TEN years ago, Ian Macdonald-Smith combined his greatest interests and conceived a plan through which they could be used to aid a worthwhile cause ? the preservation of the environment.

Faced with countless examples of man's continued destruction of land and sea, Mr. Macdonald-Smith felt that by creating an archive of digital images and storing them on the Internet, the pictures would serve as a monitor of change ? a constant reminder of injustice that had been done or a permanent accolade to what could be achieved through conservation.

"Man is at war with the environment," he explained. "We're not doing sensible things like conserving the environment. Perfection, utopia, they're not achievable, but they're not a bad ideal ? it is certainly possible to change, and to change positively.

"A vehicle such as the Global Archive will put perhaps not this generation, maybe not the next generation, but the generation after, in a position where they have the right tools to make good change.

"Every country, every region and every person on this planet has a stake in its future and therefore a role in preventing further damage and implementing good conservation practices. There are all kinds of organisations doing very good things with great intention and there are foundations that do great, great, great work. This is going to be another one of them.

"While many theses, articles and news reports continually comment on the state of our environment, a visual interpretation is perhaps the quickest and most effective way to communicate the point to a large and varied audience. A continuous visual record can greatly assist in responding to environmental crises.

"The Global Archive Foundation seeks, through global collaboration, to create a non-profit, comprehensive digital Internet archive of existing and future photographic records, which will provide myriad opportunities to effectively monitor, preserve and enhance our finite and delicate environment."

Macdonald-Smith said his first proposal on the Foundation, written in 1994, was guided by specific interests. "It stemmed from three things really ? my interest in philosophy, my interest in preserving the environment, and my interest in photography. The first proposal I wrote was to do an expedition to record environmental change.

"It wasn't, I suppose, until about five years ago that I realised that I had to do something about it; that if I was going to do it, I'd try to talk to people and get them interested in it. Technology is hugely important. Ten years ago, when I had the idea, the technology wasn't there.

"But I saw where computers where going and realised that, from an archival perspective, it's one of the best ways to archive anything. There are so many old images we have which are damaged. We have the ability to retouch these images; to recreate them, without embellishment, to restore them to how they would have been when they were first developed so they can be used as a record."

He used subsequent trips as templates; refining his initial proposal with each new expedition. And it was while on a trip through Scandinavia that he came up with the idea of including the positions of each image in the archive.

"So in five years' time, ten years' time, 20 years' time you can look at a photograph, know exactly what the Global Positioning System (GPS) is. You can go back to that exact point and say, 'Okay, let's see how this looks now'.

"That's the ongoing side, collecting the images, but there are two sides to this. The other is archival. And that means you've got to go into national archives. Nothing like this is being done at the moment that I'm aware of. You look at archives like , like NASA, like the Smithsonian ? they're great archives and they do great things but they don't have this as their mandate.

"The work is all going on, but it's happening in a sporadic and chaotic fashion. This is where they can tie in. The point is to have a hub that will allow access (to them as well). It's a huge technical challenge ? how we are going to link it all. What I want to do isn't a new idea, just the way it needs to be done. No one is doing it as comprehensively as I would like the Global Archives to."

The importance of what he wants to accomplish is evidenced by the usefulness of images of Bermuda taken by Karl Struss ? one of the pre-eminent names of early 20th-century photography.

"One of the reasons why I started photographing was because of how things changed. I'd go away to school and return and because I knew the island so intimately, I could tell whether someone had moved a rock or a fence. It's recreating a journey but it's also interesting to see.

"(Struss') images are important not only from a photographic perspective and as an environmental observation, but also from a sociological perspective. He photographed Tucker's Town (and) obviously saw a change. When he first came here, it was a rural, agriculture and fishing community ? primarily black.

"And when he goes back, all the blacks are gone, you've got the Mid Ocean Club. It's a lily-white community. He had a social conscience and a sensibility and he recorded that. Any Bermudian who has a sense of history is going to look at those images and realise he really knew what he was doing.

"That's the intent of the Global Archives. That you can travel forwards and backwards in time. Let's see what something looked like in 1958, in 1947, in 1883. The Internet can be very confusing (when trying to find information). There are many, many search engines.

"If you know there is one resource that is easy to go to, to see anywhere on earth, that starts to make it all simpler and actually more powerful. (But) the archival side is paramount. It will take time. It will take effort. It will take money."

Mr. Macdonald-Smith said he was hoping to have the archive document as much of the world as possible and was banking on the increased space which would be afforded to web sites as technology improved even further.

"Obviously you have to draw the line somewhere," he said. "There may be vast plains in Texas ? in reality, having that take up a percentage of the global archive is a little redundant, is a little silly. You still want to keep a record of it, but things like that could be monitored on a local basis.

"One of the ideas is actually to turn the web site inside out, so you as an individual will be able to go online and upload your images onto a holding tank ? for want of a better concept to explain the idea. You'll be able to key word your images, give them a date and check them for inclusion in the global archives.

"The images don't have to be taken by a professional. Some people may just be keen amateurs but still, (their photographs) have incredible historical significance and are interesting and sometimes very humorous because we can't relate to them. Look how they behaved then. Look how they dressed. I do think it's very important to preserve things like culture and dress; to show how things change. So if you have your image in the global archive it's actually an accolade. It's deemed significant.

"If the picture is used for commercial purposes, (the photographer will be paid). If it is used for either environmental or educational purposes, then the photographer becomes a philanthropist. (The environment and education) are the whole focus of the Global Archive and there are entities that do not have the money to pay commercial stock prices to use an image for a flyer that educates the general project on natural erosion."

live pictures, the Global Archive will eliminate any doubt as to whether or not a country is genuinely working to preserve its natural resources. According to Mr. Macdonald-Smith, it was the futility of efforts made in that area that pushed him to see the Global Archive move from concept to reality.

"One of the biggest things about the Global Archive for me is the environmental work I've done here and the futility of a lot of it. It does annoy me. There's no shadow of a doubt we have one of the most spectacular environments on earth, and we have really and truly screwed it up.

"We over-fished it. We're over-building. We're not tackling reforestation in any sensible and strategic way. We have no vision where we're going. And that, I think, is a huge mistake. We have a choice now.

"The Global Archive is going to be a damning record for Bermuda. (Hopefully) Bermuda will look at itself . . . and say, 'We screwed up a beautiful place. What are we going to do about it?' Hopefully, it will get us to turn our thought train around, to say, 'Okay, we've got 60,000 people on 20 square miles. We have no excuse not to start nurturing this place and demonstrating that we can change positively.

"This is a small village. This is a small management exercise. Don't throw eco-tourism out as a catch-phrase when all you're doing is destroying the environment, when you're not doing anything to counteract that in any significant way. There are good people in positions who are doing good things, but the system does not allow this island to progress ? with regard to conservation ? the way it should do.

"A lot of that's political will, but it's also the will of the people. We need a sentiment and an understanding that Bermuda has got to change if it is going to progress environmentally, sociologically and culturally."

More important than anything else would be the Global Archive's role as a watchdog, the environmentalist added.

"Part of this is about transparency. Governments can't say there's no damage here, there's no damage there when I can go online and have a look at it. It is important to have a record. By being an archive you're also being a watchdog but you're doing it in a non-confrontational way.

"As an environmentalist, I can beat my head against a brick wall until it's black and blue ? it's not going to make a difference. What might is if I put images online that the rest of the world has access to; images that may make people say, 'Oh dear'. It's a very powerful tool."

While he admitted that what he hoped for would involve a huge undertaking, Mr. Macdonald-Smith said he felt it would present a greater dilemma for him were he to do nothing at all.

"Even though people say they're interested in the environment, actions speak louder than words. What I've found since I embarked on this project is that getting people to support the environment is very, very difficult. Especially with something like this.

"Despite all that, two things stand out which make me want to persevere. I saw an interview a long time ago with a young black girl in the States somewhere. She couldn't have been more than nine or ten. I can't remember what she was being interviewed for, but the thing that stuck in my mind was what she said: 'What's the point of having small dreams?'

"And the other, I came across a great quote the other day by Bobby Kennedy and it goes something like this: 'I think things that never were and say, Why not'?"

q A registered charity, the Global Archive Foundation will be launched with a black-tie cocktail reception and dinner at the Bermuda National Gallery tomorrow night. Tickets are $500 per person, with each patron receiving a Karl Struss limited edition print and a permanent spot on the Foundation web site as a donor. For more information, contact Mr. Macdonald-Smith at imacsmithcwbda.bm or at 292-3295.