A national election was won recently using the slogan “Yes, We Can!” These words sum up what we in Malta can and should do to promote a sustainable and green environment in our country. A noble purpose, yes! But also a way to create jobs by building a green economy, increase money in our purses and wallets by avoidance of waste and increasing the beauty of our environment in ways that prolong our lives. We can gain insight and competence, which we can export to small economies around us. We can wait for major initiatives. What we really should do is take on our Maltese shoulders the alignment of government, business and the individual in making something happen, now and quickly. Within the EU framework, we have the ability if we have the will, to make major inroads and seize opportunity. Here are some thoughts to ponder.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” The adage rings true for Malta today, as it has in other times of impending crisis in the islands. Our well being as a people is under threat. The daily message around the world of volatile financial markets, deteriorating consumer traffic in shops, strangling reduction in government funds, loss of jobs tells Malta that the challenge is with us.
Due to our small size, we are not masters of our destiny in many issues. One facet of our life we do control is our use of resources. The need to make environmental sustainability a top local priority now has increased. As a small island-country, we as a people have both the power and ability to manage the outcome. What we need is the commitment to change. Our size probably precludes us from creating the great invention that would transform the environmental world. However, our scale allows us to adopt many techniques from around the world to our environment and bring about productive change more quickly than a larger country, and potentially have something to show other small and emerging nations as they ponder this journey of change.
We Greens have been advocating a focus on sustainability for years on end now. From this effort, a consensus has been forming around the world and certainly within the EU that a commitment to sustainability is not only good for the environment, but also good for economics. The new Obama administration in the United States is using this time of immense economic turmoil to create a new industrial pillar for future growth.
Within the confines of our scale, the same opportunity exists for the Maltese Islands. We need to bring home this seriousness of purpose. Let us take water, for instance. Water is the scarcest resource known to man. It is extremely precious in Malta, the ninth driest country in the world. It is both expensive and scarce. We waste much, simply too much. We do not recycle on the ground. Our wise and old tradition of a “bir” (well) in every house is honoured by its neglect and much of our rainwater is lost. We make needed potable water through an intensive electrical process (reverse osmosis). Our sewage treatment plants simply pour the precious second-class water produced into the sea, when this could be used for agricultural or industrial purposes, creating various new green jobs for farmers, agronomists and vegetable vendors, as well as in the agro industry.
Some thoughts on how others have changed. Use “grey” (purified water already used in residential applications) water in agriculture, pools, landscape, and for domestic applications. Install grey water plumbing in our urban concentrations to provide water for flushing, perhaps showers and washing clothes.
This tallies well with our “Green New Deal”, since new jobs will be created. Such transformation will bring about with it new plumbing work at household and village/town level. The government should take advantage of the opportunity offered by the EU to reduce VAT on services, home repairs etc, and provide the tax incentives at national level to do so.
Manufacture, assemble and install small-scale pumps and reverse-osmosis filtration units to use rainwater saved in the bir for immediate household purposes. Expand the requirement for household rain reservoirs. All this will create green new jobs in our country not only for plumbers but also for all the industry that is connected to building renovation.
A Green New Deal will provide new jobs for many. Barak Obama is leading the way in the US. The European Greens will push a Green new deal in Europe. A Maltese Green in the European Parliament will help all Maltese and Gozitans to cry out forcefully: “Yes we can”.
[email protected]
www.alternattiva.org.mt
www.arnoldcassola.wordpress.com
Prof. Cassola is Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party and candidate in the next European Parliament elections.