The Great Big Green Week – 2025
Faith, Fear & Resilience: Muslim Communities at the Heart of the Climate & Mental Health Crisis
By | Muslim Mind Collaborative (MMC) | Great Big Green Week 2025
As the climate crisis deepens, its impacts are no longer just physical. From floods that swallow homes to droughts that steal livelihoods, the planet’s pain is mirrored in our own, particularly in our mental and emotional well-being. The scars of environmental injustice are not just seen, they are felt. Within the UK, Muslim communities, already grappling with structural racism, poverty, and marginalisation, face compounded challenges in this crisis.
This Great Big Green Week, we at Muslim Mind Collaborative (MMC) is shining a light on a truth too often ignored: climate change is a mental health crisis and it’s already reshaping the emotional and spiritual lives of Muslim communities, particularly in the UK.
Experiencing the Climate Crisis: From Devastation to Displacement
The impacts of the climate crisis are not evenly distributed, and while countries like Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, and Palestine bear the brunt of environmental devastation, Muslim communities in the UK are also significantly impacted.
In 2022, 33 million people in Pakistan were displaced by unprecedented flooding. In Gaza, an ongoing genocide combined with environmental apartheid has led to extreme water scarcity, with only 1 in 10 people able to access safe drinking water. These aren’t just environmental catastrophes, they are human ones, and their emotional toll is felt globally. Muslim communities here face the compounded burden of structural inequalities, including overcrowded urban living conditions and high exposure to pollution, exacerbating the mental health impacts of the climate crisis.
In the UK, where many Muslims live in urban areas with air pollution, overcrowding, and limited green spaces, the emotional toll of environmental degradation is amplified. In addition to the physical impacts of climate change, climate anxiety is a growing concern, particularly among young Muslims who are navigating not only the climate crisis but also social and economic challenges.
Climate Justice Must Include Mental Health
In the UK, 70% of children are worried about the world they will inherit, and 60% say climate change and inequality are already affecting their mental health. These feelings are even more intense in communities already navigating poverty, structural racism, and exclusion. Muslim communities, particularly in urban areas, are disproportionately affected by environmental stressors, yet mental health rarely figures into the climate conversation.
At MMC, we believe that climate justice must be paired with mental health justice. It is essential that we recognise the intersection of environmental justice and mental wellbeing, ensuring that mental health services are integrated into climate action.
Faith as Resilience: Islam’s Role in Climate Action and Stewardship
Islam teaches us that caring for the Earth is an act of worship, and caring for one another is a duty. In times of crisis, it is our faith that becomes a wellspring of resilience.
Across Muslim communities in the UK, faith-driven action has emerged in response to the crisis: planting trees as sadaqah, organising mutual aid networks, and finding spiritual meaning in environmental stewardship. The principles of balance (mizan), responsibility (khilafah), and compassion (rahma) are guiding a new generation of Muslims toward climate justice – not just as activism, but as worship. Faith offers both a framework for tackling the crisis and a source of healing in the face of mental distress.
In the face of eco-anxiety, faith also provides a language for grief, healing, and collective hope. It reminds us that we are not alone, and that small acts of care for the Earth and for ourselves can make a profound difference.
Great Big Green Week: Our Campaign for Climate & Mental Health Justice
This Great Big Green Week, MMC is amplifying the voices of those most impacted in the climate conversation. Through digital campaigns, partnerships with grassroots Muslim organisations, and community-led actions, we’re highlighting:
- The mental health impacts of environmental injustice
- The leadership of young Muslims rising to meet the climate challenge
- The role of faith in building emotional and environmental resilience
We’re asking:
How can we better support communities facing the dual burden of climate collapse and mental distress?
How do we ensure young Muslim voices are heard and empowered in the fight for a livable future?
Because climate justice starts by listening to young minds, and true healing begins when we bring faith, mental health, and climate action into one unified vision of justice.
Conclusion
The climate crisis is testing our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. But it’s also offering an opportunity: to redefine climate action not just as saving the planet, but as saving our people especially those at the margins. Muslims, through faith, community, and resilience, have so much to offer the global conversation.
Together, we can protect the planet and nurture the minds that will inherit it.