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MediaToday’s initiative, “The world is in my hands!”, was launched yesterday with the prime purpose of sensitising all citizens to the latent threat of global warming.
In launching this essay competition, we as a newspaper are playing our modest part in combating a menace which risks devastating the planet. We feel we have the duty, responsibility and commitment to ensure that we live in a better-managed world. After all, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus that the climate change phenomenon has surfaced mainly as a result of pollution, deforestation and poorly planned economic policies. All these shortcomings are manmade.
Global warming involves the observed increase in average temperatures of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans in recent years, a trend which is projected to continue unabated with devastating consequences for the planet’s biodiversity. It is envisaged that global temperatures are likely to increase from 1.1 to 6.4 degrees centigrade between 1990 and 2100.
The major causes of global warming are greenhouse gas emissions released by activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, associated with energy production in the developed and developing world, coupled with a decline in carbon dioxide as a result of deforestation for the purposes of agriculture. We need to get serious about global warming if we want to spare future generations the ordeals they would otherwise surely go through; ordeals which include a gradual increase in sea levels, as well as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, large-scale extinctions, glacier retreat… in a word, global havoc.
Al Gore’s warnings in the film An Inconvenient Truth should serve as an eye-opener to all. We are inundated with reports, white papers, policy analyses and other literature on the dangers of climate change, but it is now time to act. We need to shift the perception from abstract threat to pressing reality. Despite rising fatalism, the truth is that solutions are in sight. It is common knowledge that most heat-trapping gases come from power plants and road vehicles. We also know how to curb these emissions by means of modern technology and tougher laws. For these solutions to work, pressure must be exerted on businesses to use less energy and to build more efficient products, and also on consumers to be more conscious of the possible effects of their demands. Of course, this strategy can only work if backed by laws which ensure that international standards are observed.
MediaToday’s three newspapers – MaltaToday, Illum and Business Today – yesterday launched the initiative in all schools, both public and private, allowing all students to participate irrespective of nationality or age. The idea behind the initiative is to trigger off possible solutions, and the discussion thereof. We are only too aware that we can all play our own small part to alleviate the dangers of climate change and rising pollution, both in Malta and abroad. It is also a time for the authorities, as well as each one of us, to do some soul-searching. To date a number of praiseworthy initiatives have been taken by government: incentives on photo-voltaic panels; the feed-in-tariff, whereby government buys back energy from the consumer; the introduction of refund schemes on the purchase on energy efficient appliances… all these are steps in the right direction, as are the closing of the landfill at Maghtab, the road emissions alert campaign, the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee with powers to vet legislation on the basis of its green credentials, the setting up of green wardens and the increase in registration fees for cars with high horsepower. However, much, much more needs to be done, especially when faced with a society that is consuming more energy, developing more agricultural land, and acquiring all its water supply from electricity-powered reverse osmosis plants.
We launch this initiative fully cognisant that each and every one of us can, in his or her own way, do a little to alleviate the dangers of global climate change.
We look forward to receiving your innovative and original ideas.
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