This fall we were pleased to welcome Muna Rehman and the group Green Muslims into the Park for a lesson on climate change. Green Muslims, a DC-area faith-based non-profit is focused on raising awareness about environmentalism in the Muslim community.

Muna Rehman, Photo by Ambreen Tariq

The group provides resources on the connection between Islamic tradition and scripture and environmental stewardship; and organizes programs for Muslim youth to engage them in the “green” movement, and advocate for environmental justice locally and globally. After our lesson we had the chance to talk to Muna a little bit more about her work with the group:

What is your role within Green Muslims?

My role at Green Muslims is to design engaging programs for Muslim youth. Twice a year, a strong team of specialists, facilitators, volunteers, and our board members collaboratively organize our Green Muslims flagship program, Our Deen is Green (ODIG), targeting different ages groups in the spring and the fall (“Deen” translates to “Religion” in Arabic).

 Photo by Ambreen Tariq

What was it like to collaborate on a climate change mitigation lesson in Dumbarton Oaks Park?

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to run ODIG at Dumbarton Oaks Park. It was the perfect place for a lesson on climate change mitigation in DC. It has such a beautiful story that touches upon the themes of community, conservation and resilience. These are themes that I think are important to reflect upon when thinking about climate change mitigation. Alisha and I had good synergy and complementing visions so this made planning the lesson very intuitive and executing it very easy. I couldn’t have imagined a better venue than Dumbarton Oaks Park for the reflections, hike, tree planting and the “next steps” activities that we did. Also, the fall weather and aesthetics around this time of the year in the Park were a highlight for all of the Green Muslims volunteers and participants. For many of us, it was our first time in the park, but we couldn’t get enough of DC’s hidden gem. Many members have already gone back to explore some more. Mission accomplished.

Students from Green Muslims Gather for a Lesson on Climate Change, Photo by Ambreen Tariq