They say nostalgia is the enemy of the truth, not that there’s much of the latter floating around either nowadays. I remember a time when people gave importance to the facts over sparkly fabrications: a time when we had trees and fields as far as the eye could see and there was no shame in being poor as long so you were honest. It would seem that those times are well and truly over.

Last year, hundreds attended a protest motivated by nothing other than a wish for the ceaseless rape of our environment to be abated.

I’ve never been the protesting kind, but I woke up early on a Sunday morning after a night of partying, forced a piece of toast down my throat and went to Attard to lend my voice to saving one of the most beautiful areas we still have left in Malta.

There were young people and old people who had nothing in common but their anger. Articles were written, photos were taken, the editor of Circle magazine organised a beautiful photospread with one of the farmers whose livelihood would be directly affected by this, and here we are a few months later watching in horror as a case which is still under appeal is literally bulldozed through.

Just two weeks ago, horrified farmers showed up to their fields as usual, only to find contractors excavating fields they were tilling just the day before. One can only imagine the dismay that these poor people must have felt to see their livelihood literally being uprooted to make way for a monster which will ultimately do little to satiate and accommodate our growing car numbers.

Every fibre of our country is being destroyed and wiped away so that more concrete can be poured into our hearts

If all this weren’t enough, the veritable cherry on this already sagging cake came a few days ago when archaeological remains were allegedly found on site. It remains to be seen whether anything of cultural significance has been found or if anyone will actually care at all since, generally speaking, we tend to put little store by things which won’t instantly fatten our pockets.

We are, after all, the same people who throw away old books that are cluttering our vilely decorated “modern” living rooms and who don’t immediately realise that the walls of our national contemporary arts museum are mounding.

Every fibre of our country is being destroyed and wiped away so that more concrete can be poured into our hearts. We need that national nostalgia now more than ever before to remind us of what it is we are fighting for. We need to take this national pride that so many like to hark on about and turn it into something which profits us and our children instead of the greedy. But most of all, we need to find it in ourselves to care.

In the words of American scientist Guy R. McPherson: “If you really think that the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.”