It never fails to mystify me how, the less information an individual possesses on a given subject, the more urgent is the haste to express an opinion on it.

It would be hard to imagine a letter more characteristic of this phenomenon than that of Michael Frank Owen’s (‘Żonqor is just a dump’, September 3).

It is painfully evident from his misguided remarks that he subscribes to the common misperception that land only has value if: a) it has been built upon or b) it can be used for agricultural purposes.

The true value of open space lies in the fact that it is just that – open space. Open space is our life-support system. It has been thus for more than five million years and this fact alone should provide cause for hesitation to anyone inclined to dismiss any tract of unbuilt or unploughed land as worthless.

Open space is at its best when it is left just as it is. It is the medium within which life sustains itself at its most complex level and to our greatest benefit. Building is inevitable but it comes at a price – to build, you must sacrifice open space .. and life. Hence, the ever-increasing necessity of building responsibly. Why else did the concept of ODZ come about?

Agriculture, too, is obviously necessary but let us not run away with the idea that this represents the pinnacle of ‘worth’ of open space, either. Agriculture is highly destructive of natural land space and it is for this very reason that agriculture ought to be carefully planned and balanced. Otherwise, the price of unbridled agriculture is runaway environmental destruction, a phenomenon that is of increasing global concern at the moment.

As for the junk, it is a sad fact that some individuals act entirely out of selfishness when disposing of their waste. Nonetheless, the answer to a large pile of junk, degrading all that lies around and suffocating all that lies beneath, is cleanup and rehabilitation, not annihilation. Otherwise, y0u are simply advocating throwing out the baby with the bath water.