I often think about the world my children and grandchildren will inherent and feel a level of sadness that it is becoming increasingly likely that the places of natural beauty I was able to explore and experience in my youth may not be accessible to them in their lives.
Melbourne, VIC
My name is Lawrence Ciurleo. I’m a university student and aspiring lawyer who is about to complete my bachelors of laws. I have grown up and lived in the inner suburbs of Melbourne my whole life and have benefited greatly from the natural beauty Victoria has to offer with respect to both the city and regional areas of the state. I hope to one day be able to use my involvement in the legal sector as a force for change in curtailing the effects of climate change. I have a particular interest in banking and finance law and hope to be able to involve myself in this area of practice in an environmentally conscious manner through involving myself in the growing trend of environmental sustainability linked financing.
As a lover of the outdoors, I have spent a lot of my time camping all over regional Victoria including in the Otway Ranges, Grampians and Wilsons Promontory. The natural beauty of these regions has always made me feel incredibly blessed to live only a relatively short drive away from them, which I believe is something truly unique to the Australian environment. The fact that urban environments exist so close to places of such untouched natural beauty is something I believe all Australians benefit from and should actively seek to preserve.
Having an appreciation of these areas as places of natural beauty has also heightened my concerns regarding the negative impacts of climate change. As climate change becomes a more central issue within our contemporary lives, I have often felt that our governments aren’t doing anywhere near enough to curtail the negative effects. My concern is that the effects of climate change will result in the natural beauty of Victoria being negatively impacted as bushfires and flooding become more prevalent with the growing unpredictably of our weather patterns. I recall feeling deeply saddened by the images of both the floods earlier this year and the bushfires in 2020 and seeing the natural environment destroyed by the disasters. I also recall the thick blanket of smoke over Melbourne from the bushfires and being greatly concerned about the air quality and the harm the smoke was causing. I am concerned that these images will become more common as these types of disasters continue to happen going forward.
I often think about the world my children and grandchildren will inherent and feel a level of sadness that it is becoming increasingly likely that the places of natural beauty I was able to explore and experience in my youth may not be accessible to them in their lives.
Experiencing the natural beauty and the rich heritage and connection these places have with our first nations communities has developed my appreciation for the need to care for our environment and ensure that these natural resources remain unaffected for future generations, given the importance they have to understanding both our natural world and our national history and the importance of the connection of the land with first nations peoples.
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I’ve been experiencing a lot of impacts of climate change on my islands. Normally in my islands we made our own clothing with leaves and wood skins. But when we are facing a lot of cyclones, it destroys the trees and leaves so it makes us adapt to the western lifestyle to wear their clothes.
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