Recent plans to build a large shooting range right next door to Mount St Joseph Retreat House at Mosta have shocked me.

I have been to Mt St Joseph a number of times, both for retreats and non-religious educational events. Its gardens are a place of natural beauty. You can forget the world outside the moment you walk inside its gates and it has offered a similar renewing experience to many. It is paralleled by no other retreat house in Malta and it is available to hundreds of people from all walks of life.

A background of shooting noise will invariably destroy it forever. Dare we so placidly deny it to the generations of the present and the future?

As a medical professional, I am deeply concerned about the health effects of such so-called ‘development’. Historically, this usually translates into urbanisation, noise and construction, and this has significant impacts on the mental health of our nation, something few seem to think or talk about.

The amount of noise created by a shooting range will add to the country’s already elevated levels caused by traffic congestion, heavy vehicles and festa season petards, among others.

Noise is more than a nuisance: it is damaging to human health. Noise pollution is recognised as a serious public health problem by the World Health Organisation.

Traffic noise can disturb sleep patterns, affect cognitive function (especially in children), raise blood pressure and contribute to cardiovascular disease. Vulnerable groups, like children, the elderly, the sick and the poor, tend to suffer the most.

According to the UK Faculty of Public Health (2010 “Safe green spaces may be as effective as prescription drugs in treating some forms of mental illness.”

Evidence reveals that regular access to natural environments has a number of positive benefits for people of all ages. These include reduced symptoms among children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), reduced levels of stress and enhanced emotional development in schoolchildren.

One UK study showed that people living in areas with greater levels of green space had fewer mental hospital admissions.

There is an intimate relationship between environmental de-gradation, poverty and ill health. When we leave no green spaces where the public can enjoy themselves for free, we are also contributing to a health equity gap. Some parents will afford to pay for sports classes for their children.

It is indeed immature if we adopt the attitude that the mistakes of the past are a licence to repeat similar ones

Other parents are unable to do this, for a myriad of possible reasons. A few decades ago, such children would still have a good run in the empty field at the end of the village. Where do these children run and play today?

Many may have escaped our over-constructed, over-populated island and enjoyed mountains or spacious views while on holiday abroad. Does any policymaker think of those members of our society who do not have the financial means to do this?

What about those who are chronically ill? Do we think about this unmet need for our elderly people in their nursing homes, persons with physical, mental and intellectual disabilities and those who are terminally ill or institutionalised? Is the only view from their bed a lifeless, concrete wall?

Why do all our projects have to be man-made and artificial? What is wrong with untouched, unruly, wild and wonderful nature, free for everyone and unparalleled by anything that man can create?

How can we blame our children that their only hobbies are their tablets or smartphones if most ‘playing fields’ are no more than tiny spaces with a few sparse trees growing in concrete blocks, often very close to traffic-congested areas?

While we are adopting the architecture of other European cities, we are not similarly adopting their mindfulness in leaving large areas of green, unbuilt land for families to enjoy. In the south of the island particularly, most villages and towns have blended into each other with no intervening green space.

A study in Chicago of people living in social housing showed that those with a view of green space coped better with challenges in their lives than those with a view of concrete.

Is it surprising, then, that children are restless and inattentive in class, that our rate of obesity is one of concern… and that young people turn to unhelpful coping mechanisms, including alcohol and drug use?

This is not about partisan politics. No government has paid more than lip service to the issue of environmental health.

It is indeed immature if we adopt the attitude that the mistakes of the past are a licence to repeat similar ones.

Our small island is rich in a number of capable and knowledgeable professionals in health, social sciences, public policy and the environment.

Governments need to stop listening to profit-seekers and instead see what those who are genuinely interested in safe-guarding health and quality of life have to say. Their voice may not be the loudest but it needs to be heard if our political leaders – whoever they may be – care as much as an ounce for the real future of our population.

After all, many economists nowadays regard environmental protection as a good that is conducive to economic well-being, too.

Marija Farrugia is a medical doctor and a member of Christian Life Communities Malta.