Meet the Roving Reporters

I’m going to be honest with you – I don’t spend my weekends strapping myself to trees and lobbying Peter Garrett. The simple truth is, in our current circumstances, being environmentally-minded isn’t a lifestyle choice, or even a trendy pastime. It’s become a necessity, as we all face new challenges on a local, national and global scale.

That said, some developments on the local front have really caught my eye over the past couple of years. A rural centre like Ballarat doesn’t really qualify me as a ‘country girl’, but even with the back lawn as my only measure of crippling drought, it’s blatantly obvious that things aren’t just changing – they’re changing fast.

Want proof? Lake Wendouree, once the glittering oasis of our country town, spontaneously combusted over the summer period. Completely parched of any water, the kindling of scrubs that has sprouted in its centre went up in flames, as residents still capable of remembering a full lake watched on, both saddened and bemused.

As the Environment Reporter, I feel privileged to be given the chance to learn more about issues that are coming to the forefront of our collective consciousness. My inherent, persistent curiousity – the first thing that drew me towards a possible career in journalism – has been given a new target, and one that will undoubtedly teach me more about our immediate relationship with our environment. We’ve come to a crossroads, and from here on out, it’s become a personal mission to not only choose the right direction but travel it as well-informed as I can be.

Thus far, my journalistic endeavours have been enlightening, fascinating, inspiring and daunting. After scoring a Year 10 work experience spot at The Green Guide, the television section of The Age and being lucky enough to get a story run following my one-week stint, I manoeuvred my way into a similar spot at Filmink magazine. After a very enjoyable week of preview DVDs and a premiere (it’s a tough life, it is), I managed to score a regular ‘job’ reviewing the straight to shelf titles every month. I say job, but I don’t get paid. But I do get an invaluable insight into the working world of writing, and the reality of a deadline. As well as some truly awful films. All in the name of experience.

Last year, I betrayed my Age friends and did a week of work experience at The Herald Sun, and when no one was looking, snuck a glimpse of the top floor corporate room – where I’m told, Rupert likes to sit.

Following this, I applied for a Roving Reporter spot at youthcentral, and got even more opportunities to learn, see and experience more. And do some writing, somewhere in between it all.

When I’m not writing – I’m writing. It’s not a self-indulgent confession of a chronic blogger, it’s a simple fact of doing a humanities-skewed set of Year 12 studies. Needless to say, my touch-typing has improved exponentially to the number of essays my teachers add to the pile.

That said, the environmental pressures of our modern world don’t have a weekly deadline – they’re always hanging over us, and so they should be.

I get asked sometimes if I really do care about the environment – presumably because I’m not skipping through the school grounds in a floral garland, fulfilling the stereotype – and my response is always the same: complacency is a luxury none of us can afford anymore. So yes, I do care.

My logic is that complacency is born of ignorance, and by this reasoning, my job is to learn and report. Hope you like it.

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