are contributing to society - and they are, they’re just not advertising it - I believe people will stop focusing on the tiny percentage of Muslims who are extremists.

I hope my book will re-label Muslims from terrorist to activist or, even better, environmentalists. I want Muslims to be known as the people who save water.

Read the full interview here.

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I have recently couple of posts about some positive environmental movements in the Muslim world (see here, here and here). This narrative of environmental protection resonates well within the Islamic contact and Green Islam can not only really take-off, but with a billion Muslims worldwide, it can have a significant impact on the planet. On the thoughtful 13.7: Cosmos & Culture blog, Marcelo Gleiser suggests that spiritual ecology may be one way of moving beyond the tried old debates regarding science & religion. He considers preservation of life as a moral universal, and from their to the preservation of the planet:

Life here is not restricted to humans. Once we realize how deeply our existence depends on the planet that we inhabit, we understand that we must act to preserve all life forms. The moral universal of life necessarily leads to a spiritual ecology whereby we, as the dominant species in this world, act as guardians of life. So, the spiritual dimension that is so important to us humans finds expression in our devotion to our planet and its life forms.

This sense of spiritual connection with Nature is celebrated both in science and religion. From Einstein to Saint Teresa of Ávila, there is universal agreement that the world is sacred in a very fundamental way. Perhaps the success of the movie Avatar is an expression of the growing need to find common ground for humanity based on the preservation of the planet and, of course, ourselves.

People may have other ideas in mind for what a possible moral universal is. But whatever they are, it’s hard to see any more basic than the respect for life and the planet that so spectacularly harbors it.

Okay - but I hope he doesn't put too much stock in the hokey/noble-savage environmentalism depicted in Avatar (I think a world where people sit next to a tree singing that awful song may not be worth saving after all :) ). Nevertheless, this is a case where Islam and science can have a mutually beneficial interaction.

Read the full post by Marcelo Gleiser here.

See related posts:
Eco-Islam and a "Green Imam" in Tanzania
Green Muslims
Masdar - Abu Dhabi: The Silicon Valley of Renewable Energy?
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I have posted earlier about several movements that are using religion (in this case - Islam) to teach and practice environmentalism. For example, check out this post from a few months ago: Green Muslims. Now PRI has a story about an island off the eastern coast of Africa, where its inhabitants are using Islam to foster better environmental habits. I think a green movement within Islam has a real potential of taking off, and apart from a good PR move, it may also have a good, positive impact on the climate. But there is one thing I found fascinating in this story: The locals on the island were suspicious when the environmental message was seen as coming from the "west". They suspected a hidden agenda associated with it. However, when it was reframed as something already in the Qur'an, then the support went up. Well, this is something we worry about scientific concepts as well - especially for something like biological evolution. When Muslim scholars accept evolution, they often appropriate the concept and either assign it to medieval Muslim scholars of the 12th and 13th centuries or find supporting verses in the Qur'an. While there are problems with these approaches, perhaps another way would be to highlight the works of Muslim evolutionary biologists & paleontologists, as well as pointing to important evolutionary discoveries on the territories belonging to Muslim countries - such as the recently discovered primate fossil from Saudi Arabia.

In any case, listen to the PRI story here (it is about 5 min long):

Green is the color commonly associated with Islam and some scholars say the Koran also commands Muslims to be green in the modern environmental sense. In East Africa, a development project using Islamic ethics has taught locals the Koranic imperatives of conserving natural resources. Some say eco-Islam has taken root. From Pemba Island in Tanzania, Matthew Brunwasser reports. 

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Here is a fantastic short film (about 16min) by Ramin Bahrani. It is narrated by Werner Herzog - and, as expected, he does it in a hauntingly beautiful way (I would find even stock numbers riveting, if Herzog was reading them). I have seen only one film by Bahrani: Goodbye Solo - and I really liked it (Skip this one if you are looking for action. But rent it if you like dramas that are subtle in their exploration of ordinary lives). Ebert, by the way, calls Bahrani the new great American director and placed his movie, Chop Shop, amongst the best movies of the past decade. Not bad!

Okay, lets turn to this short film, Plastic Bag. To set the stage, here is a short blurb that I liked from Killing the Buddha:

For those in search of eternal life, this short film by American director Ramin Bahrani, and enticingly narrated by Werner Herzog, will make you pause. For those on a fruitless quest to find your Maker, you will find solace. For those who believe in the Vortex, all will be revealed. For those about to do a little Sunday afternoon grocery shopping, maybe you should think about cloth.

Do watch the whole thing - the story takes many twists and turns. Here it is:

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There are many Evangelical Christians who are also concerned about the environment. In fact, E.O. Wilson has formed fruitful collaborations with several Evangelical groups in the US in dealing with the issue of climate change (also see Why are young Evangelicals more likely to link their beliefs with environmentalism?). It seems that Muslims are also moving in this direction - and I can see how this can become a significant environmental movement. A conference in Indonesia beginning at the end of this week will address some of these issues, including that of a "green Hajj":

Muslim community representatives from 17 countries will hold an international conference on climate change to hash out tangible action to tackle global warming, including through the “green haj” concept.

The April 9-10 conference in Bogor will feature around 200 participants, including 90 from Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia.

“This is an action-oriented conference to motivate Muslims to protect the planet from the threat of global warming,” organizing committee member Ismet Hadad said Monday.

“We want to show the world that Muslims are also doing their part to combat climate change, which affects all people regardless of religious or ethnic background.”

The conference will be held at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture’s convention center, and will be funded in part by Conservation Inter-national.

Here are some specifics from last year's meeting in Istanbul:

At last year’s meeting in Istanbul, the conference adopted the “Muslim seven-year action plan for climate change”.

The plan includes proposals for a more environmentally management of the annual haj, eco-friendly mosques and publishing the Koran with paper from sustainable forests.

Ahmad Fauzi, the Forestry Ministry’s liaison for the conference, said organizers expected to come up with concrete results on how to implement the proposals agreed on in Turkey.

He said one of the more ambitious targets was the “green haj”, in which haj pilgrims would be encouraged to minimize and offset their carbon footprints from the pilgrimage.

Well...yes, greening the Hajj alone would be a significant step. After all, 2.5 million people join for Hajj each year - plus, numerous others visit Mecca throughout the year for Umrah, the non-Hajj pilgrimage. One of the measures being considered is to phase out the use of plastic bottles throughout the Hajj. A small step - but with a big impact. Similarly, there are ideas around building green mosques, i.e. mosques with energy-saving designs. Under normal circumstances, the prospects for the implementation of such ideas appear small. However, this is topic, if framed properly, can really resonate well with the larger Muslim population. It is hip, modern, and consistent with the way mainstream Muslims interpret the Qur'an. Also see this earlier post about Abu Dhabi's Masdar City - a planned zero-carbon eco-city.

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