The green movement has been growing at a very fast pace over the past year, not only in Malta but worldwide. In some countries the change is more noticeable than in others. We all have one thing in common - the change starts with ‘one’. It can be one thought, one person or one event. Nothing changes overnight, certainly not a big scale change.

It feels like the word ‘long-term’ is basically invisible in Malta. Many of us aren’t patient enough, but demand instant change or we give up. Nor are we often willing to give up our time for a change we might not benefit from. I guess it’s a sad human attribute - we want to be part of the end result or we won’t be motivated enough.

For every cleanup I do, or whatever post I publish online, there will be people telling me that I can give up; ‘nothing will change, the battle is lost,’ and this is where it gets interesting. What are they basing the “Nothing will change” on? Why is it that I feel that we have never taken bigger steps forward while others, living on the same little rock in the middle of the Mediterranean, feel the total opposite?

Working within the customer support industry, my first lesson to be learnt was that humans act and speak based on their own experience first and foremost when feeling upset or frustrated. Some individuals may take a step back and evaluate the situation, but they are usually an exception.

Everyone has, at times misjudged a situation and as long as we are aware that we do judge, and rethink our decisions with this in mind, we can turn things around.

I try my best to be transparent and inform people about the steps forward in my environmental fight, as well as the steps backwards. Social Media however is selective by default and my message will not reach everyone, no matter how much I wish for it to do so. That doesn’t mean that the fight is lost.  

When I started my movement 7 years ago, I had an average of four people joining my cleanups and the first couple of years I received no emails or messages. At the beginning of last year I had about 20 messages monthly from people and companies about how to recycle and how to take part in cleanups. This year we are talking about hundreds of messages, weekly. This is how fast the demand and curiosity is growing, behind the scenes.

So the last step we are now looking at is in what way we can highlight this growth of interest and actions to make people see the change with their own eyes. That view will for sure motivate many - it indeed motivated me, to keep the fight up.

We need to understand that when we are negative and generalise before we have all information, we do a great deal of harm. Not only do we spread the negative feeling but we also harm the ones actually trying to do good.

I don’t think many of us would stay in a role where we fight day and night for good changes to happen, trying to convince our colleagues to do the same, and then we only get bad and judgmental comments based on what others in our company do. This is a big issue world-wide, but in Malta being very partisan and a place where everyone seem to know everyone, I personally find this behaviour more concentrated.

Malta Clean Up has always made sure to have a positive mindset and communicating with respect no matter if opinions differ. Constructive feedback is needed but it has to address the correct person and with a correct way of communicating to get the result wanted. When you fail in doing so, re-evaluate what went wrong and try again with different method.

So, is a cleanup event a waste of time?

It is by far a solution with direct effect. What I can assure you is that the people seeing a cleanup happening will be effected in one way or another. During the cleanups we teach each other how to sort the waste, how the waste system works in Malta and also how to live a more sustainable life. The most important impact a cleanup event has, is the buildup of a community based on civic pride, something you can’t buy for money.

I am not religious but Oscar Romero’s Prayer, sent to me by a friend concludes this pretty well;

“This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise… We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker”