Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504697
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2023 COMMENT The Skinny Malta, shrunk down EDITORIAL A climate change emergency and a new Malta PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASSAR If this is not a wakeup call, I don't know what is PAGE 6 While the public is more forgiving of U-turns than usually imagined, the reversal over the abortion amendment Bill and the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry could still be damaging for Robert Abela MARK SAID | PAGE 12 What are we skinning? Both the figurative and literal experience of 'collapse' in our political and actual infrastructure over the past week. Why are we skinning it? Because just like the climate-change-in- duced heatwave we've also had to tolerate over the past week and a bit, it is deniable only by a hard core rab- ble of bad-faith true believers. Which one should we tackle first? We can go high-level on all fronts really, as I think everything is ulti- mately interconnected. Hmph. I'll still need you to get spe- cific. So, the power cuts. We heard about how the heat's primarily re- sponsible for them. And you're saying that's not true. I'm no engineer, so I could give who- ever's trotting out that interpretation the benefit of the doubt in some ways. But even then... Even then, what? Well, what causes unbearable levels of heat? A propensity towards high temper- atures, exacerbated further by the encroaching realities of climate change? Yes, okay... but apart from fans and ACs, how would we mitigate its effects in the short term? I guess shade helps? Shade and the natural salve of... (drum roll)... Trees?! YES! But we've had to chop down trees and destroy green areas to make room for more roads and apart- ments. In aid of... (drum roll)... tHeE eCoNoMyYy... Yes, an econo- my built on not just senseless, per- petual growth, but senseless perpet- ual growth whose ultimate sacrifice is our own collective wellbeing. At least the political class will be happy to have made its developer buddies happy. We can bask in that satisfaction, yes. It's up to you to de- cide whether that's a fair trade but either way, the principles of Chris- tian humility (and Stoicism) dictate that we should learn to be happy with our lot. But it's not just politicians, though - the tourists are bound to be hap- py with the sheer amount of hotels and entertainment hotspots we're relentlessly rolling out for their sake. I mean yeah, the tourists who come here to experience Malta as, infamously, another iteration of Ma- galuf are bound to find what they're looking for... They're the ones too drunk or passed out to care about noise pol- lution, traffic and power cuts. Who cares about a well-rounded human experience when you can be a zom- bied-out consumer? Do say: "While shallow fin- ger-pointing is hardly the solution, the current situation in the country is undeniably down to a heritage of political negligence that tran- scends any party or faction. We must grow out of our predilection to quick-fix solutions if we hope to dodge truly apocalyptic scenari- os." Don't say: "The shadow puppet show I put up on my living room wall during the power cuts this week had more grace, consistency and integ- rity than whatever it was the ruling party mumbled its way through in its myriad disastrous public appear- ances." No. 202 - Total System Collapse, Baby! MICHAEL FALZON The arrogance of dilettantism PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Back to the stone age PAGE 5