Imagine you are on a train, hurtling down the track with your hands on the controls. Up ahead the track splits. Your own brand-new, already paid for, just painted custom-made car is on the right - and a starving child is on the left.

Which do you hit?

Effectively, we are making that choice every single day, Sustainable Development Project team leader Ross Andrews believes - it's just that we are rarely faced with the immediate consequences.

That's why the concept of “sustainable development” can sometimes come off as “prissy”, “boring”, and “not sexy”, he said. “We all know we should exercise ... Whether we do or not is another matter. This is about making choices now that will have impact in the long-term.

“This is all about choices - and in this case you are impacting others with your choices, so you do have a responsibility.”

Tonight the first in a series of public meetings on Sustainable Development will be held at St. James Church in Somerset. Three other meetings will follow this week and next - and the project team is eager for all residents of the Island, particularly Bermuda's young people, to come out and make their views heard.

The scope of the project that these five people are tackling is mind-boggling. When one thinks of “sustainable development”, Mr. Andrews is right - what comes to mind is not, at first, sexy. It does not take long for the team to convince you otherwise, however.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Royal Gazette last week, the team members - Erica Smith from the Department of Planning, Charles Clarke from the Ministry of Tourism and Transport, Melinda Williams from the Department of Statistics, junior policy analyst Leila Wadson, and Mr. Andrews - discussed everything from their take on Bermuda's housing crisis to the barriers of race to what they heard from Bermudians who spoke with them at this year's Annual Exhibition.

One of the most exciting things so far? Nearly everyone they have spoken to appears to have the same concerns and want the same things for Bermuda - regardless of whether they are black or white, old or young, Bermudian or ex-pat, man or woman. “Everyone's saying similar things,” Ms Wadson said. “It's just that no one's listening to each other ... If we could just break through those walls. There's so much potential there.”

And one of the most startling things? How hopeless Bermuda's young people seem to feel, they said, with many young people - particularly those at the Ag Show - expressing surprise and delight that their opinion on the future of the country would be asked and weighed as important. “The youth clearly feel they have no voice, and yet they are going to inherit this country,” Mr. Andrews said. “They need to be listened to.

“Kids get it, they listen to their parents, they talk about their future.” With most young Bermudians already feeling the bar is too high and that they cannot do what they want in Bermuda, the worst-case scenario could see a middle-class brain drain, with too many young Bermudians leaving the Island, he said.

The concept of sustainable development has to be taken holistically, the team feels - nothing can be examined without the impact it has on everything else also being examined. That means the team somehow has to juggle in their minds issues such as traffic, social behaviours, education, housing, and the economy - just to name a few - all at once, without dropping one.

Complicated as it sounds, the team appears confident in the process - and convinced that what they are doing is “not rocket science”.

The easiest place to start, they say, is with what people do not want to happen. “We have to draw the lines in the sand,” Mr. Andrews said.

They will have to prioritise - but, they added, weight must also be given to factors which might not immediately spring to mind. “Just because no one brings up climate change doesn't mean climate change won't have a major impact,” Mr. Andrews pointed out. The goal is to spend several months gathering information from both within the community and from outside of Bermuda. Then that data will be compiled into a report which will essentially be a photograph of the course that Bermudians have collectively decided the Island must take forward.

At all costs the team wants to avoid putting together a “wish list” of recommendations - they are firmly determined to produce a tangible action plan that can be put in place, instead of just another report collecting dust. The fact that both the PLP Government and the UBP Opposition have thrown their weight behind the team is evidence that sustainable development is a concept which must outlive the politics of the day - and that it must start to happen now.

Surprisingly, the team has been met with cynicism in several corners. Mr. Andrews himself has been viewed cynically because he is not Bermudian, while other camps have viewed the entire team with caution, believing that their final report will somehow recommend that the Island cannot sustain its own development without going to Independence. Yet, Ms Williams pointed out, “We need a plan whether we go Independent or not. We need to deal with these issues, so we need people's input.”

Unsure of what to expect from the meetings, the team was clear that they want to hear all views from all sides - including those of non-Bermudians. “Non-Bermudians are impacting on the environment too,” Ms Williams explained.

“We want you to engage in the process,” Ms Smith said. “This is your Island,” Mr. Andrews agreed. “If you don't engage in this process, then your views cannot be taken into account.

“There's no point in charting a course if we don't know where we want to go,” he continued. “We have to pick a direction and work out how to sustain it. If we can't, then we have to go back and say look, there's a trade-off here. “What are we happy about and what are we not?”

The first meeting begins at 7 p.m. tonight at the St. James Church in Somerset. Questions and comments can be emailed to the team at chartingourcoursegov.bm.