It has now become established that global warming is a fact that no one, even blind deniers, or populist presidents can ignore. It has also become a firm conviction of every unbiased observer that this change has caused havoc in our environment and that the only conclusion one can reach is that much worse is still to come if we continue on this trajectory.
If this is obvious to the Western world, it is even more obvious to those unlucky communities striving to live on low-lying islands or in cities from Venice to Miami where a rise in sea-water level has already become a real existential threat.
The constant breaking of weather records, the severe drought currently destroying crops in Australia and elsewhere, the Arctic conditions which recently affected North America and Northern Europe, the unseasonal forest fires which have ranged from Iceland to Tasmania, are a mere warning of even more cataclysmic changes that we have been threatened with.
As expected, there has been a binary response to what needs to be done to counter this threat. On the one hand, there are those who are so obsessed with economic growth that every threat is considered as irrelevant, that everything is to be sacrificed to ensure that nothing interferes with growth, that, like an aeroplane, the choice is either to go up or to go down.
We have borrowed the earth from our children and we have made a mess of it. The choice is clear: we cannot escape the consequences
On the other hand, we are now seeing the public taking to the streets to object to the lackadaisical approach by politicians to this problem. We have seen children, those most threatened with major future threats, objecting to the global threat.
Some have joined what they called, the ‘extinction revolution’, blocking streets and chaining themselves to buildings to emphasise their despair at the lack of serious measures taken by those in power.
It is a known fact that to avoid future risks, action has to be taken now, and such action is bound to be expensive.
The decision is either to tackle it now, however expensive it is, or to pay later when the bill will be astronomical. It is rather like maxing your credit cards and prefering to pay the very high rates of compound interest in a few years’ time.
What can the average person do in response to this challenge? We cannot expect our leaders, intent as they are on ensuring economic growth at all costs, to look after our long-term interests. Greta Thunberg has made this abundantly clear.
Many young schoolchildren have followed in her footsteps and declared they will never give birth to a child condemned, as they are bound to be, to a miserable existence.
It is well to accept the fact that we are all individually responsible for this catastrophe. We all contribute to global warming. We have become used to a way of life which we would be very reluctant to give up, unless we are forced to.
Malta is one of the few nations in the EU which has actually increased its contribution to global warming in recent years. Malta has exceeded the average for the rest of Europe and rather than bite the bullet and take action to reduce global warming, we prefer to pay other nations to do it for us. The Mediterranean region as a whole has gone against the trend with increased global warming emissions, contrary to conventions which have been signed promising reductions.
We have to restrict our own reliance on organic fuel which keeps us warm in winter and cool in summer. One particular example is our penchant to travel by air or on cruise ships which constitute one of the most important sources of global warming, and which has escalated considerably in recent years.
We have to show our political leaders that we understand the issue and object to the inactivity to deal with the problem.
We have also to assess our own contribution to global warming and take action now before it is too late. Unpalatable measures to do so can never be popular, but are less likely to be acceptable when circumstances force them upon us.
Hence, the need to act now, because, according to most scientific forecasts, delay is bound to make things much worse. We have borrowed the earth from our children and we have made a mess of it. The choice is clear: we cannot escape the consequences.