Bermuda is changing.

In many areas and in many ways, the waves of change can be observed and felt. This change is taking place in both the tangible and less tangible areas which make up our society. Our value systems and societal expectations, although somewhat intangible, have evolved drastically from the expected modes of the past. Often we hear members of our community express apprehension, whether warranted or not, at these changes. Many see the increasingly liberal stance on once taboo issues, such as sex, violence, relationships and politics, as an example of societal change heading in a downward spiral, a negative progression. This change is also being felt and seen in many tangible forms as well. The changing face of technology, media, lifestyles and other important societal areas are clearly different than the Bermuda of ten, 20 and certainly 50 or 100 years ago.

One significant and very tangible area that Bermuda is drastically changing is our physical environment. The environment can be said to be the ?canvas of society?. It is the three-dimensional physical backdrop to which we play out, express and develop as a community. Our environment can be compared to a goldfish bowl and the members of our society as proverbial goldfish. What we do to the bowl, inadvertently or intentional, invariably affects us. Our connection with our environment is so coupled that it is commonly said that ?one is a product of their environment?. This saying denotes that our environment somehow shapes and gives birth to the individuals that reside there, the same individuals that form the fabric that we call society as a whole.

It is with this rationale that I feel that Bermuda, as a society, must be careful. As an environmental scientist who has observed the trends of environmental change globally and locally, I feel that Bermuda is on the cusp of a shift in our national outlook and approach to our physical environment. Today, we are faced with critical environmental challenges, the significant issues being overpopulation, housing shortages, exorbitant cost of living, lack of open space, traffic congestion, waste disposal, and environmental encroachment and pollution. Paradoxically, we also as a society want and need to maintain and develop nationally as well as stimulate development in our relationships with international jurisdictions for economic, national and personal reasons. Ironically, it is this need and desire for development that creates many of the issues named above.

Nonetheless, in response to this need, community members as well as our national government have become increasingly bold in moving towards changing our physical environment, often sacrificing the ?look of the past? for a more 21st century look of the future.

Our banking institutions have taken on a new approach to the business of lending that adds fuel to the fires of this trend of expansion. Housing developments have become larger and now focus more on potential income than on maintaining Bermuda?s traditional architecture. Commercial building projects, both in our capital city and in other parts of our Island have increased not only in number but also in scale.

Once pristine and fiercely preserved, arable and wooded land is increasingly being developed or is under pressure to be developed. Financiers are beginning to express in the public arena their intentions to bring about a new ?look? locally, a ?look? that is both aesthetically different and modern but also one that is functional ? a responsive look to the needs of a cosmopolitan 21st century Bermuda. This is the trend of the day. As witnesses to this pattern, the question that must be asked is two-fold. How far are we willing to go and what will we do to effectively structure a balanced Bermuda for the future?

The answers to these questions are as complex as we are as a society diverse. One key point to accept is that change is inevitable. Bermuda is, will and in my opinion, must change. Change is a fact of life and a product of time. By first accepting the inevitability of change, we can begin to answer the essential questions I posed above.

Once accepted, our next step should be to set limits and standards for the ?new? 21st century Bermuda, limits and standards that address the essential question of how far we are willing to go. These standards need not be written in stone, as Bermuda and its society will continue to grow and change. However they can provide a base for our predicted national development for at least the next fifty to one hundred years. These limits and standards should and can come in the form of a National Sustainable Development Plan. It is with great pleasure that our Government has initiated this process, starting with the formation of a Sustainable Development Committee.

This committee should look to first empirically delineate Bermuda?s environmental status in regards to population, open space, protected land, development, traffic, pollution and other critical areas concerning our environment. It is helpful that much of this information is already known.

Secondly, a national survey should be conducted so as to ascertain the thoughts, opinions and expectations the Bermuda public has on these key issues. In this way, any plan developed will be responsive to the needs and desires of the public at large.

Thirdly, an expert panel, comprised of international and local specialists in these areas as well as general community members, should be embodied to set about the task of developing a National Sustainable Development Plan.

Once begun, this developmental process should have a time limit for completion, however it is essential to recognise that it is not to be rushed, especially in regards to destructive elements like political expediency, underfunding or ineffective leadership. Also, critical to this process is an examination of other jurisdictions, both large and small, in regards to identifying the environmental challenges they have faced and the solutions they have been able to implement.

Once armed with such a plan, Bermuda as a society can be said to be better prepared to deal with the inevitable and already occurring changes to our environment. As ?goldfish?, our ?bowl? and its limits will become that much more tangible and manageable. Developments can be looked to with an attitude of excitement and pride rather than apprehension and suspect. Our citizens can better plan for how they can participate and benefit, financially and socially, from the developments taking place in our society.

Bermuda has already served as a model in areas such as conservation, preservation and economic progress. As a small island state, the opportunity to both accomplish the feat of sustainability and to serve as an international model for this concept is uniquely obtainable. In the coming century, the global theme of the age will be one of technology and environment. Of this dual theme, one facet, that of technology, will progressively make our hopes and dreams that much closer to becoming reality.

The other, the environment, will impose limits on these hopes and dreams. The finiteness of our environment will force us as a human race to increasingly work synergistically with our surroundings and its resources. We will become that much more aware of its role as sustainer and canvas. This awareness is a necessity if we are to accomplish our goals and live in harmony with the foundation of physical life. Bermuda, with these thoughts in mind, let us be careful as to the path we tread to our future!

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