‘Greening Canadian Mosques’ project receives funding from Olive Tree Foundation
(TORONTO) - The Olive Tree Foundation has announced that a grant has been awarded to Faith & the Common Good and EnviroMuslims for the project, Greening Canadian Mosques: Climate Conversations.
The project is the next phase of the initial Greening Canadian Mosques (GCM) program, which resulted in the development of a detailed toolkit and communications package for Canadian mosques to utilize.
Greening Canadian Mosques: Climate Conversations, aims to bring the toolkit and communications package to mosques across the country by introducing a GCM Community Ambassador program, as well as providing Muslim leaders and community members with access to webinars that align with the teachings of the toolkit.
“Faith & the Common Good and EnviroMuslims are grateful to Olive Tree Foundation for their continued support of our Greening Canadian Mosques program,” Michelle Singh, Executive Director, Faith & the Common Good. “Funding for this next phase of the program will give Imams, mosque management teams and youth the opportunity to apply environmental sustainability knowledge into direct climate action.”
“Thanks to our funders, we anticipate an increase in engagement beyond our initial cohort, with a broader reach that includes youth leaders from Canadian universities and colleges, sharing innovative solutions, best practices and challenges across a range of platforms.”
In a recent survey conducted by EnviroMuslims, 98.5% of Canadian Muslims surveyed indicated they agreed that mosques have an important role to play in inspiring the Muslim community to care for nature.
In addition to this, 98.5% indicated that they would like for their local mosque to join a program that helps them to become more environmentally friendly by using resources efficiently and reducing costs.
These statistics make it clear that Canadian Muslims are not only interested in taking climate action themselves, but also see their mosques, imams, and community leaders as being responsible for championing change within their communities.
"The Olive Tree Foundation is very pleased to fund this next phase of the ‘Greening Canadian Mosques’ project and support the important work of Faith & the Common Good and EnviroMuslims,” says Muneeb Nasir, Chair of the Olive Tree Foundation, in announcing the grant. "Climate action is a priority area for the Foundation. We are pleased that this project will engage and educate, both management and members of mosques, in environmentally responsible behaviours and hopefully result in a better, more sustainable planet."
The Olive Tree Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that promotes community development through the collection of endowed funds and charitable contributions to fund services for the long-term benefit of the community.
Faith & the Common Good (FCG) is a national, interfaith charitable network dedicated to assisting and inspiring religious congregations and spiritual groups of all backgrounds to take collective action in creating more sustainable communities.
