indepth
paint it green towards an eco-friendly campus
42 the insiter • march 2010
a climate of
great expectations
Following the recent symposium on climate change held at the University of Malta, Stephanie Calleja offers an overview of the finer points discussed by the experts who were present
F
or sceptics, believers and non-carers alike, the ‘issue’ (for lack of a more suitable generic term) of climate change is as inevitable as the rising sun. The media, unmistakably taking up the role of chief hobgoblins of their audiences, are causing an upshot of awareness. Whether we, as conscious readers, are taking the time to discern whatever is being shown to us or not, is a totally different story. A globalised society is bound to make us think within a collective frame of mind, but even so, this concern is really an assemblage of individual actors constituting one big snag. Should all states share the same burden, irrespective of their geographical, social and economic constraints? 7 January 2010 marked a significant date in the arena of local discourse with regard to climate change. The Department of International Relations at the University of Malta co-ordinated a symposium entitled ‘Climate Change: National Responses to Global Action’, during which several speakers voiced their concerns about the impacts of climate change on the domestic front. Surprisingly enough, it did not simply testify the ‘more action, less talk’ attitude, but it yielded other noteworthy results, as it attempted to clear the misconceptions of the public. Whereas public opinion might lean towards the belief that current sea levels in Malta are on the rise, studies conducted by the
University’s Physical Oceanography Unit revealed otherwise. Marine biologist Dr Alan Deidun mentioned a monitoring station at Portomaso that shows how sea levels around the island have actually dropped. Marco Cremona, the hydrologist on the panel, warned the audience that both the illegal extraction of water from illegal boreholes and the sole dependence on the costly reverse osmosis should be at the fore of the government’s concerns, especially since the Maltese are being confronted with higher water tariffs. He also asserted that the lack of rainfall is leading to a quicker depletion of the aquifers, and by the time Malta will be undergoing the severe effects of climate change, ground water will have vanished. Politicians present at the symposium did not agree on whether our island is capable of keeping up with emission targets set by the eu and the Copenhagen Summit. Resources minister George Pullicino was the most surefooted of the speakers about the government’s ability to reach the 20 per cent emission-cuts target. Caroline Muscat, assistant editor of The Sunday Times, and Harry Vassallo, editor of Illum, on the other hand, were both critical of the government’s ennui over the significantly valid option of resorting to renewable resources. Although minister Pullicino attributed the decline in electricity consumption to the government’s
courage to put energy subsidies to a halt, pl representative Leo Brincat blamed it on the recession. On behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika, Carmel Cacopardo called attention to the deficiency of interaction between the authorities in the national effort to combat climate change. For a small state with limited resources such as Malta, the mitigation of the effects of climate change is likely to have a ripple effect on other sectors – tourism and fishing in particular. The fact that our islands are surrounded by water further endangers our coastal zones, which is where tourism is mostly concentrated. Malta’s sandy beaches will continue shrinking and, as a consequence, in just a decade’s time, the smaller beaches may start vanishing. Owing to the status of one of Europe’s highest population densities heightens and intensifies the perils of climate change once it comes about. It does not take an expert to deduct that Malta is not a major co2 emitter when compared to the other states of the world. However, the uncertainty surrounding the perceptions on climate change, as well as the lack of awareness and knowledge of its causes and effects, are prohibiting the general population from being neutral observers and active agents in the ongoing environmental debate. It is important to note that despite being an Annex 1 state in the European Union, Malta still
hasn’t set up any organisation to zero in on the understanding of local earth systems. Dr Peter. A. Gatt, geologist and researcher at the University of Durham, reckons that the absence of ongoing studies on both natural and man-made forces constituting the impacts of climate change in Malta, is the main reason why Malta may tend to opt for alternative solutions with minimal levels of feasibility. University research is thus a makeshift source of comprehension. It is not simply the particular departments concentrating on geology, oceanography or sustainable development that have cone to the stark realisation that the impact of climate change on Malta is eminently noticeable. The Energy Audit carried out at University in 2007 formally disclosed the high dependency on electricity tubes, air conditioning systems, and computer systems around the place. Joseph Caruana, who is responsible for the communication channels of Greenhouse Malta, told The Insiter that “the Precinct’s Office has been offered a system by a private sector operator to introduce both waste bins and skips on campus. As regards Students’ House, the procedure is different to the one of the precinct’s area as ksu is running the operations”. Although an order has been placed, the bins in Students’ House will not be available until the Environmental Fair in March.
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In an official meeting between Prof. Juanito Camilleri, and the student organisations Insite and Greenhouse, the current Rector shed some light on the environmentally friendly measures being taken by our University with the view of ensuring a greener future for our campus:
1,000 tonnes of CO2 reduced by the University in 2 years
timers
1,600
installed at the library, with an estimated payback period of around two years
UV -reflective
80%
coating applied on windows in
University buildings during summer ‘09
of light bulbs at UOM are now energy-saving
control the airconditioning system
-10%
energy-saving tubes have been
-35% water
consumption
energy consumption
after a detected water leak was repaired
-â‚Ź40,000 20-25% savings
in energy consumption with the installation of power factor correction equipment
of electricity will be provided when the UOM installs
photovoltaic panes on all roofs on campus: The biggest photovoltaic farm in Malta
-5% -10%
emissions 2008, 2009
44 the insiter • march 2010
A greener campus? With the Environmental Fair just around the corner, one might wonder if raising our awareness is enough to bring about the radical changes needed to make our University a greener one. By Christine Spiteri
T
here is nothing like sitting on the wooden bench at the far end of the so-called Green Area in Car Park 6, while enjoying the unusual warmth of the sun’s rays on your cheeks on a late February afternoon. I observe the different people walking in and out of University and together with my friends, take a stab at guessing as to whether these passersby drive their own cars or take the bus home, until a girl cycles past us. “Imagine what it would be like, if we all had to cycle to school,” I remark, as we casually sip lemon iced teas. Nowadays, we are all so spoilt for choice with commodities that for many, it might seem irrational to use alternate forms of transport. It makes you wonder what is really being done to encourage students to contribute towards making our University ‘greener’. Throughout this year, ksu has put into effect a considerable amount of eco-friendly initiatives. Apart from the benches that we sit on – that have generated a great deal of positive feedback from students – there has been a contract signing with Greenhouse, and also the establishment of an Environmental Policy Committee to monitor and research ways and ideas on how to implement environmentally sustainable techniques and schemes on campus. The latest in this series of initiatives is an Environmental Fair that is being organised by ksu with the participation of 30 other organisations, between 1–5 March. In an interview set up with kps Commissioner, Andrea Pace, who is involved in organising the event, I ask about what sort of initiatives are being promoted throughout Environmental Week. He reveals that there is going to be something happening throughout the week, such as environmentally linked debates, clean-up campaigns, an energy-saving car show, and the plantation of trees in partnership with Nature Trust at Wied Għollieqa, among many more. The main intention of having a weeklong event is to help raise awareness about the problems we are facing with regard to our meddling in nature. The Environmental Fair targets to plant a seed in students’ minds, which, with a bit of nurturing, should help him or her make the right choices with respect to the environment. While Andrea enthusiastically points out what is in store for all
of us during the Environment Fair, I cannot help but wonder: is Environment Week enough? Is it really enough simply to raise awareness when most of us can barely see any changes being made in our immediate environment: that of our University? I am surrounded, as I sit, by plastic bottles lying on the ground at the foot of the litterbins. The sound of construction whirrs away in the background, as cars zoom past on the ring road. The absence of solar panels is conspicuous, as are the fragments of building waste and wooden planks dumped into a bin labelled ‘metal’. We can have an Environment Fair handing out flyers all year round, but what we truly need is an actual change in mentality – one that is tangible all around us.
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Waste not, want not
T
Ihose of you who know me probably know that I’m a veritable eco-freak, who’d much rather carry an empty plastic bottle around all day than throw it in the wrong waste separation bin. Or, God forbid, a normal bin. So you can imagine the shock I got when, traipsing around campus for the first couple of times, I noticed the dire lack of waste separation going on. Wasn’t this supposed to be a campus full of educated adults capable of committing to memory seemingly endless volumes of information? Surely, then, it can’t be that hard to remember what goes into which coloured bin, can it? However, judging by the amount of Twistees packets in the tri-bins (dirty foil packaging, guys!) and recyclable material in the normal bins, the concept seems to be way beyond some people. Puzzling stuff. In students’ defence, the tri-coloured bins were slightly awkward to use. Old-fashioned tin bins with chipped paint and labels that could only be read from a distance weren’t exactly inviting. And it definitely didn’t help when it was discovered that after the effort some of you put into choosing the right coloured bin, those responsible for emptying them were putting all the contents into the same garbage bag. So, what is being done around the University to get recycling back on track? For a start, the bins have been painted green and placed on a number of locations around campus, eliminating the need to stand over the sets in puzzlement until you figure out in which coloured bin your empty Coke bottle should end up. The sets now fall under the responsibility of the individuals in the Precincts Office who, in turn, have a verbal agreement with Wasteserv to dispose of the recyclables. Wasteserv is also responsible for the emptying of the various bring-in sites around campus, which seem to be much more successful than the green bin sets. Curious as to why the unfortunate tri-bins seem to be taking so long to catch on, I was informed by both the Precincts Office and environmental student organisation, Greenhouse that in the three years that the bins have been available, there have never been any attempts at awareness and education campaigns. Without that extra push, many students and members of staff may never find the motivation to start recycling.
However, one should expect this to change should the UoM’s financial department approve the new on-campus separation schemes currently pending on the sidelines. With the correct infrastructure in place, the Precincts Office, together with Greenhouse, ksu and Wasteserv, may begin working on awareness campaigns, introducing students to the benefits of recycling. ksu is also working on providing waste separation bins in the student organisation offices, which undoubtedly generate a vast amount of recyclable waste. Furthermore, as some of you may or may not know, Greenhouse have made a number of locked skips available in the vicinities of University stationeries, in the hope that bulk recyclable waste is disposed of wisely. The worrying thing is that not all of the stationeries are making use of the available facilities, or, even worse, are disposing of waste incorrectly. I’m more than willing to pass on Malcolm Borg’s message from Greenhouse to these establishments, asking them to make that small effort to dispose of recyclables properly, especially since the correct facilities are being provided. Another incentive by Greenhouse is the battery bin found at Students’ House which, in contrast to the separation bins, is being put to good use. Using such bins is not difficult. It only takes a small effort to change our habits for the better. Finally, although this may not be directly related to the part students can play in recycling, Greenhouse will soon be launching a composting site on campus, where all the pruning for trees and shrubs will be shredded and composted. At the moment, an external contractor is being paid to shred the pruning on site and remove it. Thanks to Wasteserv and the eu, Greenhouse have been able to apply for funds to purchase their own shredder, the acquisition of which would set the ball in motion for the initiative to become an entirely internal affair. If not, they may find help at the Plant Health Department, who are also in the process of acquiring a shredder. It doesn’t take much to realise that an effort really is being made to begin proper recycling on campus. However, having attractive waste disposal units alone won’t get us anywhere. In the words of one certain wise man, we should be the change we want to see – if not in the world, let’s at least start with our own campus.
photography keith tedesco / yentl spiteri
If you’ve taken the time to throw away your plastic bottle into the correctly labelled bin, you’re probably concerned enough to question what becomes of it after it’s been disposed. Emma Gauci looks at where our campus is at in terms of waste separation and recycling
T
his in-depth report appears in the March ’10 edition (Vol. 10, Ed. 5) of The Insiter – an independent, student-run newszine published eight times a year during term time by Insite – The Student Media Organisation. It enjoys a circulation of c. 5,000 copies and is distributed for free at the University of Malta and other educational institutions in Malta.
© 2010 Insite – The Student Media Organisation. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior permission in writing from the editor.
Editor:
Katryna Storace sub-editors:
Claire Bonello Elizabeth Galea Philip Leone-Ganado proofreading:
Claire Bonello, Vanessa Psaila art director:
Kenneth J. Vella Photography:
Keith Tedesco, Yentl Spiteri Contributors:
Stephanie Calleja, Emma Gauci, Christine Spiteri cover:
Kenneth J. Vella, Keith Tedesco special thanks:
Greenhouse
Correspondence: insite–the student media organisation
University of Malta Msida msd 2 0 8 0
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