Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/699546
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 JULY 2016 40 This Week Lichens are those crusty affairs you often see growing on old walls, often forming lovely patterns of orange, yellow, grey-green, brown, black, even pink. They are textbook examples of symbiosis, in which two organisms live together for mutual benefit (unlike parasitism, where the parasite benefits from its host but gives nothing back, except perhaps sickness and death!) Symbiosis is common in nature, from an egret on an elephant's back, to the friendly bacteria in your intestines. A lichen is a partnership of an alga and a fungus, through which it survives in very demanding conditions, such as a bare rock face. Many thousands of lichens exist, with several hundred occurring in Malta, which are still under study. Many grow on rocks and walls, others on tree bark, soil or even metal structures. They can be crust- like, leaf-like or even twiggy. As lichens are very sensitive to air pollution, their variety and presence in a given area are indicators of the level of air quality. GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 416: : MAINTAIN YOUR VEHICLE: Not only are you extending the life of your vehicle, but you are creating less pollution and saving gas. A properly maintained vehicle, clean air filters, and inflated tires can greatly improve your vehicle's performance. And it might not hurt to clean out the trunk—all that extra weight could be costing you at the pump. 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 Desirée Falzon 513. LICHENS They are beautiful, but also precious. Forests have been called the lungs of the Earth and are vital to a stable climate: cutting them down produces nearly a fifth of global carbon emissions every year. Around 1.6 billion people rely on them in some way, including 60 million indigenous people who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods, food, medicines and building materials. Among the biggest causes of deforestation is large-scale soy farming in South America. Most soy is used to feed animals for the meat and dairy industry – a sector that contributes more climate change emissions than all the cars, planes and lorries on the planet. We need to rethink the way we produce meat and dairy for food, and how much meat we eat, and develop markets for soy alternatives, such as lupins. Things to know about Climate Change 7 – We need to look after the world's forests High-rise or high risk? SEVERAL people this week have asked me why is there all this hullabaloo about high- rise buildings. Isn't it better to build up- wards than sideways? Won't these have a positive effect on our economy? Don't we want to be like Dubai or Singapore? Well now, wait a minute. It is true that space is at a premium in Malta, but with 44,000 empty dwell- ings (this figure excludes sum- mer residences), shouldn't we be looking at rehabilitating them before we change our urban landscape to the detriment of residents? Only 10% are in dis- repair, as a significant portion have been built since the 90s and therefore are not caught in 1939 rents and inheritance disputes. Significantly, these housing units are not being planned to accom- modate Maltese residents, very few of whom would be able to afford the purchase or mainte- nance fees – Dhalia CEO Chris Grech pointed out two weeks ago that it would be the global rich who would have to buy such expensive and upmarket proper- ties. We are about to start building towers, straining our energy and sew- age infrastructure, further gridlocking an already griev- ous traffic situa- tion, bulldozing residents' rights and permanently scar- ring our skyline, for the benefit of a few local speculators. So far so bad. But it gets worse. Let us take the Townsquare de- velopment. Social impact assess- ment? Dates from 2007 and does not consider the new MIDI tow- ers and Fort Cambridge. Assess- ments are being conducted with a piecemeal, haphazard approach. No further comment needed. Traffic impact assessment? Gives a flat number of cars that will be added (around 3,000), without assessing the actual impact these will have on the area. Environ- mental impact assessment's rec- ommendations? "Residents, keep your window shut." Not to men- tion that the necessary reports were not uploaded to the website with enough time to allow objec- tors to review them. The Mriehel development meanwhile is even more sinis- ter. After the public consulta- tion phase ended, Mriehel was brought in as well, thereby allow- ing high-rise development in the area. Surprise surprise, it is one of the very first of these projects being recommended for approv- al. It has been announced that Mriehel will be considered in a second round of public consul- tation… after the project would have been approved and excava- tion begun. There has been talk of Malta be- coming like Singapore or Dubai. Even without looking at these countries' abysmal environmen- tal records and other problems arising when considering dicta- torial countries as role models, there are plenty of problems. Dubai has ample space to ex- pand in previously empty space. Singapore meanwhile has a very strong public transportation sys- tem, and heavy regulations on car use. Significantly, both places planned their development, and invested heavily in their infra- structure to support such devel- opment. Equally significant, nei- ther place had a prior heritage of architectural wealth like ours. Consider the words of Perit Godwin Cassar, former MEPA chairman: "Tall buildings are popular now internationally, and Dubai and Shanghai are clear examples. There are different scenarios to justify tall buildings. Malta does not fit well into any of these scenarios." There are other problems with such developments – a property bubble which can lead to a na- tional recession and the under- mining of our touristic product are two such issues. None of these problems is in- surmountable. What we are adamant about are two things – that good, independent, holistic studies should be carried out and made easily available to the pub- lic, and that the local population is consulted, informed and has a say about where our precious country is heading. As polls last week showed, a clear majority of Maltese might not be too happy about where our leaders are taking us. Robert Louis Fenech