Annual status of the profession: 1999: Encompassing hydrogeology, environmental geology and the applied geosciences

All professions began the countdown to the new world, considering the year 2000 to be the first year of the new millennium. Most of the actual impacts are already in place, including multinational businesses and the Euro as the first regional multinational currency. Most of the impacts have been harsh, and relief to individual consumers and professional people will be minor and felt mainly in enhanced ease of communication and media offerings. On the side of the conduct of the profession, the advantages will be far more narrow, as individual practitioners will be facing far stronger forms of competition for their services. Truly, the only way to survive will be for all of us to become more aware of the forces that impact engineering geology and the opportunities that engineering geologists have to provide their services, so basic to all forms of engineering, environmental protection and resource utilization.