Victoria

Title: Changes

The most valued and important place that I can identify is obviously planet earth as a whole. Whether that be the air we breathe, the soil we farm, the water we drink or the nature we find in our backyard.

Every place on planet earth has a purpose, a purpose which in someway aids or adds something to our lives. By taking on board this concept it becomes easy to see why we must care and nurture our planet now, so that future generations can enjoy and experience the same surroundings as we once did.

To put this in perspective, my grandpa at age 89, remembers a time when green grass was almost a ‘given’ every waking day. Looking back on his photos there was always an element of a healthy environment behind the smiling faces. He told of a time when no one dreaded summer for fear of a dead garden. There were vast colours and flowers blooming all year round and plenty of water to support this.

When I think of my latter childhood in contrast to his I remember brown backyards and ‘lack of rain’ being the talk of the town, alongside mum’s small talk of my uncles farm suffering continual bad harvests.

Now I have the chance to look at the next generation, I look at my little sister, skipping through her childhood and I feel a certain sadness for her and her friends as they have never seen a summer with the ultimate toy - a sprinkler! The sprinkler provided hours of entertainment for us and concreted memories in my mind of laughter and smiles under the summer sun.

These memories are simple evidence and reinforcement of the changing world. They highlight the need for reform and show the need to cherish and maintain our resources and landscapes in order to preserve what is left.