A very question I am asked regularly is whether I think that things improving in Malta when it comes to the environment.

This question is usually asked in a negative one, like if the one asking it is already set to think that it is not getting better.

Seeing the full picture in life usually makes you more positive - I’ve learnt that throughout the years.

When thousands of people yearly gather to clean up areas in Malta, it doesn’t only result in a cleaner environment - it creates friendships that tackle loneliness, it educates people on waste management, which tackles ignorance, and it also creates awareness about the fact that people care.

This last point is usually what gets the politicians moving. Because every person caring about a subject is equal to one vote, so when a lot of people care for the same thing and speak up, the politicians will have to listen sooner or later.

We all have to understand our power. Our stand taking is by far the most powerful thing we have, and we are in full charge of it. It is by many seen as useless, since “it’s only one voice”. But how would the world function if everyone thought like that? We have to start somewhere, right?

Another question I have been asked over the last week or two since announcement is why I decided to go for a party considered to be small.

Firstly, I want to make it clear that this question, for me personally, is a very odd one. Not the one of why I decided to go for Partit Demokratiku, but rather mentioning it in a way that a more logic option would have been going for a bigger party.

This is another issue that I as an environmentalist encounter out in the field; the thought that if we don’t go big, we won’t have an impact. It’s not about going for a big or small decision, it’s about going for what you believe is right. That is the only way to success and sustainability. A society understanding that their action has a great impact on the society as a whole, and long-term, should be much more important.

Humans are interesting creatures when it comes to this topic. We all see quotes like “Never give up” or “Just do it!”, but when it comes to things that need to be solved by a community suddenly these words of power change to “We can’t solve it, so why even try”.

From a psychology side, I would think this has to do with the thought that you can’t make people change - the feeling that we, as human beings, can’t cooperate on that big scale. What I will never accept is the fact that we never try. If there is something my parents taught me, it is that you always try, no matter what. We might fail once, twice or even more but the option of giving up shouldn’t be on the menu.

I would be rich if I got a cent for every time I heard local councilors telling me “bins won’t help, people litter anyway”.

Well, did they ever consider that maybe they need to review the bin service and reshape it and try again? We can’t take for granted that all humans work identically, we are all unique. What we should never give up on is the vision that we can cooperate and making our differences our strength.

So, has Malta changed when it comes to the environment? I would like to ask people to see this long-term and taking all aspects into consideration such as population increase. Yes. I can see the change. I see that every day. I open the newspaper and there are plenty of articles highlighting the topic of environment. This wasn’t happening a couple of years ago. Yes, I hear people in the cafés refusing the plastic straws and yes, I see supermarkets asking their customers to bring reusable containers to refill.

Things are happening and we just need to stick to what we are doing for the ripple effect to take off.

There is no way of stopping this movement and I therefore urge the government and the businessmen to understand this. Being green is not for one party only.

Being green should be part of every human being. Environment and sustainability should be at the core of every decision taken by anyone. It’s time to up the game and be the change we wish to see.

We all share the environment, so let’s all try to safeguard it for the generations to come. We are literally out on the runway, about to take off. We just need to be persistent.