Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520224
9 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MAY 2024 EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Submit your application JUVENILE COURT ASSISTANTS Aġenzija għas-Servizzi tal-Qrati The Court Services Agency on behalf of the Ministry for Justice and Reform of the Construction Sector is seeking to set up a panel of highly motivated professionals to serve as Juvenile Court Assistants in terms of Article 4 of the Juvenile Court Act (Cap. 287). Interested persons, who should be warranted Youth Workers or Social Workers or Psychologists or Psychiatrists or Medical Doctors with a specialisation in substance abuse are to send their CV and copies of the relevant qualifications on recruitment. courts@courtervices.mt till Friday 17th May 2024 at 12:00 hrs (noon). Persons who already serve as Court Assistants in the Juvenile Court do not need to re-apply. worsen Malta's traffic problem the information to motorists on apps such as Google Maps. But Muscat believes the prob- lem of car usage goes beyond simply making life easier for mo- torists. "The traffic problem in Malta includes not just the difficulty of reliably getting from point A to point B using private cars. It also includes, in no particular order, air pollution, Malta's high rate of obesity, reduced road safety for cyclists which further disincen- tivises non-car use; and reduced effectiveness of public transport. "And together these items in- creasingly make Malta an un- attractive tourist destination, a sector on which the island's economy relies heavily on." Tally up the cost of all these car-related issues, and you can start imagining how the sav- ings reaped from addressing the symptoms, might turn the ta- bles on Malta's worsening traffic problem. Muscat piles even more on that list of traffic woes: the increasing costs of spending money on fu- el and parking, the loss of more land for new roads, petrol sta- tions or parking areas, the lack of safe outdoors for children, and the overall degradation in quality of life and mental health. "With just this starting point, and with the efficiency paradox in mind, it is not hard to see how 'using AI to improve traffic' will not only make some items worse. It doesn't even begin to address some of the more important is- sues," Muscat says. His solution, on the other hand, is that direct focus must be on significantly reducing the absolute number of cars – elec- tric vehicles too – on the road. "Reducing cars on roads, be- sides tackling the immediate is- sues of pollution and stress, will result in reducing the burden the health system, increasing happi- ness and wellbeing, create more fulfilling work environments and school experiences, and give people back the ability to spend quality time with children, el- ders, and community," Muscat says. Muscat has been a proponent of degrowth solutions that pro- mote human and ecological wellbeing, and his experience in climate technology has opened his eyes about the way people go about in solving problems. In 2022, he left a climate tech start-up which wanted to reduce shipping emissions through the use of wind energy – but Muscat believed that rather than simply automating shipping travel and reduce its overheads (such as la- bour costs) the industry had to also reduce the volumes of raw materials and finished goods it needed to transport. "What is really causing the shipping industry's emissions… is that a whopping 90% of the world's goods are transported by boat at not one, but at sev- eral points in their life cycles," Muscat said. So ores and raw materials are transported from mines to re- fineries, to chemical plants, then to the factories that make parts, to the other factories that turn the parts into cars or clothes, not to mention the oil and coal that powers the plants, with the finished goods being shipped to their final destina- tions, and then have the waste 'recycled' back- shipped out – to other nations. "I wanted to open up those containers and work out just how much of that shit shouldn't have even been produced in the first place and then create market or political incentives to stop making that crap. I want- ed to open-source data on wind routes and incentivise slow shipping to halve that 90%. And halve it again, and again." Muscat still believes that cli- mate solutions lie in turning off the tap of constant production, consumption, and waste gener- ation. "Degrowth and post-cap- italism ideologies and policies are the best bet of achieving this." That is why Muscat insists that only the reduction of cars can represent a way forward. Which begs the question: how to go about it? Muscat proposes a suite of "degrowth policies". A few ex- amples and suggestions include the already-implemented free public transport system, but also subsidised taxi services, car buyback schemes, free or subsidised bicycles and bike repair shops, reducing traffic lanes, free priority transport for teachers, nurses, doctors, and other essential workers. It would also mean the remov- al of subsidies for petrol and diesel, taxing new cars, tolls for usage of certain roads at certain times, but even more flexiwork schemes, a four-day working week, and more green spaces. "Can AI play a part in all of this? Without a doubt. AI can assist cyclists, enabling in- creased physical activity. AI can optimise the public transport network and routes. It can help predict where and when essen- tial workers will be most need- ed," Muscat says. "It can help create the friction needed to reduce cars on the road instead of making it more likely that jumping into your car remains the default option."