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MT 17 April 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 41 This Week Wood warblers are small birds, thousands of which pass through Malta during spring and autumn migration, but especially in spring. They are active creatures, keeping to the trees and flitting among leaves in search of small insects. Due to its leafy habitat and general greenish colour – perhaps also due to its shape – the wood warbler (Maltese: vjolin ħadrani) belongs to a group of birds known as leaf warblers. To the untrained eye, leaf warblers all look alike (mind you, some of them can baffle even experienced birdwatchers). The wood warbler has a greenish back with lemon yellow breast and white belly. A walk down a tree-ey place like Buskett at this time of the year and a close look – ideally through a pair of binoculars – at any movement in the leaves should reward you with one or two of these handsome birds, fluttering feverishly from twig to twig looking for their next juicy, and often six- legged, titbit. GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 405: FIND OUT MORE: http://www.foemalta.org/jobs Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti 502. WOOD WARBLER Facing the rising tide SCIENCE fiction novels often show a bleak fu- ture of erratic climates, rising seas and drowning cities, due to greenhouse gas increases in our at- mosphere. As the planet warms, most retained heat is ab- sorbed by oceans, lead- ing to thermal expansion of water – the same prin- ciple that makes mercury ther- mometers function. Polar ice cap and glacial melt- ing are both happening at an unprecedented scale in human history and contribute to rising sea levels. It was assumed that this process would take centu- ries or millennia, giving us time to adapt to sea level rise. Recent, very conservative models shown by the International Panel for Climate Change in 2014 showed a 'modest' sea level rise of 'only' a maximum of 1 metre over the 21st century. The same document acknowl- edges that a 2-degree Celsius increase in global average tem- perature, which occurred in the so-called 'Eemian period' around 120,000 years ago, was known to have raised sea levels six metres higher than present. There is a precedent to the scenario we are entering into. Astoundingly, such a sea level rise would render major coastal cit- ies and regions like London, Mumbai, New York, the Nile Delta and most of Bangladesh unin- habitable. Six me- tres would destroy Malta's harbours, ravage Malta's re- maining water ta- ble and flood the fertile Pwales Valley, turning Mellieha ridge in- to an island. Still, until recently, models showed that such an in- crease would take centuries, and that if we somehow managed a reversal of climate change, could avoid the scenario completely. Until this month. New aca- demic papers published by top universities and institutes in the field have raised alarm, high- lighting that we have developed a flawed model all along. James Hansen, retired NASA scien- tist who first spoke to the US Congress in 1988 on the perils of global warming, published a video, explaining the implica- tions of the study. This more ac- curate representation shows how the melting of the West Antarc- tic Ice sheet could lead to an in- crease of 20 to 30 feet (6 - 9m) in sea levels by 2100, if current warming trends continue. The implications are terrify- ing. Although sea levels will not increase equally across the globe, alarming sea level rises will oc- cur within the lifetime of today's youth and their children. Are we, as a nation, preparing for the threat to our existence that we face from such an increase in sea levels? Even if we were to stop greenhouse gas emissions today, some degree of rise is inevitable as we have already locked some warming into our planet's sys- tem, which will manifest itself over the next decades. Armed with this knowledge, we should strive to encourage governments and policymak- ers locally to implement ways of ensuring a degree of preparation and adaptation to this emerging scenario. Governments should start adopting a long-term vision, beyond their electoral term, as regards medium-to-long term threats facing our country. Not all is lost. We do have op- tions to halt the onslaught on the world's climate systems, even on a small scale. Mitigation plays a crucial role. Dramatic advances in technology have significantly reduced prices of solar power. Let us actively invest in solar panels or solar water heaters. Let us avoid careless car use and opt for public transport. Better still: use a bike. Let's consider lob- bying our governments to en- courage tele-working locally to not only reduce traffic, but also greatly reduce related air pollu- tion. Malta boasts a burgeoning digital economy – let us use it to its full potential. It is often these small actions that make a big dif- ference, and with these we can do our part to avert the bleak scenarios described. John Paul Cauchi is a Com- mittee Member of Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar John Paul Cauchi Six metres would destroy Malta's harbours, ravage Malta's remaining water table and flood the Pwales Valley, turning Mellieha ridge into an island

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