Arnold Cassola
The potential of a Green Malta
The Green and eco adjectives are frequently bandied about for political convenience. The difference to be spotted is between who talks the talk and who walks the walk. In the context of the economic and energy crises, the Greens have never been more relevant.
Green parties and environmentalists have brought about a consensus that a commitment to sustainability is not only good for the environment but also good for the economy. The Obama Administration is using this time of immense economic turmoil to build a new industrial pillar for future growth. Similarly, the European Greens are proposing a Green New Deal, calling for a €500 billion package with a view to generating five million new, largely Green jobs, mostly in the area of clean technologies and Green enterprise.
Within the confines of our scale, the same opportunity exists for the Maltese islands. We need to bring home this seriousness of purpose. These are some areas where an AD MEP would work in order to tap EU funds so as to make the best use of our resources and motivate new developments while in the process generating a wealth of new jobs.
Water: Malta is the ninth driest country in the world, the first eight being desert countries. We have never really had a water policy except in the time of the Knights, when all houses were forced to have a well as a catchment area for rain water. Now, we have started thinking again. But, unfortunately, though having two sewage treatment plants functioning and a third one commissioned, we are throwing away precious second-class water (which is good for agriculture, industry and home toilets). This water should be collected and put to use in our daily lives, saving money and generating new jobs in the process.
Solar energy: We are the laggard of the 27 countries in the EU as regards solar energy. Yet, of the 27 we are the country with the biggest number of sun hours per year. For this reason we will feel the brunt of global warming. But we could turn this into an opportunity for all of us. Just imagine if we turned our country into a research and innovation centre centred around solar energy. Photovoltaic, solar and UV panels could all be constructed, mounted and used in Malta, thus generating hundreds if not thousands of jobs in the process: from Mcast and University lecturers to scientists, technicians and experts in mounting and servicing the various panels.
The building industry: Converting to renewables and to sustainable energies will boost the building industry. New European rules in building practices will help us generate jobs in energy-efficiency measures for buildings. We will need to train people in mounting double-glazing windows and doors and in the use of recycled insulated materials to keep our houses warm in winter and cool in summer. Even the restoration and adaptation of the over 60,000 vacant houses in Malta will mean work for a myriad of skilled workers, not to speak of those masons who will be trained in conserving old Maltese limestone and reusing it in the renovation of buildings.
Waste management: Hundreds of jobs here too. The philosophy of the three Rs will mean new jobs for people employed in the reduction and separation of waste and packing it to send abroad, in transforming and reusing plastics, paper and glass, not to speak of the technicians, scientists and engineers, labourers etc working in waste separation plants, the abattoir, the incinerator, landfills etc.
The ideas above are just a taste of what is possible with the right motivation and a sense of today and the immediate future. The technology to execute the ideas above is with us and has been tried. Its "cost" may appear to be high but often so because the overall costs of the status quo are ignored. Our future lies in understanding the total cost of how we use our environment today.
We are at a crucial frontier in these days and we need to move towards a more sustainable future- Green initiatives, Green jobs and a Green economy. At this crossroad, Malta can both be a leader and create benefits for itself. Our choice is to will it.
The author is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green party in Malta.
arnoldcassola@gmail.com, www.alternattiva.org.mt, www.arnoldcassola.wordpress.com
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Alex Ellul
Apr 18th 2009, 00:16
Climate Change has been taken out of the scientists domain and hijacked by the politicians, the UN, and the big multinational oil companies such as Enron, Shell etc making billions of dollar out of carbon cap and trade and making us taxpayers pay for it. Dr. Cassola may be inadvertently helping these multinationals continue their grip on internation energy trading so that when oil is dwindling, these multinationals will still be making it rich by forcing us to purchase wind turbines that do not produce electricity during high pressure climate conditions when the wind stops blowing, as it has done this winter in the near ice-age conditions experienced in Europe and north America, when electricity was mostly required for heating. It will be the same during high pressure climate conditions in summer causing heatwaves while the wind stops blowing and the people would want to switch on their air-conditioners.
Alex Ellul
Apr 18th 2009, 00:09
In Spain, for each job created by the green industry, 2.5 other jobs are lost. This year, Spain's unemplyement level will reach a staggering 20%. Now Dr. Cassola, explain to us Maltese the implications of such policies. Obama's green policies are considered to cause economic ruin to the US economy due to the higher cost of electricity, making US products uncompetitive and thus driving the US industry out of the US, creating more unemployment in the process. Meanwhile, all investment in green energy in Denmark, Germany, the UK and other countries has not resulted in any reduction in CO2 emissions, in fact the rate of CO2 emissions have risen considerably while not one single coal or oil fired power station has been closed. We have to be very careful how to invest in renwables, while the best policy inthis case is to have the corouge to do nothing, because the theory of man-made global warming is a sham and many scientist worlwide are coming out of the woodworks saying so, but are ot given enough space by the journalists and politicians. /cont..
John Spiteri, Information Secretary AN
Apr 17th 2009, 18:26
Safeguard the environment by all means - nobody disputes that. What is disputable is whether we should sacrifice man in order to appease ideological delusion. the way things are going you'd be lucky to get a job in the first place let alone a 'green' one - whatever that is. The lifeblood of any economy is cheap energy - so don't expect a solar panels and wind turbines to power the next economic revival. North Korea has a lot of green jobs. to pave a road they use hundreds of manual workers with primitive tools where a couple of machines would have done the job. Somehow, I don't fancy that we want to share their 'Green' economy. it lacks what in economic terms is known as productivity.
Joe Zammit
Apr 17th 2009, 12:22
Section 487 of the Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church runs: “The attitude that must characterize the way man acts in relation to creation is essentially one of gratitude and appreciation; the world, in fact, reveals the mystery of God who created and sustains it. If the relationship with God is placed aside, nature is stripped of its profound meaning and impoverished. If on the other hand, nature is rediscovered in its creaturely dimension, channels of communication with it can be established and its rich and symbolic meaning can be understood, allowing us to enter into its realm of mystery. This realm opens the path of man to GOD, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.
So, let us take care of the environment, first of all for the glory of God, and then, for the benefit of all of us, being citizens, inhabitants or tourists!
Joe Zammit
Apr 17th 2009, 11:00
Protecting the environment, yes; divorce, no. If you respect and love God you will never speak in favour of divorce. Divorce is directly against marriage. Christ has condemned divorce as evil. He condemned it for ALL PEOPLE, whether Catholic or not. So let us protect the environment but keep MARRIAGE CLEAN without dirtying it with divorce.