The weather Malta has been experiencing over the past week or so is uncannily weird. We have been prone to the occasional spattering of rain around Santa Marija weekend in the past, but the likes of the storms that hit Malta over the past few days are more akin to what we normally experience in mid-September.

But humidity levels have been high and nature unleashed a few downpours that have caused disruption.  That being said, the storms served to cool the islands and tempers of people which have been fraying in the heat. Some might say that it is a blessing. But what if it isn’t? What if this is just a harbinger of what is to come in the future? What if these are the very early warnings of sever climate change events that there are no way back from?

As we experience this weather, Australia is in the depths of winter, yet it is experiencing 20 degree Celcius Days. The United Kingdom has experienced 30+ degree weather too and Poland has massive electricity shortages as its power plants cannot keep up with demands as temperatures are reaching almost 40 degrees Celsius. Africa is again experiencing drought and famine. Cyprus has actually seen footage of car steering wheels melting in the sun. What if this is really what we are all going to experience in the near future?

Malta cannot really do much to change the effects of climate change. Like many Pacific Island nations, our output of emissions is so small that it does not affect what happens on a global scale. But island nations know the perils of climate change. We do not have highlands to withdraw to, we cannot move away from our coasts and we cannot prevent the sea from rising. However, we do have a voice, and it is a voice that should be sounded as loud as it can, until it is heard.

In the meantime, our government and the ones following it must come up with some sort of contingency plan. We must start to study the record we are keeping, in particular of rainfall and registered temperatures. Our seasons are already getting more and more muddled and we must do more to stockpile water to keep healthy reserves in times of potential drought. Much has been done recently in terms of flood management, but what about coastal erosion? Climate change is very real and it is beginning to touch on us. We cannot rely on the world to cut carbon emissions, we must, at the very least, begin to prepare for the unexpected. We need to harvest more rainwater and we must also find ways to deal with searing heat that can actually kill. We can no longer afford to live in a bubble thinking that climate change cannot affect us. We must act and we must react and we must also be pre-emptive. Failure to do so will result in adverse effects that will be felt by our future generations.