Spirit Green Al-Maun for 'Greening' Muhammadiyah

JAKARTA -- Indonesia revealed to be an occupying country ranked fifth out of the seven largest gas-emitting contributing countries. This fact, said Deputy Chairman of MLH PP Muhammadiyah Hening Parlan, shows that today's environmental problems have shifted from climate change to climate crisis.

The meaning of crisis here refers to the ever greater warming of the earth and the enormous amount of damage caused by humans. According to Hening, the loss not only caused material losses that touched Rp 100 trillion, but also affected the quality of life of people. Therefore, Hening called for Muhammadiyah to contribute more massively in preserving the environment.

“Building the green movement is important in an era of climate crisis. Hydrometerological disasters are getting bigger and have an impact on people's quality of life such as declining incomes, to other social problems in society. So Muhammadiyah should contribute more,” Hening said while speaking in the second series study on “Building the Green Movement of Muhammadiyah” on Wednesday (20/3/2024).

Muhammadiyah has reviewed the anticipation of the impact of the climate crisis at the 47th Muktamar in 2015 on the importance of renewable energy. But according to Hening, as a moderate movement Muhammadiyah needed to bring the spirit of Al-Ma'un to the environmental movements.

The Green al-Ma'un movement became a response to human neglect of the environmental issue. According to Hening, the spirit is built on three basic values: believers who behave in the care of nature, a multidisciplinary approach to addressing environmental problems and a congregational approach to addressing environmental problems. This can start a green lifestyle from small circles in families, communities and Muhammadiyah Charities in various sectors.

“The spirit green of Al-Ma'un comes as a response to humanity's neglect of environmental problems. Muhammadiyah has thousands of Charitable Enterprises in various sectors. Green Al-Ma'un can be started from there consistently,” Hening said.

Environmental criminal law expert Yeni Widyowati also called on the community to remember the close link between Islam and the environment. This connection needs to be realized with the many verses of the Qur'an that call on Muslims to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. According to Yeni, this month of Ramadan is a good time to maximize eco-friendly living behaviors.

“We must apply environmentally friendly personalities and behaviors in Ramadan. Islam and environmentalism are closely related to some environmental verses such as Al-A'raf verse 56 and Ar-Rum verse 41. Ramadan is an ideal moment to enhance habluminallah and habluminannas (In the context of nature and environment)” said Yeni, who is also a member of MLH PP Muhammadiyah in the same event.

In his presentation, Yeni also highlighted the increasing environmental problems such as increased waste, water use and electricity consumption. Yeni said that the problem of garbage becomes very important because the process of daily waste decomposition spans 50 to 600 years. Hence the importance of efforts to educate the public regarding effective waste management. “The problem of garbage is very important because the decomposition process takes 50 to 600 years. Therefore, the need for education on waste management starts from how to select and sort the goods consumed,” Yeni said.