Breathing it all in

I set out this morning on possibly the coldest day so far of the winter. I was in a hurry, rushing the kids to school, my daughter swinging a cloth bag around which contained her costume for the dress rehearsal of her school Christmas play. After months of sweltering summer, which appears to have finished only a short time ago, I was almost eager to feel the tang of cold air on my face, perhaps tinged with salt from the sea in the harbour, flecked with white from choppy waves as it was.

Instead, I was greeted by the stench of diesel fumes and the sight of a plume of poisonous smoke snaking its way towards me from the chimney of the Cepsa oil refinery. Ironically, though you can't tall from the photo I took just outside the estate where I live, the strong northerly wind was also turning the blades of wind turbines that dot the crest of the hills behind the refinery. No better visual proof that nations at the Copenhagan Climate Conference can rightly accuse developed countries of causing most air pollution and global warming.

I could go into a tirade against Spain and how there must be a lot of vested interests in Madrid that their government does not respond quite as forcibly as it should to stop the filth that is known to break EU regulations from polluting our air and coating our lungs and making our friends and neighbours sick with horrific new versions of cancers. But, as I rounded the corner towards the school, I spotted a similar plume of smoke, thankfully heading eastwards away from me but towards the new housing estate at Waterport Terraces, this time, from the power station. This filth, added to the unnecessary volume of traffic means I can't avoid breathing in poison. Perhaps many Gibraltarians don't notice because they are either accustomed to it, or their lungs are full of cigarette smoke.

The Government of Gibraltar has shown, with its rather watery traffic plan, and the incredible length of time it is taking to provide a new power station and shut down this old filthy one, that it does not have the cojones to be a world leader in cleaning up its local environment. Given the activities of local groups like the ESG, Gibraltarian people, or some of them, do feel strongly about the issue and want to protect the environment. But it is clear the Gibraltar government needs some heavy persuasion. After all, they are not protecting their electorate from heavy pollution.