Dom u Daphne : l-ewwel miraklu ?

Kellu jkun Dom Mintoff u l-art li nnegozjaw uliedu Yana u Anne biex Daphne tikteb artiklu imqanqal dwar l-ambjent. Dwar art li kellha tibqa’ barra iż-żona ta’ żvilupp imma daħħluha.  Mhux soltu li qalba taħraqha għall-ambjent! Miraklu?

Talbet inkjesta għax hu skandlu kif art li sal-1989 kienet barra miż-żona ta’ żvilupp, mill-1989 il-quddiem setgħet  tinbena. Il-pjanta l-ġdida ta’ kif setgħet tinbena l-art fiha bħal ħotba, qiesha riedu jdaħħlu biss l-art tal-familja tal-Perit.

Naqbel 100% magħha li dik l-art qatt ma messha ġiet permessa li tkun żviluppata. Imma jiena u Daphne motivati minn raġunijiet differenti.

Il-motiv ta’ Daphne hu Mintoff: għaliha dak li għandu x’jaqsam miegħu Mintoff hu kollu ħażin.

Il-motiv tiegħi hu ambjentali: jiena motivat  mill-fatt li m’għandniex bżonn bini ta’ iktar residenzi għax għandna iktar minn biżżejjed. Bħalissa għandna il-fuq minn 70,000 post residenjali vojt u żgur li m’għandniex bżonn iktar.

L-art b’faċċata fuq Triq iż-Żejtun Marsaxlokk daħlet fl-ischeme tal-bini fl-1989. Dakinnhar  iddaħħlu fl-ischeme tal-bini kwantitajiet kbar ta’ artijiet imxerrda ma Malta kollha. Uħud kien jagħmel sens li jidħlu. Oħrajn le. Irrispettivament ta’ min huma. Mhux ta’ ulied il-Perit Mintoff biss. Ta’ l-oħrajn ukoll.

Għalhekk mhux skandlu. Iżda skandli. Plural mhux singular. Jiena u Alternattiva Demokratika interessati fil-plural, mhux fis-singular. Imma Daphne hi interessata biss u esklussivament fuq il-każ ta’ Marsaxlokk. Hekk jidher ta’ l-inqas.

Dawn l-iskandli ma sarux biss fuq art f’Marsaxlokk. L-anqas ma saru biss fl-1989. Saru ukoll taħt id-direzzjoni ta’ George Pullicino fl-2006 b’dak il-proċess magħruf bħala “rationalisation”. Bħala riżultat ta’ dan il-proċess kompliet tiżdied l-art li tista’ tinbena madwar Malta kollha.

Anke dwar dan saret spekulazzjoni.   Anke hawn kien hawn pluralita’ ta’ skandli. Imma dakinhar il-miraklu kien għadu ma sarx. Alternattiva Demokratika u l-għaqdiet ambjentali biss fetħu ħalqhom!

Ħaddiehor żamm għajnejh magħluqa, meta messhom huma miftuħin beraħ il-ħin kollu. It-tnejn li huma.

Imma l-miraklu ta’ kuxjenza ambjentali ta’ Daphne għalissa jidher li hu limitata għal Triq iż-Żejtun Marsaxlokk.

Progress? Ma nafx!

A Green Vision – 50 years on

50 years ago Rachel Carson published her seminal book “Silent Spring”.

In 1962 Carson, a zoologist, argued that the use of pesticides had unintended consequences as whilst pesticides targeted pests they ended up affecting birds and their offspring. The result being a decrease in the bird population brought  about by intoxication as a consequence of the poisoning of the food chain.

Rachel Carson was the first person to give a popular voice to ecological concerns. In so doing she laid the foundations of environmentalism. It can be safely stated that her Silent Spring was the trigger of popular ecological awareness in the United States and Europe and to the consequential setting up of environmental NGOs as well as Green Political Parties.

Today’s generation is indebted to Rachel Carson for a powerful environmental movement in the four corners of the earth. We owe to her the popular awareness and understanding of nature’s fragility.

But obviously awareness and understanding is not sufficient. It must be our motivation to act. Planet Earth, fifty years after Silent Spring was published, is in a much worse state then ever. It has a temperature, it is warming up. Sea levels are rising. The climate is changing to one of less frequent but more intense storms which leave a trail of havoc in their path.

Water resources are declining.

Waste is not sufficiently understood as an underutilised resource.

The sea has also been heavily polluted and its resources plundered.

Consider the following observation made by Callum Roberts oceanographer at York University.

“The seas are the ultimate sinks. Chemicals get washed out of the soil and into streams and rivers. They should settle on the sea bed and stay there. However, fishing has become so intense, with boats dredging up scallops and bottom-welling  fish all the time, that we are constantly ploughing up these toxins, including DDT, and stirring them back into the water.”

The environment movement was born 50 years ago to make a difference. It was born out of a love for nature but is not restricted or limited to nature.  It has set out to implement  a green revolution : bettering our quality of life and as a result bequeathing a planet earth in a better state of health to future generations.

 

published on di-ve.com on 14 September 2012