That the climate we are living in is changing rapidly can be seen with our own eyes.

December has started, and in Malta we are nowhere near experiencing the late autumn cold. We are still wearing summer clothes, and most of us have kept their jackets, coats and mufflers in the wardrobe. Those who continue to dream of a White Christmas will have to travel north to get a glimpse of it.

This is happening at a time when the rest of Europe is experiencing a bout of extreme weather conditions that is leading to snowstorms and floods. Last week, a number of airports across Europe had to be kept closed because of the accumulating snow and ice that made landing and take-off dangerous.

Of course, it is not only Europe that is going through climate changes. Elsewhere in the world, be it America, Asia or Australia, the weather conditions are changing very rapidly. Changes that used to take centuries to occur are now taking place in decades, if not less.

In Malta, during September and October the amount of rain that we had was close to the overall total as that for the whole of the weather season last year (September 2009-August 2010). But, in November, the amount of rainfall dropped to just 19.2 millimetres, making last month the sixth driest November since 1923. In our own small way, even we have been affected. And, being an island of low land, any changes to the climate, in particular an increase in sea level, will have a great bearing on our way of life.

Over the past years there has been a growing concern about climate change and how this will be having an impact on mankind. But whereas scientific talk is focusing mostly on what will happen in 10 or 50 years’ time if our way of life does not change, we are already experiencing shifts in our climate.

Extreme weather conditions – either too hot, or too cold; too dry or too wet – are becoming more and more normal, as we can see from what happened in tiny Malta with the rain we had in September and October, and the dry month we experienced in November.

The powers that be – those with the political responsibility to see that the efforts made to control climate change are put into place – are taking matters placidly and without the necessary push that is needed to try to reverse things. It might be already too late, but at least there should be a concerted effort to at least try.