Everywhere you turn nowadays, there is always talk of sustainability and the need for the human race to change its ways.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are reaching record levels as the globe continues to warm at an alarming rate. Our current farming methods are no longer sustainable and cannot cope with the demands of the future.

Living space is shrinking as we build ever closer to the foreshore, where we are at risk of mother nature. At the same time, we spread back over, into the bush, as the world chops down more forest canopy to make way for cities and villages. At the same time, we are killing off more wildlife and ruining their ‘wildness’ as we enter their back yard.

Fishing, once thought to be an everlasting source of protein and vitamins, is also depleting the world’s fish stocks. We eat baby swordfish as a delicacy, and we fatten up tuna on ranches to eat hot off a grill. In both instances, neither reproduce – one is too young, the other is captive to our greedy natures. Sharks are caught, finned, and dumped back at sea to drown – all so that we can make shark fin soup in Japan, altering the balance of power in the sea.

Vast swathes of land are being flooded and swallowed up as we dam and divert rivers to cater for our failing crops. The ice caps are melting, and it is causing untold damage to the face of the earth – and of course, there is the small side effect of heaping even bigger odds against animals such as polar bears, whales and walruses which migrate to breed every year. It is estimated that they have to swim for days longer without food to get to the ice flows which they need to breed.

That is what is happening in the world. Here in Malta, things are no different. We talk of sustainability, and nothing is ever done about it. At least, we have heard that the government is planning to change the power stations to gas use, and to lay a gas pipeline to Sicily. But again, is that sustainable? In reality, it is not. It is the best that any country can do in the short- and medium-term, but just like other countries, we mostly talk, talk and talk.

Petrol is unsustainable, generating fresh water from the sea with the current technology is also unsustainable, as is drilling into the water table whenever we want. Addiction to fossil fuels is unsustainable. Our way of life is unsustainable. Although we live in a microcosm, whatever we do, irrespective of the rest of the world, is going to affect us. If we change now, we can avoid pain in the future. Life will change, and it will change fast when resources dwindle. That might be in 50 years, it might be 500. But it will happen. We need to stop talking and act. All of us.