I would be the first to admit that the greening of Malta is no bad thing. More trees and less concrete I say. However my cynical side came to the fore amid the flurry of tree-planting events which took place in the year leading up to the elections. On the one hand I wanted to believe in this initiative but on the other I could see all the photo opportunities of a minister surrounded by little kids planting trees. I began to develop the same feelings of nausea I get when I see a politician kissing a baby. Sadly it appears that my cynical side had some basis in reality.

A friend who was staying in Manikata contacted me. The families here who are mostly farmers had been encouraged to contribute through their children’s schools to one of these tree-planting exercises. Hundreds of people had turned up to watch the excited children plant their own little trees and attach their name tags to them so they could go back again and see how their tree was doing.

Well they don’t have to go back, as according to my friend practically all the trees are dead. This was nothing more than a political stunt for the press which was staged at great expense to the government and significant expense to the parents who actually paid for the trees. The greatest price however was paid by the children whose innocence was shamelessly exploited in the name of vote fishing. For many of those children what could have led to a future love of their environment has been sadly crushed.

James A. Tyrrell,

Northern Ireland