June 21, 2014

Dear Sir,

I read the recent RG opinion editorial on rethinking the environment with much interest. It was, I thought, an excellent consideration of the situation in Bermuda, both historically and in the present day.

I was also concerned to learn of the recent amendments to the 2003 Protected Species Act and the writer’s observation that they ‘do not appear to have been considered carefully by legislators. Nor was much thought seemingly given to the possible consequences’.

Some horrible hypotheticals were suggested: appropriation of Nonsuch Island for some crass development being one. This is not as unlikely as it sounds. The present situation in Australia is a grave one regarding the environment; even for current World Heritage sites like the Great Barrier Reef, which is under threat from the mega-coal ports and concomitant dredging muck which will be deposited, approved by the present Queensland State Government.

In Britain, they propose driving ‘the very fast train’ through the Chilterns, as they did the M40, another supposed Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, heedless of the objections of residents.

So, I share the concern that the potential for abuse of the Bermuda amendments is a real possibility.

While reading the RG online I was struck by the threatened status of your unique endemic fern. I noted in the ‘bloggers’ comments only one: ‘Yawn.’ While the writer is entitled to their opinion, I think it’s a sad observation; the loss of a species is almost always a concern; though of course I am well aware that species have always become extinct. Doubtless it will happen to our own, sooner or later.

What people should realise is that in the long [or even short] term, preserving the quality of Bermuda’s remaining natural environment is far more significant for, say, the Island’s tourism, than whether the ferry crews indulge in sudden stop-works, however frustrating that may be to affected passengers at the time.

Many moons ago, when I taught Junior Science at the Purvis School, I recall writing a little ditty for the students to sing, Conservation Now! I must have been influenced by John Lennon at the time [he had a fondness for the newspaper slogan song].

Simple stuff, but even in the 1970s it seemed very relevant. I remember visiting small local woodland areas and Nonsuch Island with David Wingate, the then Conservation Officer, while he showed us the thin remnants of Bermuda’s natural environment and of his dream to establish Nonsuch as a reserve of endemic Bermudian vegetation. Truly a man whose life’s work in Bermuda has been testimony to his passionate concern for conservation.

It may seem of little relevance to many people, but we ignore these signs of diminishing species at our peril.

As the RG article expresses it so admirably: ‘Stewardship of Bermuda’s natural environments is not just about what we do today, it is also about how we leave things for tomorrow’. I too can only express the hope that Government will revisit these amendments before they reach the Senate.

DAVID MORRIS

New South Wales, Australia