Environment
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Żurrieq seabed clean-up
A 23-strong team of certified divers and 15 onshore volunteers recovered over 1,200kg of recyclable waste from the seabed off Wied iż-Żurrieq during the annual clean-up organised by Green Pak and the Amphibians Scuba Diving Club. Among the hundreds...
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Collecting plastic bottles pays off
The winners of the first draw of Wasteserv’s Collect and Win campaign are Mary Scerri Abela of Rabat, Ġemma Miceli of Birkirkara, Justin Said of Mosta and Carmel Gatt of Xewkija. The prizes included two vouchers for €500 worth of products from...
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Transporting farm animals
At a conference on the transportation of live animals held in Malta in September, participants heard how European pigs, sheep, cattle and horses often endure overly long truck journeys when they are dispatched to distant abbatoirs from different...
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Palazzo Manoel – Casa Leoni, Sta Venera
Palazzo Manoel, also known as Casa Leoni, was built by Grand Master Vilhena in 1730. The palace has a small front garden having an ornamental central arched gateway with the coat-of-arms of Grand Master Vilhena and which is flanked by two...
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Għajn Rażul Fountain, St Paul’s Bay
The history of this fountain is significantly linked to the tradition of St Paul’s shipwreck in the Maltese islands. The Acts of the Apostles vividly describe how following the shipwreck, the locals (assumingly the Maltese) went to help the...
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The swimming ‘chicken’
The coot is an aquatic bird that is easily identified by its black plumage, white beak and facial shield. It is the size of a fat chicken, in fact, in Maltese it is called tiġieġa tal-baħar. Coots spend most of their time in water and although they...
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Race stand (il-loġġa tal-palju) in Rabat
The race stand, located just below Saqqajja, is closely associated with one of the oldest and most popular folk feasts. The Imnarja, celebrated yearly on June 29, happens to be the feast of St Peter and St Paul. The festival consists of the reading...
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Lives disrupted by rising seas
Every rainy season, the Guna people living on the Panamanian white sand archipelago of San Blas brace themselves for waves gushing into their tiny mud-floor huts. Rising ocean levels caused by global warming and decades of coral reef destruction...
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Plan for Antarctic marine sanctuary rejected
The countries which regulate fishing in the Antarctic have been unable to agree on creating a giant marine sanctuary in the region. The US and New Zealand had submitted a joint proposal to protect the Ross Sea, considered one of the most pristine...
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Further cluttering fishing ports
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority recently released for public consultation a policy document that is proposing to further relax building height limitations in touristic areas, presumably to permit the upgrading of existing hotels. This...
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Paving Buskett white
Our knack for paving every inch of Malta does not even spare woodland. The picture shows a corner in Buskett, where aggregate has been laid to allow vehicular access to workers restoring a farmhouses on site. Will it eventually be removed?
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Comino countryside art
An eco-friendly art installation by artist Stephen Saliba near the derelict pig farm in Comino composed entirely of discarded material found on site, such as pipes, representing a family walking in the countryside.
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EU-funded projects to increase energy efficiency
The Department of Industrial Electrical Power Conversion at the University of Malta has actually built an electrical car and a boat. What’s more, students are always looking to develop ways to increase energy efficiency and save it where possible –...
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Marine life at wreck dive sites
Malta – a diving mecca! Fortunately, this is how scuba divers and snorkellers view the Maltese Islands. But according to divers who practise their sport here, fish and other marine life are not abundant locally, which makes dives “less interesting”,...
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Cross pillar on esplanade, Mdina
This monument consists of a low circular base on which are five circular steps supporting a column. The cylindrical column has a plain shaft with a white marble capital that is intricately carved with stylized animal and plant motifs of a style...
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Saqqaja wash house
The Saqqajja wash house (għajn tal-ħasselin) was erected here to take advantage of a natural spring. The building consists of a rectangular shaped structure having a central arched doorway crowned by the coat-of-arms of Grand Master de Rohan. The...
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Food causes third of all man-made greenhouse gases
Food production accounts for up to 29 per cent of man-made greenhouse gases, twice the amount the UN has estimated comes from farming, according to a study published yesterday. Looking at emissions across the food system, including forest...
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An unfriendly, squeaking beetle
The list of animals and plants inhabiting a particular area constantly changes with time. Some species arrive on their own while others are imported by man and are wittingly or unwittingly released in new areas. During the past decade or so, we...
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House in Qormi
The architectural style of this building illustrates a fusion of Baroque and earlier styles. The original ground floor on Triq San Pawl consists of four doorways. The main doorway and ‘logg’ have a plain surround which fuses in a moulded projecting...
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Sustainable pesticide use
Farmers who use pesticides, and the suppliers who sell them, are gradually becoming more aware of the potential dangers, both to themselves and to consumers. Many herbicides, fungicides and pesticides can cause acute and delayed health effects in...
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