How to identify weekend warriors

Make way, make way for the opportunists and hypocrites as they come wailing and gnashing their teeth for the latest chopped-down tree.

They mourn our environment while cheering on Europe’s first solarpowered sea bin, as if it were an achievement of their own that will prevent the collapse of our ecosystems.

Applaud the crooks and feed their fragile egos and then, for good measure, vote for them. Our natural environment is surely safe in their hands! No, I am not referring to the activists who deserve praise and applause for standing up for their rights. I am instead criticising the politicians who cannot help themselves, and who jump on popular bandwagons as if they actually deserve to be associated with the positive causes in question.

Let us refer to these politicians as ‘weekend warriors’. Malta is plagued by politicians who specialise in fooling the general public into thinking that they care about the environment. These politicians can be found everywhere, but they are always most prevalent when in Opposition. When they finally use their crocodile tears to gain power, most of these weekend warriors continue to plunder and rape the environment with abandon. The rotation between Nationalists and Labour in power proves that nothing much changes and that they are essentially the same.

Nothing frustrates and insults me more than high-profile politicians damaging the environmental cause through their selectivity and hypocrisy. They hide behind popular issues while ignoring the hard ones. For example, fake environmentalists use the promise of eliminating single-use plastics to appear as if they are actually going to save our natural environment. However, this form of green-washing is pathetic in that they are using one popular environmental issue to cover the fact that they are doing nothing about so many other problems. Electing them means that nothing meaningful will be done.

I was particularly insulted by Manfred Weber who, in trying and failing to become President of the European Commission, tried to win over environmentalists with a promise to end single-use plastics. As President, he should be suggesting radical reforms to prevent climate catastrophe. We can be plastic-free, but it is no use if the climate crisis makes the world uninhabitable anyway. Such politicians are usually in the pockets of big business and use slick marketing strategies to avoid hot potatoes.

When it comes to their credibility, the greatest test for politicians should be their track records. Track records speak for themselves. It is why the Nationalist Party, even in Opposition, is failing to impress when it comes to the environment. One cannot roll out a few policy proposals and promise to plant trees and be expected to be taken seriously overnight. Furthermore, promising to plant a few trees is insulting to one’s intelligence as it ignores the wider issues. Trees are trendy and fashionable, so the Opposition has decided to care today.

I also wish to criticise the government in its public relations exercises, where the environment is a priority – until it becomes inconvenient. The government may even encourage a few clean-ups to pretend that it cares. It is all in the marketing and the photo opportunities. I therefore, invite the general public to analyse the track records of those weekend warrior politicians who merely show up for the photo opportunities. If someone cares about the environment or any other issue, such as animal rights or good governance, then that person will surely have been speaking about these issues for many years. If not, then take their public displays of concern with a pinch of salt – or perhaps a handful.