The green whistleblower

Abstract

"The increasing public interest in countryside issues represents a growing awareness of the relationship between quality of life and the environment" - State of the Environment Report, 2005. On February 9 I was given the rare opportunity of venting some of my pent-up feelings regarding the country's environmental problems, or so I thought. Invited to join the Opinjonisti panel {Net TV), I found myself bogged down in the cross-fire between Environment Minister George Pullicino and the Opposition's environment spokesman, Roderick Galdes. I was sitting next to a well-known property dealer - Sandro Chetcuti of Sandro Estates - a highly endearing character but with whose outlook I beg to differ. Why a property dealer was invited to a programme on the State of the Environment Report still beats me, or rather not since Joe Grima, who was chairing the discussion {and who should have therefore been super partes), was generally four-square with Mr Chetcuti on most of the issues raised, even claiming that the construction industry and the property market were the main economic driver of the country. In the quotation I used earlier, I underlined the phrase 'quality of life', which is somewhat different from the monetary 'standard of living' developers seek to drive home.