The global green agenda
This post is a copy of an opening address I made at the World Muslim Leadership Forum 2024. This was part of a panel discussion on ‘the global green agenda’.
Challenging the 'new normal'
We’re driven by a deep desire to change the world and challenge the ‘new normal’, throwaway culture. Similar to the panel discussion on future readiness, our focus is on our society. Whilst being future-ready for institutions is often centred around technology, our approach is very much the antithesis of that. We have become so heavily reliant on our click-of-a-button lifestyle, we forget how dependent we have become on a functioning infrastructure.
If there is a major world event, electricity, telecommunications, the internet – might be the first to go.
Practical skills
We wanted to become more resilient, and independent. We joked about how we would survive a zombie apocalypse, what skills would we need. Then COVID happened. It exposed how quickly things can go wrong and how fragile the global supply chains are.
There is a lack of practical life skills taught in schools. The generation of parents passing on practical skills has diminished considerably. Paralleled with the growing dependency on consumerism, we realised that the future of our children—and society at large—hinge on our ability to reconnect with the basics: growing our own food, building with our hands, and creating systems that don’t rely on constant consumption.
This is where permaculture plays a pivotal role, designing systems that mimic the natural world within an ethical structure. Having studied it, we came to see that the ethics are also deeply resonant of Islamic principles
Just start
With no land, no clear plan, and limited resources, we just started.
Whilst we never set out to be ‘preppers’, we sought to develop the kind of resilience that would help us navigate an uncertain future. We found a survival expert in the US and went up a mountain for a few days of intense training, and from there, we were hooked.
We rolled up our sleeves growing vegetables, raising chickens (including learning the hard skills of butchering), and keeping bees. This was a significant step for Pete – a vegetarian for 30+ years. He now only eats animals he’s on first name terms with.
We took the leap of slowly reducing our dependency on the commercial world—growing and selling our own products, exchanging our products for friendly labour, repairing clothes instead of buying new, and, above all, teaching our kids where their food comes from. This hands-on approach stuck. It became our way of life, and we know we want to take it further.
Community sufficiency
Self sufficiency however doesn’t really work long term because you realise very quickly you cannot have all the skills and there are not enough hours in the day. This is where community sufficiency is the answer.
Islam places great emphasis on social solidarity and collective responsibility. We feel that as Muslims we should be leading the drive towards community sufficiency, preparing people with skills beyond those needed for life as a corporate slave. We want permaculture to be firmly on the agenda and Muslim leadership to facilitate better learning.
This is just the beginning of a long and sometimes challenging journey, but we’re committed to proving that community sufficiency is not just a possibility—it’s a path that can be walked, one step at a time.