Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1153841
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 AUGUST 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO CLIMATE change is no long- er something which can be relegated to an apocalyptical but distant future. June 2019 was the hottest ever recorded locally and in absence of ac- tion, scientists are warning of a snowball effect which may lead to the breakdown of civi- lisation and possible mass ex- tinction. "We are at a stage where the climate is 1 degree warmer than it was in the Holocene epoch, the period in which our civilisation developed, and it is warming at a pace of 0.18 to 0.24 degrees Celsius a decade. We are in uncharted territory, and if we do not limit warm- ing to 1.5 degrees, our world is going to change radically in the span of our lifetime," says Samuel Muscat, with the sense of urgency character- istic of the new global move- ment of which he forms part. Climate change also means a change in everyday life, with certain pests surviving milder winters and adding another strain on Malta's farming in- dustry. Millions of people will have to migrate to have a chance of survival, given di- minishing zones of habitabil- ity that 3-5 degrees of climate change will entail. Muscat is a 26-year-old chemistry graduate who cy- cles on a regular basis and grows trees at home so they can be used in afforestation projects. He also forms part of the Green Party, having unsuccessfully contested lo- cal elections in May. Together with a small number of other activists he has set up a Mal- tese 'branch' of Extinction Rebellion, an international movement that uses non-vi- olent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinc- tion and "minimise the risk of social collapse". The movement hit the head- lines in 1 October 2018, when activists, including promi- nent scientists, assembled on Parliament Square in London to announce a Declaration of Rebellion against the UK Government. In the next few weeks 6,000 activists, includ- ing Greta Thunberg, who in- spired the school strike for climate movement, converged in London to peacefully block five major bridges across the Thames. Like a growing part of his generation Muscat is frustrat- ed by lack of action in his own country. "We should be witnessing a huge push towards renewable energy, adapting our infra- structure, greening our ur- ban areas to reduce the urban heat island effect… Instead we have a war on trees, carbon emissions that continue to rise, and a minister who prais- es himself for concreting over more and more of the island." He also presents a clear de- mand to the Maltese govern- ment: that of declaring a cli- mate emergency. "Where is the grand plan to decarbonise? Where is the plan to reach net zero emis- sions ideally by 2025, but at least by 2050?" Samuel Muscat and fellow activists have participated in protests against the uprooting of trees in Attard and Santa Lucija. As a science graduate he refutes the prevailing log- ic of pitting "emotional" tree huggers against all-knowing technocrats. He warns that induced de- mand will limit the effective- ness of road-widening. "The scientists and experts will tell you that road-widening is fu- tile and will only lead to nega- tive effects, they will tell you that we need to urgently act on climate change and carry out large scale mobilisation to do so. Current policy is not done with the advice of scien- tists and academics, but busi- ness interests who stand to profit from it". And he questions the pre- vailing idea of progress. "We are very much in favour of progress; it's just that the peo- ple making decisions have a very different definition of what progress is. For them progress is increasing GDP at all costs – which doesn't mean better quality of life, just the rich getting richer – ad infini- tum, as if our economy can just grow forever". He is taken aback by argu- ments that those arguing against road widening should consistently give up on any activity harming the environ- ment. "Yes. It is quite difficult to re- ply to such inane arguments. A case in point is that after the protest against the central link project they came out of the woodwork saying, 'Aha, but you wrote on cardboard did you not? Checkmate!" In reality we are all "thrown in a society based on fossil fu- els and then we are made to feel guilty for participating in it, for even existing, while the industries that orchestrated the environmental damage are left off the hook… And while we are all testing each other's' purity, the main pol- luter is forgotten." Those making such argu- ments also perpetuate the stereotype that environmen- talists are just a group of "privileged elites" who do not understand that people's live- lihoods depend on polluting practices. "The reality is that the work- ing-class and the most vulner- able in society will suffer the most from climate change, while the people profiting from polluting can buy their escape from it. This is why we can't just ask people to change their lives but need systemic change and a just transition". Therefore, for Muscat there is "no need for the perfect" and "any step is a positive one." But individual actions on A warning in a circled hour-glass The extinction symbol – a circled hour-glass – is fast becoming the brand for a global rebellion triggered by the threat of mass extinction. Activist Samuel Muscat speaks about the relevance of the new movement to Malta "We have to be clear: individual action is like trying to put out a house fire with a water pistol. We need to overhaul the system" Like a growing part of his generation, Samuel Muscat is frustrated by lack of action in his own country. "Where is the grand plan to decarbonise? Where is the plan to reach net zero emissions ideally by 2025, but at least by 2050?"