years ago is to hit the stores once more, in an updated version.

The new edition of "Bermuda's Delicate Balance'', a landmark in the Island's environmental movement, should be for sale in a matter of months.

It will include changes since the book was first published in 1981 and make new recommendations for preserving the Island's natural heritage.

The National Trust book has been revised under the direction of environmentalist Mr. Stuart Hayward, one of the original editors and now an Independent MP.

The revision has taken five years, and the new edition is now ready to start the production and printing process.

Said Mr. Hayward: "The first book started off as a paper outlining where the Trust stood on development generally.

"It grew from that into a book with three editors and 30 authors and more than 200 contributors. The first printing sold out and we had to do a second printing.

"There was a global waking of environmental consciousness and the book was a large part of that consciousness in Bermuda.

"Eventually we had to decide whether to reprint again or update it.'' Realising some of the statistics in the book were now 15 years old, the Trust decided to update it and hired Mr. Hayward to head the mammoth task.

The Trust believes the new work will play the same role as the old one -- acting as a source of facts on the Island environment, especially for school and college students.

"We're very excited about it,'' said president Mrs. Patsy Phillips. "It's been five years in the making and we're very keen. The other one was a sell-out -- it was obviously a popular book with Bermudians and visitors as well.

"It's the only book of its type.'' So what has happened to the Island's ecology that has had to be tackled in the new book? "The big change has been in population growth,'' said Mr. Hayward.

"Population in the last decade has grown at three times the rate of the previous decade.

"Another is the fish pot ban, which was a major environmental change for the country.'' Bermuda imported three-quarters of the fish consumed here, and the quarter gathered from local waters had been enough to over-tax the supply.

"It indicates the kind of unsustainable lifestyle we have here,'' said Mr.

Hayward. "The crux of the issue is population and appetite -- how many people the Island can support and at what level of consumption. Both tend to increase.

"The reason the fish pot thing is so interesting is that it's the first major signal that the combination of population and appetite is beyond the carrying capacity of the resources.'' Bermuda residents were also working harder than they were 10 years ago, he said. "But does this mean increased satisfaction or are they busier to keep the system functioning?'' The new book's full recommendations are staying under wraps for the time being.

But Mr. Hayward disclosed it would urge better information-gathering on the Island's population and environment, so better decisions could be made.

It would call for a more integrated approach to the environment, so fixing one problem did not cause another.

And he hoped the new "Delicate Balance'' would again cause people to think more about their responsibility to the environment.

"The real change is going to have to come as changes from individual people.

That's mainly what the concept of this book is geared toward.

"We consume a level of the world's resources and produce a level of the world's waste that are just unsustainable.

"We view our success as individuals and as a country almost entirely in economic terms. We ignore the whole underpinning of that economy, which is the ecology.'' HOLDING THE BALANCE -- Mr. Stuart Hayward presents a new version of his "environmental Bible'' to National Trust president Mrs. Patsy Phillips (left) and public relations chairperson Ms Maurine Harvey.