Those who try to ridicule environmentalists as tree-hugging idealists who live in a fantasy world detached from the harsh economic realities that seem to have gripped the world will one day realise that our environment does matter a great deal.

It matters because we are a small overpopulated island where striking the right balance between business and quality of life issues means making tough decisions that can have long-term effects on our well-being as a nation.

Defining what our environment is made of can be quite difficult. Environmental issues certainly include the preservation of the natural beauty of our islands, the protection of our ecosystem with all its complexities, the culture of protecting all living species that are not harmful to human existence, the sensitivity to keep our heavily built-up areas as well as our countryside clean and pleasant to see and experience, preserving the quality of our waters and the air that we and our children breathe.

There are a myriad issues that can make a difference in the quality of our lives. One such issue is our priceless cultural environment made up of hundreds of historical buildings that in some cases are not well cared for.

Environmental degradation is a reality that has gripped our islands in the past four or five decades. Economic progress has often come at a high cost to our environment. We need to ask whether we are making the right choices when we decide to allow this degradation to continue unabated. A proper cost-benefit analysis of development projects that exact a cost on the little land that remains in its natural state has to look at the long-term effects on our quality of life if we are to make the best decisions for our present and future prosperity.

Environmental degradation is a reality that has gripped our islands in the past four or five decades

It is easy to write off the concerns of environmentalists by saying that the economy needs to grow to create jobs and economic prosperity. But an overbuilt island with little sensitivity to the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the cleanliness or our urban landscape, the extent and quality of our shrinking countryside can hardly aspire to be a five-star destination for tourists on whom we are so dependant. So I see no contradiction between the interests of sustainable economic growth and preserving our environment for our own and our children’s present and future wellbeing.

We may not be in a position to do much to reverse global warming as we are too small to make a real impact on such massive environmental issues. But we can certainly change our mindset from one that is predominantly utilitarian and focused on what matters to our pockets now to one that takes the long-term view on what is really good for the present and the coming generations.

We can decide to build glitzy luxury hotels to attract tourists, but if these same tourists discover that Malta is no more than a mediocre destination where the environment is neglected, they will not return. Mindsets are formed from an early stage in our lives. The best way to promote an environment-friendly mindset is to teach young children from an early stage that our environment is a fragile resource that needs to me managed carefully because our future depends on it.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for the protection of our environment. The enactment of environmentally-friendly legislation and its subsequent enforcement depends on the administration showing determination to go beyond rhetoric to hard action inspired by listening to the concerns of those who fret about the degradation of our environment.

It will never be easy to strike a balance between economic and environment protection priorities. But good compromises do exist and there are various countries that have set a good example of good practices to protect their environment.

The media does well to highlight incidents that threaten the preservation of our environment. But journalists must steer away from politicising environmental issues. There is, for instance, a clear link between our ambition to upgrade our tourism industry and reversing the deterioration in our environment. Discussing these links rather than pointing fingers is more likely to make people sensitive to the importance of protecting our environment.

I remain hopeful that, in the long term, our environmental issues will be well managed because I believe in the power of education and the commitment of our educators to safeguarding our fragile environment.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com