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Maltatoday 22 October 2017

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maltatoday SUNDAY 22 OCTOBER 2017 16 News ALTHOUGH recent events have plunged the island into a higher state of tension than it has perhaps experienced in a long while – in- deed, it feels as though we're all just about starting to process the events of 'Black Monday 2017' – the sad reality is that such collective anxie- ties are often exacerbated by other factors, and can never be taken in isolation. Because although cer- tain events can have the power to dominate our attention and cast a shadow over our proceedings, the day-to-day rudiments of our lives still have to be seen to, even after a tragedy of such resonant and dis- turbing implications. A period of collective mourn- ing, or at least meditation, where everyone would get a chance to process something as horrid as the car bomb murder of a journalist, feels like a common sense proposal from the point of view of emotional wellbeing. A society that allows all of its operations to cease for a while after such an event, that allows for its citizenry to take a breather and calm their nerves before resum- ing their grind, might be a society worth aspiring for. However, the mechanisms of lib- eral capitalism under whose yoke we can all roughly be said to la- bour – in lower, higher or middle rungs – would never view such a collective waiting period as a viable proposition. The machine must carry on regardless, and we can only pay lip service to wellbeing up to a certain point. To wit, despite the horrors that surround us, if we are to remain clothed and fed we must wake up each morn- ing and face our respective commutes to work. The trouble is that this very com- mute and all that it implies is what's behind a less shocking but equally consistent source of tension on the island. Traffic may be inevitable in a small island such as Malta. But the increased congestion of our roads, coupled with a public transport system that does not appear to be capable of shaking off its reputation as lacklustre and poorly organised, only exacerbates a problem that may have deep-seated implications. However, a glim- mer of hope for increased aware- ness – and, perhaps, some day, actual action – appears to be emerging in the form of socially conscious groups keen to twist the established "cars above everything" narrative out of true. Sparking off, as most such things do nowadays, on social media, various groups have begun to explore, and advo- cate for viable alternatives to, using a private vehicle to get from Point A to B in Malta. P e r h a p s people are f i n a l l y becom- i n g m o b i - l i s e d on this i s s u e because the sci- ence is also keen to hold up warn- ing signs. Just this April, the President's Foundation for Wellbeing in Society held its second national conference on health and wellbeing, where both the evidence presented and the discussion that ensued pointed to the fact that our surrounding envi- ronment, and how we treat it, plays a major part in both our physical health and our psychological well- being. And the upshot of excessive car use has a big part to play in all of that. Speaking during the conference's opening address on 5 April, Presi- dent Marie Louise Coleiro-Preca said that, "The loss of green spaces because of construction, over-de- velopment, and traffic, implies that we must do more to ensure that the long-term health and sustain- able wellbeing of the individual, the family, and the community are kept at the heart of our national agenda." While civil society tends to – un- derstandably – focus on the part over-development plays in the loss of green spaces, it's worth remem- bering that traffic plays a big part in that mess too. Once again, however, we are compelled to recognise how all of these elements are interwoven to- gether; separate pieces of a sooty, toxic puzzle that chokes our soci- ety. In fact, a large bulk of the advoca- cy groups I mentioned above have put their efforts into promoting walking and cycling as alternatives to driving – but both necessitate an agreeable environment in which to flourish if enough people are to take them up. "We believe that the main shift that needs to occur is for people to think more in terms of relation- ships, rather than the necessities of their own little bubbles," a spokes- person for the President's Founda- tion for Wellbeing in Society tells me. "Encouraging people to use the bike will not have much of an effect if the roads are not adequate; same goes for pollution when it comes to walking..." While recent events have plunged the country into a serious state of tension, one ongoing source of anxiety for all of us remains that persistent bugbear – traffic. However, TEODOR RELJIC discovers that social media can serve as a potential catalyst for a crucial perspective shift on this issue Raffaella Zammit, and (top) Greta Muscat Azzopardi Roads of rage

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