I only usually write about travelling and show beautiful places around the world. However being a nature lover I felt I had to write something about the current situation in my home country Malta.
I have seen a lot of posts lately on the uncontrolled construction and mass destruction of trees. I am the first one to condemn it and each time I read about a new road being widened or the development of a huge block of apartments, I am really angry at the authorities. However, it is very ironic how many people are sharing posts or writing about environmental issues when in their personal lives do nothing in favour of the environment. How do we pretend the authorities to care if we ourselves do not? The problem is that we love money and comfort more than anything else.
Bad air quality? Walk, cycle or use public transport
How many of us complain about bad air quality and then use cars for every single journey they do? Even a short one and if possible stop with the car right in front of the destination! Then we pay memberships for gym to get moving!!
Do you have any trees or plants in your own home?
How many of us are sad and angry about the chopping of the trees in favour or wider roads and then in our garden at home we remove the soil and do tiling instead or build a pool? Plants and trees are dirty and everywhere is full of leaves of course!
Reduce waste, especially plastic!
Separating waste is not enough! How many of us actually try to reduce their waste? We should buy products with less packaging, choose products in metal or glass packaging. We need to try to reduce the use plastic in our life. If you own a shop or take away stop offering plastic bags or plastic cutlery. Of course not! Your clients won’t like that and you will lose money!
Be a responsible consumer
Do we care if what we buy is sustainable? Has it been tested on animals? Does it contain palm oil? Eating a lot of meat (especially beef) is not sustainable at all. Thousands of hectares of forests are chopped to make space for grassland and apart from that, more land is required to grow food for the animals. But nothing beats that juicy rib eye steak, right?
Explore the ‘wild side’ of Malta
Do you ever go to watch sunset on the Western Coast of Malta? Do you love trekking in the valleys near Rabat and Dingli? Most probably not enough. The way we choose our outings is not exactly ‘environmental friendly’. We go to restaurants instead of going for walks or picnics in the countryside. This would involve too much preparation and effort! We pay for ‘days by the pool’ (if possible with a buffet lunch included), when we are surrounded by clear seas and beautiful beaches. Tourists come here in Malta for the beaches and we go to pools in hotels instead! I will never be able to understand this!
This is the Malta we love and it is still there!
Disconnect yourself from the internet every once in a while
Sharing and writing on social media is not enough if you really care for the environment. Staying on your device all the time is not eco friendly at all. Staying away from devices will actually help more the environment than commenting, sharing, writing posts etc. all the time.
I am sure we are all guilty of some if not all of the above, including myself. I am not perfect and although I try to do a lot for the environment in my little, each day I learn that I am very far from doing enough. However I believe that if we really need to make a difference instead of just writing on social media we should try to do something in our every day lives. Creating awareness online is good yes, but just doing that does not mean that you are environmental friendly.
PS. I am not writing in favour or against any political party, anyone who knows me personally knows that I do not care at all. I have and always will be a simple nature lover who tries her best to try to save the world.
If you are interested in places to visit in Malta other than restaurants and hotel pools check out my posts on Malta here.
