Climate Changing Fast!

“Fast and be healthy,” said the Prophet Muhammad PBUH (summu tasihu, in Arabic). The obvious implication being that overeating is bad for our health. Who can argue with that? But much as overeating can sicken the body, over-consumption can sicken the earth. Case in point, the climate crisis.

We are harming ourselves and the world around us. That much is beyond doubt (more on the science). But can fasting change this? Can we heal our planet through fasting? I believe so. If we used fasting and prayer (read: introspection, reflection and under-consumption) as guides, then it would be clearer which of our actions would lead to healing and which would lead to harm. We need to heal ourselves and, in turn, the earth. We cannot heal one without healing the other.

Ramadan is the month when we should reflect on needing, using and being perfectly satisfied with less. Not just with less food and drink, but less of anything that isn’t absolutely necessary: less clothes, less gadgets, less miles traveled and less energy consumed. The point isn’t to become an emaciated and immobile ascetic, but to use this blessed month to reevaluate how much “weight” we’ve accumulated over the course of the year; in body, spirit, consumer goods and, of course, carbon dioxide emissions (Carbon Calculator).

Here are a few suggestions on reducing your carbon dioxide emissions (thanks to Allison Fisher, from GWIPL for developing much of this list):

1. Eat local food one meal a week. The average meal in the United States travels some 15,000 from the farm to our plates. By buying locally we will save fuel, carbon dioxide and help support our local farmers.
2. Go car free one day a week. By eliminating just 10 miles of driving a week, we can save 500 pounds of CO2 a year.
3. Change it up! By installing energy efficient appliances like light bulbs, refrigerators, and washing machines we can further help to cool the planet. If each household in the U.S. replaced its existing appliances with the most efficient models available, we’d eliminate 175 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
4. Join (or start!) the greening effort at our mosques and help green our communities.
5. Help advocate to elected officials for legislation which will help everyone reduce their impact on the climate.

I’ll end with a word on prayer. When the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was taught how to pray, the natural world (animate and inanimate alike) began to greet him with “salaam.” That greeting means much more than peace. It means wholeness and perfection. If we could hear what the plants and animals are saying to us (much like the prophets could), I believe they’d tell us that we are no longer whole and that nature needs us to be whole.