Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/448091
VII This week maltatoday, Sunday, 18 January 2015 There are tens of thousands of kinds of snails in the world. Most by far live in the sea, and many others live in lakes and rivers. The relatively few that did colonise dry land had to find ways and means to keep moist. One way of dealing with the dry season, as we all know, is their ability to shut themselves inside their shell and sleep off the summer. Once the rains return, snails resume their business of feeding, growing, looking for mates and laying eggs. One of our land snails is the Decollate Snail and you needn't be expert in mollusks to recognise it. Rather than round, this snail's shell is cylindrical and always seems to be missing the top bit, as though the animal had a nasty accident. But no accident, it's typical of this species to knock off the top end of its shell on reaching adulthood, hence the 'decollate' in the name. Although it does sometimes eat vegetation, the Decollate Snail is also a voracious predator and will consume other snails, slugs and their eggs. So yes, if you want some snail control in your garden, maybe you should encourage a few of these guys to patrol your lettuce patch! This species is called Trajbu in Maltese, presumably because their shell is reminiscent of the pillow on which Maltese-lace workers create their intricate marvels. 437. DECOLLATE SNAIL GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 340: SAY NO TO TTIP This agreement could make it harder to stop fracking, protect our environment and combat climate change. Together we can stop these dirty deals. https://stop-ttip.org/ The European Commission has released the long-awaited results of the public consultation on investor-state dispute settlement (ISdS) in the context of the Eu-uS trade talks (also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP). Based on the text of the investment chapter of the recently concluded Eu-Canada deal, the consultation was launched last spring in an attempt to silence criticism of the system. While a majority of responses rejected outright special privileges for investors as part of the Eu-uS trade negotiations, the European Commission argued the key question for the consultation was if their reforms of the investor protection mechanism were striking the right balance. More than 97% of the responses to the consultation gave a clear answer expressing strong opposition to the mechanism's inclusion in this trade deal. nevertheless, the European Commission announced in the report that it will continue with its reform agenda. The European Commission is showing its total disregard for the voices of people who mobilised en masse to express their opposition to VIP treatment for investors in the Eu-uS negotiations. These results provide yet more evidence that the TTIP negotiations are a dangerous Trojan horse driven by corporations at the expense of essential protections for people and the environment. due to the highly technical nature of the consultation, Friends of the Earth Europe, aK EurOPa, Sum Of us, 38 degrees and the Munich umwelt Institute – among others – made online response forms available to citizens in order to facilitate their participation. Together these groups collected at least 131,000 of the almost 150,000 responses received by the European Commission – all of which expressed a clear "no to ISdS". Many of these responses went into detail addressing fundamental problems of investor-state dispute settlement related to governments' right to regulate, conflicts of interest of arbitrators, the lack of transparency of the tribunals and privileged, undemocratic rights for investors. With this consultation, the European Commission said it wanted to ask the public what they want. People have clearly spoken against excessive privileges for corporations. Investor- state arbitration is undemocratic and conflicts with the fundamental principle of fair access to justice – it should not be part of the Eu-uS trade deal, nor any other trade agreement. Will the European Commission now listen? Today's multinational corporations have recourse to a wide range of measures to protect against investment risks, including private insurance and domestic courts, so there is absolutely no need for a special legal regime like ISdS. This announcement comes amidst growing public opposition to an Eu-uS trade agreement. a petition opposing the Eu-uS and Eu-Canada trade deals has already exceeded one million signatures. The petition was launched by the Stop TTIP Coalition after their application for an official European Citizens' Initiative was rejected by the European Commission in early September. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us www.foemalta.org. You can also support us by sending a blank SMS donation on 50618070 (€4.66) or 50619223 (€11.65). Text Victor Falzon Photo Desirée Falzon Over 97% of respondents said "no" to ISDS in the EU-US trade deal Imagine making a game in 48 hours that can be played by anyone around the world. That's what participants in this year's Malta Global Game Jam will do, whether they are veterans of the games industry or completely new to game development. The Malta Global Game Jam kicks off for the second time at the Insti- tute of Digital Games, Universit y of Malta. From January 23-25, Maltese and international game designers, programmers, artists, musicians and other creative people will join some 25,000 other participants in the Global Game Jam, collaborating on innovative game projects that will be distributed to players around the world. The Maltese event will be joined by internationally renowned game jour- nalist Leigh Alexander, whose pres- ence brings the Malta Global Game Jam into the international limelight. Editor of Gamasutra, Leigh 's writing on games has featured in TIME, The Guardian, and Slate, among many others. Leigh 's keynote, 'Games: A Human Work ', will examine how new tools and new creators mean new opportunities for games to say new things to new people. Indie game developers are not just mak- ing products, but also doing human works. The opening event starts at 14:30 on Friday afternoon and is free and open to the public until 20:00. The focus on indie game develop- ment in the international context picks up from last year's sold-out jam, where a number of games drew the attention of international media and publishers. Also speaking on Friday afternoon will be game devel- oper and critic Pippin Barr, as well as young Maltese game designers David Chircop and Yannick Massa. Chircop and Massa's board game, '… and then we held hands …', won the popular vote at last year's Malta Global Game Jam. Players of the game cooperate to resolve tensions in a failing romantic relationship. It went on to hit first place on Board Game Geek 's Hotness list and scored highly in multiple categories in En- tropy Magazine's Best of 2014 list. It even travelled to the premier board game trade convention in Essen, Germany. Registration to participate in the 48-hour game jam is 30 euro and places are strictly limited. For more information please head to maltagamejam.com. For more information, contact Ash- ley Davis: 2340 3510, ashley.davis@um.edu.mt Malta Global Game Jam goes international after last year's sold out event