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Academic Essay
How can Muslims Contribute to Tackling Climate Change?
The climate crisis has become an increasingly important issue, both for individuals and in global politics. However, whilst Western environmentalism was born in response to industrialisation, Islam has arguably been environmentally conscious since its foundation due to Man’s role as khalifah of the Earth — it is therefore incumbent upon Muslims to contribute to solving climate change. However, all of the high and upper-middle income countries in the Muslim World are crude oil producers and dependent on non-renewable energy and, whilst Islamic leaders have appealed to these rich oil-producing nations to lead emissions cuts, only three have improved environmental performance.
Furthermore, environmental concerns only began to arise with the onset of the industrial revolution, compounded by the exploitation of foreign resources through colonialism. This continues today through the exploitation of resources (crude oil, mining) and people (manufacturing), as well as through uneven development caused by market forces. Indeed, Dien states that environmental threats to the Middle East only started “when the [Western] ‘modern’ material philosophy was brought in”. Therefore, whilst all countries have a part to play in tackling environmental concerns, the level of responsibility is debatable as the uneven power…
