Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1118959
29 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 MAY 2019 AS a candidate for the Green Party I have spent my campaign talking with people about European solutions to the challenges we are facing right now.The conversations have been most successfulon a one-to-one basis, or in spaces not dominated by candidates of the Labour Party or the Nationalist Party. No surprise there, it is very clear that neither of these political parties arewilling to talk about Europe. Despite it being a European election. We now observe some last-minute grabs for the green vote, and talk- ing about the challenge of our times: climate change! These campaign green washes are nothing new and are happening all over Europe. Sud- denly, everyone is waking up to the threats of climate change... including those politicians, like the EPP's lead candidate Manfred Weber, who con- sistently voted against climate action as an MEP. Waking up to climate change looks like: increased heat waves, coral bleaching, desertification, draughts, floods, and rising extreme weather. All these have consequences on ecosystems and on our health and wellbeing. We need a long-term vision where politicians act in the interests of citi- zens and not in the interests of pow- erful lobbies. Policy-wise is where we come in, to create a structure that will support citizen-led clean energy production, sustainable and alterna- tive modes of transport and research and innovation in the areas of energy production. We fight for binding carbon budg- ets, binding emission reduction targets and a minimum carbon price. We will committhe EU to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030. In that way, we can achieve a net zero emis- sions economy by 2040 and eventu- ally a carbon negative economy by 2050. We will also cut all subsidies for fossil fuelsbecause we need to stop supporting polluting industries and start to support clean energy instead. We have reached a stage where the most powerful individual action – is our vote. And it is time to use this vote to elect politicians from po- litical parties who are consistently green. Vote for the climate. Vote green. The costs of campaigning Earlier this week PN MEP can- didate Peter Agius announced the costs of his electoral campaign so far. My own campaign costs around €3,500-€4,000. The final amount and a breakdown of these costs will be released at the end of the cam- paign. I was lucky to be in a position to afford to spend this money on a campaign because I was able to move back in with my parents and live rent-free for six months. I would have wished to spend less, but as a new kid on the block playing against people who have big money to spend, I soon realised it was not possible. Of course, the costs of campaigning go beyond the monetary ones. There is the emotional and care labour undertaken mostly by women and queer people who have supported me when things got tough. There aren't enough words to thank them all for supporting me every step of the way. Another cost of campaigning isthe environmental one. I have tried to, as much as possible, cycle and take the bus for my campaign commutes. Since January I have cycled over 1,100km to and from events and have been on quite a few buses. I have also tried to limit the amount of printing, to minimise the carbon footprint of my campaign. It's far from perfect, but when playing the game against those who change billboards every day and send 1000s of leaflets, it has hopefully gone a long way. Mina Tolu Mina Tolu is Alternattiva Demokratika candiate forthe European elections If you want green... vote green! OPINION GRETA Thunberg and hundreds of thousands of young people, many still minors, have been participating in protests in London, Paris, Vienna, Hong Kong, Santiago, Cape Town, Ontario, Malta and all over the globe to save the world from climate change. And the pressure is being felt as the UK parliament declares an environ- ment and climate emergency. The thunderous voice of these youngsters is bringing climate change to the forefront of the international politi- cal agenda. They are saying that it is now time to panic and that no policy is as important as climate change. No other policy is needed if there is no planet to live on. These young people are saying what older people are fearing to admit, or are unashamedly trying to contradict. However, the science has been there for decades now and the time left to do something meaningful is very short. Unless we keep the tempera- ture from increasing more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial time, the repercussions felt will be huge. Signs of these repercussions are already being felt. A good example is the situation in Mozambique where- by we have seen two cyclones in six weeks annihilating villages, leaving thousands without homes, bringing the onset of water-based diseases and leaving over a 1,000 people dead. This is a place that never had such frequency of cyclones. In Mongo- lia, climate change is forcing horse herders to abandon their lifestyles and their work which had passed from one generation to the next for hundreds of years and move to the capital city. In such a huge country half of its population is living in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. This is resulting in immense respiratory problems in the population, especially amongst children who now have lungs 40% smaller than children growing up in the countryside. It is fundamental that Europe leads in this sector. As several forces around the world are taking a step back on climate change, it is up to us Europeans to try and move the world forward. And this can be done both at national level and at EU level. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has emphasised that our vision should be one where in the future public trans- port is free for everyone and all newly bought cars are electric. In the EU, we need to see more dossiers like the one Miriam Dalli championed on the CO2 emissions from cars, a dossier which earned her the title of eco-warrior by the journal Politico. With the EU setting targets and visions, member states will need to implement laws and programmes to address our climate crisis. For the love of our countries and for the love of our children, we must ensure there is a planet for them to live on. In the face of climate change de- niers, it is time we pay heed to the young voices amongst us. It is time we empower the youth and provide them with the tools to work. This is why I am proposing that the EU provides free internet connection to its youth. This would be the most basic tool for the youth to research and innovate, to come up with new ideas, to change the world we are living in. Climate change, youth, and the new thunderous voice in politics Cyrus Engerer is a PL candidate for the European elections Greta Thunberg and hundreds of thousands of young people, many still minors, have been participating in protests in London, Paris, Vienna, Hong Kong, Santiago, Cape Town, Ontario, Malta and all over the globe to save the world from climate change