The Role of Islamic Education in Promoting Environmental Awareness and Sustainable Economic Behavior Among Youth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70062/greeneconomics.v1i4.425Keywords:
Civic Education, Environmental Awareness, Ethical Responsibility, Islamic Education, Sustainable BehaviorAbstract
This study investigates the impact of Islamic education on promoting environmental awareness and sustainable economic behavior among youth. As environmental issues continue to pose significant global challenges, fostering eco-conscious behavior among the younger generation is essential for ensuring long-term sustainability. Islamic education, with its emphasis on ethical responsibility, stewardship, and accountability as outlined in the Quran and Hadith, provides a unique framework for shaping pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. This experimental study compares two groups of students: the treatment group exposed to green-Islamic content and the control group receiving general civic education. The research measures students' environmental awareness, knowledge of sustainability, and behavior before and after the intervention, using pre-test and post-test questionnaires, as well as qualitative interviews. The results indicate that the treatment group exhibited a significantly greater improvement in environmental awareness and sustainable behavior compared to the control group. These findings suggest that Islamic education, by integrating religious and ethical principles into environmental education, can effectively encourage sustainable behaviors such as resource conservation, waste management, and ethical consumption. The study highlights the importance of incorporating Islamic values into educational curricula as a means to foster a more environmentally responsible generation. Additionally, the research emphasizes the need for further studies to explore the long-term effects of eco-conscious Islamic education across different cultural and educational contexts. The results of this study contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the role of religious education in addressing global environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development.
References
Abdelzaher, D. M., Kotb, A., & Helfaya, A. (2019). Eco-Islam: Beyond the principles of why and what, and into the principles of how. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(3), 623–643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3518-2
Abdullahi, A. M., Hussein, H. A., Ahmed, M. Y., Hussein, O. A., & Warsame, A. A. (2024). The impact of education for sustainable development on university students’ sustainability behavior: A case study from undergraduate students in Somalia. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1413687. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1413687
Aulia, R. N., Abbas, H., Nurhattati, J., Jasin, F. M., & Mushlihin. (2024). Eco-pesantren modeling for environmentally friendly behavior: New lessons from Indonesia. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 13(1), 223–229. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v13i1.25930
Begum, A., Liu, J., Marwat, I. U. K., Khan, S., Han, H., & Ariza-Montes, A. (2021). Evaluating the impact of environmental education on ecologically friendly behavior of university students in Pakistan: The roles of environmental responsibility and Islamic values. Sustainability, 13(18), Article 10188. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810188
Borojević, T., Petrović, N., Radaković, J. A., Glomazić, H., Radojičić, M., Milenković, N., Maletič, D., & Maletič, M. (2023). Youth participation for sustainable value creation: The role and prioritization of SDGs. Sustainability, 15(23), Article 16456. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316456
Der-Karabetian, A., Cao, Y., & Alfaro, M. (2014). Sustainable behavior, perceived globalization impact, world-mindedness, identity, and perceived risk in college samples from the United States, China, and Taiwan. Ecopsychology, 6(4), 218–233. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2014.0035
Dwarapureddi, B. K., Dash, S., Garika, N. S., Raj, A., & Vara, S. (2021). Sustainable society with responsible consumption and production. In Handbook of research on novel practices and current successes in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 335–351). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8426-2.ch017
Ferkany, M. (2022). Education. In J. S. Dryzek, R. B. Norgaard, & D. Schlosberg (Eds.), The Routledge companion to environmental ethics (pp. 729–740). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315768090-72
Guinot, J. (2020). Changing the economic paradigm: Towards a sustainable business model. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 15(5), 603–610. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.150502
Hickman, G., & Riemer, M. (2016). A theory of engagement for fostering collective action in youth leading environmental change. Ecopsychology, 8(3), 167–173. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2016.0024
Krosinsky, C., & Cort, T. (2018). Introduction. In Sustainable innovation and impact (pp. 1–3). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351174824-1
Kryvokhyzha, Y., Komandrovska, V., Horiunova, K., Grytsyshen, D., Sergiienko, L., & Krap, A. (2023). The relationship between environmental issues and economic development: Transition to sustainable development of economic systems. Review of Economics and Finance, 21, 1497–1505. https://doi.org/10.55365/1923.x2023.21.165
Kurbiyanto, A., Yusmaliana, D., Fitriana, F., Altiarika, E., & Sabri, F. (2024). Environmental ethics in Islamic teachings: Discussing ethical principles in Islamic teachings that emphasize environmental protection and preservation. In World Sustainability Series (pp. 15–34). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8772-2_2
Lutfauziah, A., Al-Muhdhar, M. H. I., Suhadi, & Rohman, F. (2024). Does environmental education curriculum affect students’ environmental culture in Islamic boarding schools? Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental, 18(5), Article e05621. https://doi.org/10.24857/rgsa.v18n5-079
Martín-Ezpeleta, A., Martínez-Urbano, P., & Echegoyen-Sanz, Y. (2022). Let’s read green! A comparison between approaches in different disciplines to enhance preservice teachers’ environmental attitudes. Environmental Education Research, 28(6), 886–906. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2050186
Maulida, S. S., Nursaniah, C., & Sari, L. H. (2024). Study of implementation of the eco-pesantren concept at Dayah Terpadu Inshafuddin, Banda Aceh. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1290(1), Article 012037. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1290/1/012037
Muchlis, A. F., Larasati, D., Hanifah, Y., Ningsih, A. A., & Triyuly, W. (2024). Sustainability goals: A network analysis of religious values for architecture education and ethics. Journal of Islamic Architecture, 8(2), 515–529. https://doi.org/10.18860/jia.v8i2.24196
Muhamad, A., Khalil, S. A., Basir, S. A., & Norasid, M. A. (2024). Instilling Islamic values of environmental sustainability through experiential learning: A case study of revealed knowledge and natural phenomena’s students. Asia Pacific Journal of Educators and Education, 39(2), 219–248. https://doi.org/10.21315/apjee2024.39.2.12
Muhamad, A., Syihab, A. H., & Ibrahim, A. H. (2020). Preserving human–nature’s interaction for sustainability: Quran and Sunnah perspective. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(2), 1053–1066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-020-00192-7
Pažėraitė, A., & Kunskaja, S. (2023). Consumption behavior in the context of sustainable energy: Theoretical approach. In Springer proceedings in earth and environmental sciences (pp. 77–85). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25840-4_11
Riemer, M., Voorhees, C., Dittmer, L., Alisat, S., Alam, N., Sayal, R., Bidisha, S. H., De Souza, A., Lynes, J., Metternich, A., Mugagga, F., & Schweizer-Ries, P. (2016). The Youth Leading Environmental Change Project: A mixed-method longitudinal study across six countries. Ecopsychology, 8(3), 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2016.0025
Scheersoi, A., & Gebhard, U. (2020). Ecology and nature references in environmental education. Natur und Landschaft, 95(9–10), 433–441. https://doi.org/10.17433/9.2020.50153843.433-441
Shovkhalov, S. (2024). Islamic economic principles and their contributions to ecological sustainability and green economy development. E3S Web of Conferences, 541, Article 04009. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202454104009
Shutaleva, A. (2023). Experiential learning as principle of environmental education. E3S Web of Conferences, 420, Article 10010. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202342010010
Verachtert, S., & Stiers, D. (2024). The heterogeneous effects of an education for sustainable development intervention in schools: Evidence from a Belgian panel study. Environmental Education Research, 30(3), 462–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2128062
