I’m sitting here, in utter and total disbelief, hoping against hope that I will be able to archive this post before publishing it.

It pains me beyond belief to learn that the majority of my countryfolk, those who bothered to vote that is, have chosen to defend an outdated right practice that goes against the principles of conservation and sustainability in a world which is moving steadily to the brink. Around the rest of this borrowed planet we call home, there are forces fighting everywhere to defend what little there is left of our natural resources, for that is what we can do, defend what is left, it seems too arduous a task for the time being to claw back what we’ve lost. And here we go about contributing to its destruction.

We may be a country that is used to having to push down hard on the throttle to play catch-up and then, when we do, sometimes we’re far ahead (divorce, LGBTI rights, immigration). But in one field we are way, way, way, way behind – the environment. When will we understand that pride and respect for the place we live in is key to everything else? How can we rise above mediocrity, how can we hope to aspire to greatness in what we do, if around us we are surrounded by ugliness? How can a fair amount of the population be so insensitive to this that they didn’t even bother to go out to vote? Well, you’re all Lauren Coopers in my book and if you need me to spell it out for you, no, that’s NOT a compliment. Suffice to say, I wish Dr Who existed.

To quote Wendell Berry, a leading environmentalist, a conservationist is:

a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.

Well, it seems we in Malta do not know this. This is what we have lost today – we have lost a battle of epic proportions, one that would have set this country on the right path when it came to the understanding of the environment and all it represents for us. And those that don’t understand it are more foolish yet. Now it’s free reign to bad taste. Let’s continue to run this country like a business, let’s just be seen to be making money, and to hell with everything else.

Shame on two people in particular – shame on Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of this tiny island nation, and shame on Simon Busuttil, Leader of the Opposition. Shame for saying you would stay out of things and then proceed to declare how you would vote, and in the former’s case, pronouncing himself on more than one occasion. Enough of the political rhetoric, I’m not falling for it anymore. You know full well that core party supporters are heavily influenced by your pronouncements. And double shame on the latter for using an absurd logic in defending his position. So – you supported an unsupportable case at EU level, leading to sanctions and fees from the ECJ which we, the ordinary tax payers are having to fork out, thank you very much. And then you take this further and say that because you defended that position once you have to defend it again. Of course, woe betide any politician admitting they were wrong or that they simply changed their mind. Two first-class buffoons.

Thank you to the Green Party for being on the right side of history. You have far to go as a party, but from now on, you have my support. Thank you to Moira Delia who put herself out there with little to gain personally, you have my admiration. Thank you to those who bothered to come down to vote, you stand on the right side of history. Now, please allow me to go and cry in my corner while I explain to my two year old son that the democratic process I so believe in has chosen to blast birds out of the sky as they’re on their way to nest.

Bonus track.