Alfred Baldacchino, a former assistant director at the planning authority’s environmental directorate, is a regular contributor on trees. His efforts are highly commendable, especially given the fact that most Maltese are not interested in trees and find every excuse to destroy them.

When it comes to the environment, all that seems to interest most people is which land can be built on; the environment is little more than what is potentially bricks, mortar and money.

Everywhere in Malta, towns, villages, roads and open spaces are all crying out for trees. Some local councils are now planting trees in pots instead of digging holes in the ground and planting the trees where they should be. Some councils prune the few evergreen ficus trees we have into a ridiculous ‘lollipop’ shape. If they had observed how they are pruned in Sicily they would have learned that, by pruning only the top and not the sides of these tress, they gradually form a wide umbrella shape, which provides a handsome appearance and much needed shade in summer.

Environment Minister José Herrera needs to surround himself with a few dedicated tree lovers, otherwise, Malta will increasingly become an ugly concrete jungle.

Not a single tree has been planted in some of the recently-reconstructed roads, even where there are wide pavements. Present generations are unfortunately largely tree haters, as particularly exemplified by councils which have uprooted trees from streets to ‘beautify’ the environment.

Is there no cure for this destructive ignorance?