The natural environment is a heritage we must conserve and help improve, because it is intrinsically good and improves our quality of life and that of future generations. The proposed changes where land, which has up to now been a green area, is given a building permit will gobble up this heritage.

The government is doing good planting trees, trying to manage waste, and so on. But land and its natural habitat is our most precious asset. And it is not being conserved. To put it crudely, birds we can import, but the natural habitat no. The government's talk about taking care of the environment is just talk. The government's obsession with golf courses shows that it does not view our garigue as a rich natural habitat but as “wasteland”.

I wish to narrate a story to our government:

A king once had a dream. In the dream he saw a fat, portly mouse, a blind mouse and a thin, sickly mouse. He woke up confused and asked a wise man to explain the dream. The wise man said: “The fat mouse is your prime minister: he is feeding on the goods of the kingdom and the thin sickly mouse is your people who are not benefiting from the riches of your kingdom.” “And who is the blind mouse?” asked the king. “The blind mouse is you, my dear king.”

I also wish to say to the Church Authorities that in the interests of justice, since God destined the natural environment to ALL, including future generations, you should speak, even if you are weighed down by baggage.

Joe Portelli

NADUR