On Friday 6th November, Friends of the Earth Malta held a climate forum to close the international photographic exhibition on climate change, The climate is changing are you?
The exhibition was very successful, attracting lots of attention, questions and feedback from visitors. The selected 18 photographs were exhibited between September and October in Sliema, Birgu, Santa Venera Birkirkara and at University.
The climate forum was held as a platform to discuss the threat climate change poses locally and what strategies are required to provide long-term solutions. Guest speaker Eur. Ing. Charles Yousif explained that energy efficiency measures and renewable energy applications must go hand in hand, in order to combat Climate Change. Yousif stated, Giving more importance to only one of them would not achieve carbon dioxide reductions and risk paying higher premiums in the future to repair damages caused by climate change.â€
Guest speaker, Mr. David Spiteri Gingell, former Chairman of The Climate Change Committee on Greenhouse Gases, stated, “I enjoyed working with FoE and am impressed with their commitment and professionalism. I augur them well as Malta needs NGOs such as theirs.
In his presentation, James Camilleri, engineering graduate and volunteer with Friends of the Earth Malta, stated, Everyone of us has a responsibility towards targeting the problem of climate change and a collective effort is needed to reach our targets of emissions reductions.
Yousif also stated that, The financial investment in renewable energy applications should not be considered as a disadvantage but rather an investment in future generations and a new source of job creation.
The vandalism to the exhibition display, which took place in Birkirkara on the weekend after the climate forum, destroyed a large number of the prints. Friends of the Earth Malta is not disheartened by this incident and will carry on with its campaign on climate change as planned.
Friends of the Earth Malta will be in Valletta on 12th December, Global Climate Action Day.
The exhibition was funded with support from the European Commission – Youth in Action programmes under the heading 1.2 Youth Initiatives. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the EU Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.