GOOD LUCK TO ALL IN THE EXAM TOMORROW AFTERNOON!!!

I am sure that you don't need reminding that the exam is tomorrow afternoon and at this stage, apart from wishing you all the best of luck (although I am sure most of you don't need it!) I am not quite sure what else I can do to help.

One last thing that I thought I would share with you all, though, is some tips on exam technique that I have picked up over the past few weeks in workshops......

1. Look for the key command word in the question, for example describe, explain or comment. I seem to be really bad at the describe questions as I always go on to explain - something that will never score you any marks in a describe question. I find that underlining the key command word often helps
2. Are there two sections to the question like 'describe and explain' or 'the environment and socio-economic impacts'? If so, to ensure that you answer both, write a paragraph for each
3. Case studies....... are case studies mentioned in the question and if so are they plural/singular/named? Even if a question doesn't specify the use of a case study, if you can think of a relevant case study that could enhance your answer, use it!
4. Conclude - apparently an examiner should be able to read only your introduction and conclusion and then be able to predict what you have written in the middle paragraphs and so it is also, often, better to rush a paragraph than the conclusion - which only has to be a few sentences long.
5. USE GEOGRAPHICAL TERMINOLOGY - all those fancy words we have been taught all year should be included throughout your answers in the exam as, so long as you use them in the right place, they show to the examiner that you really do know what you are on about!
6. When it comes to Human essays, whether they ask about consequences/reasons/impacts/issues it is often easiest to structure the essays by splitting it down into environmental, political and socio-economic factors. This can also be done if the physical essays relate to impacts, like flooding for example.If you get a purely physical rivers essays the best way to structure it is to divide it into upper/middle/lower stage and then use lots and lots of terminology. When it comes to landforms, whether or not it be river or coastal ones, a detailed mention of the processes that lead to formation, and in order, is key, along with an extensive use of terminology.

Once again, best of luck in the exam tomorrow - I am sure you will all do really well......

Essays

During last Thursday's lesson we got our essays back that formed part of our half term assignment and, like many of you, I didn't do too badly in the essays. Millie seems to think that it would benefit you, my fellow students, if I posted my essays on my blog so that you can read them. I must admit that at first I was a little hesitant at doing so but on reflection I think that, as well as hopefully helping some of you, it will help me to improve my essay writing as it will enable me to look back on my essays and make a list of things that I need to do to improve them. I must make this point very clear that these essays are not perfect but I did score quite highly in some of them so I must have done something right! I was planning on rewriting parts of them to make improvements (this desire to do so was only furthered after reading the essay that Millie wrote last night which not only dwarfs mine but, to an untrained eye, seems to be extremely good and much better written than mine) but due to a lack of time I haven't been able to do so, so instead I am going to write below each essay the tips for improvements that Millie left (the pink bits) and  also my comments on what I would do differently and what I think I did well (the purple bits).

I have written each one in a different post so that you can direct your attention to, perhaps, the area that you didn't score so highly in and so that you don't have to read them all at once. If you have any tips about ways in which you think I could improve my essays they would be much appreciated!


Essay writing, and just English in general, has never been my strongest subject and so I have had to work quite hard, and still am at present, to try and improve my writing technique- especially under pressure and time limits.So, I thought I would share with you some of the tips I have picked up from both workshops and lots of practice.

1. How do I approach the question I face? The first thing I normally do, if I am writing on paper, is to scribble all over the question itself and underline the key points like the command words and what the question actually wants for you. For example, in the first essay in the assignment 'Describe and comment upon the effects and solutions to the Acid rain problem' I would have underlined  describe, comment, effects and solutions. The way in which I then appraoched the essay was to describe the effects and then comment on them and then to move on to describing the solutions and commenting on them.

2. Whenever writing essays I try to maintain a similar and simple structure which ensures I do everything that the examiner wishes me to do. I try to include a brief introduction, that presents the issue I am going to discuss, followed by a few paragraphs before finishing off with a conclusion that readdresses the key points I previously mentioned.

3. MENTION CASE STUDIES, even if the question doesn't directly ask you to. According to Nikki, mark schemes often hold back a few marks for the use of case studies as the use of them shows that students really understand the topic and have a wide geographical knowledge.

4. Always try to give both the postive and negative impacts or side effects from the issue/factor metioned, however small and uninfluential they maybe, just remember to weigh up their importance- this is something that I have been trying to include in my essays where possible after I came to the conclusion that geographers seem to concentrate most greatly on one side of the arguement (normally the negatives) without given the other side (normally the positives) a thought. I also think that it can demonstrate that you have really knowledge of the area and have considered the issue from every angle possible. I tried to do this in my acid rain essay and I also did it in an essay I wrote a couple of weeks ago, as part of my revision, on the implications an ageing population has on a countries economy as, although overall the implications are mainly negative, some sectors of the economy may benefit from an ageing population

5. Mention current issues that are in the news. This point is most relevant to the energy essays as the situation is constantly changing and  including up to date information surrounding current issues is a great way to show to the examiner that you are a well informed geographer who keeps track of current issues and who also has the ability to link this to the modules despite the fact that the syllabus and exam is written well in advance.

I can also add to these, many of the general things Millie said about my essays which include writing in third person and, without a doubt the most crucial point, writing succintly! Another thing that I haven't mentioned above is how it is sometimes good to try and link your writing to the other modules we have studied as they all interlink in one way or another e.g when writing about energy patterns mentioned development and some of the population stuff is vital in explaining key differences in energy consumption patterns and sources, a long with predicting future energy mixes.

Describe and comment upon the effects and solutions to the Acid Rain problem [15 marks]

The negative impacts that acid rain has on the environment are numerous and this is why many countries have been prompted to adopt policies that reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide, one of the main pollutants that creates acid rain, that they emit in the hope that it will help to reduce the global impacts acid rain has.

Buildings are always going to be effected by weathering but this natural process is accelerated by acid rain. Buildings, especially those constructed from limestone, sandstone or marble, are greatly affected by wet deposition as, for example, limestone dissolves easily in acid rain and a calcium sulphate layer upon the stone is often formed. This layer is easily removed by weathering and leaves even more stone exposed to acid rain. Dry deposition also contributes to the corrosion of materials used in infrastructure. This has an economic impact as it is very costly to maintain ancient monuments as they are very susceptible to damage by acid rain. In the UK, it has been estimated that over the next 30 years savings of up to £9.6 billion could be made if we reduced our sulphur dioxide emissions by 30%. In the future this is not going to be such a big problem as modern infrastructure does not use materials, like sandstone and carbonate rocks, which are particularly vulnerable to acid deposition.

Acid rain has many ecological impacts and perhaps the most significant of these impacts is to aquatic environments. In areas that experience heavy rainfall, the dry deposits are captured in the surface runoff and increase the acidity of the water. Also aluminium is drawn out of the soil and when this combines with the acid it creates a highly toxic environment for the majority of aquatic animals. This combination often results in an increase in fish mortality, a decrease in both fish growth and reproduction and declines in amphibian populations. The effects of this are often felt further up the food chain too as, although birds and mammals are not directly affected by water acidification, changes to the quantity and quality of their food sources greatly affect them.

Vegetation, especially trees, is also affected by acid rain and in a similar way. The aluminium  that is drawn from the soil makes it very hard for trees to take up water and the acidic rain itself dissolves the nutrients in the soil and then washes them away before the trees have time to take them in and utilise them. Acid rain damages the leaves and needles on a tree which reduces a trees ability to photosynthesise.

It is clear to see that acid rain has had many negative impacts on the environment but some scientists believe that acid rain has a, small, positive impact in relation to climate change. The bacteria, which lives in wetlands and produces a lot of methane, are very vulnerable to changes in the acidity of water whereas other bacteria, that thrive on the sulphurous conditions, compete with methane producing bacteria. It is believed that this has significantly reduced the amount of methane emitted from wetlands. However, in comparison to the negative impacts acid rain has, this benefit is minimal and, as acid rain is a global problem, many countries have implemented measures to reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide they release into the atmosphere.

By reducing the amount of sulphur dioxide countries emit it has enabled them to reduce the acid rain problem. In 1979 a protocol was introduced which stated that sulphur dioxide emissions had to be reduced by 30% by 1997 and this target was met and furthered as in Europe in the 1990’s emissions were cut by 90%. As well as this, sulphur scrubbers were added to every power station chimney in the UK. In the USA most coal-fired power stations have switched to using low-sulphur coal which can be sourced from areas like Australia and they also have installed sulphur scrubbers to the chimneys. They have also implemented a cap and trade scheme and the combination of these measures have cut America’s sulphur dioxide emissions by over 40% since 1980. The amount of nitrous oxides emitted has not been reduced though and instead have been increased due to an increase in the number of vehicles driven globally and the use of fertilisers. Despite this, at present, the acid rain problem is not as prominent as it was 30-40 years ago due to the success in reducing sulphur emissions. However, unless industrialising countries like China and India are given a cheaper and more available option than coal, the acid rain problem is likely to become a big issue again in the near future. 67% of China’s primary energy consumption comes from coal and coal is responsible for 94% of their sulphur emissions. Acid deposition is already an issue in China with 30% of the country experiencing acid rain provoked problems. As they continue to industrialise, and therefore increase their coal consumption, these figures are likely to rise.

Acid rain has many negative impacts on the environment and attempts to control this problem by reducing the amount of sulphur dioxide developed countries emit has worked to a certain extent. However, these reductions have not managed to solve this issue as it has just moved to different areas of the world that are currently industrializing. If help is not given to developing countries to introduce policies to manage their sulphur dioxide emissions or to find other, greener, cheap and available alternatives to coal then the problems that occurred in the 1970’s due to acid rain are likely to resurface in the near future and on a more destructive scale.

Millie's comments on this essay: She suggested that in my second paragraph I could possibly mention how that although modern buildings, because of the materials used, are less susceptible to damage by acid rain compared to ancient monuments and older buildings which are built from limestone, sandstone, marble and other carbonate rocks; that the manufacturing of more modern building materials is likely to increase industrial emissions and therefore the amount of sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides released into the atmosphere.

Perhaps her most important response to my essay was to suggest that my writing needs to be more succint - unfortunately there is a lot of truth in this. Her concerns surrounding my ability to produce this volume of work in 15 minutes in an exam are also well placed as I realise that there is no way I could ever hope to write this much in an exam. I must admit that it is worrying that I am still struggling, especially as the exam is looming, to write a half decent essay in 15 mintues - tips for writing a minimal amount whilst still managing to get both the depth and breadth required to score highly are desperately needed!

My comments: I don't think that I wrote too badly in the essay and I think that the main issue with it, is that it is not lacking in information and detail but the exact opposite. Although the point that Millie made, in reference to how the manufacturing of modern building materials is going to increase emissions, will be noted I don't think I would necessarily add it to this essay but instead concentrate on cutting out the less important bits and writing more succintly.

 There are clearly some improvements that can be made but what do I think I did quite well? Firstly, I think that my structure was better than it has been in previous essays I have written in class as my introduction was short (an achievement for me!) and served its purpose, I described and commented on both the effects and solutions to the acid rain problem whilst managing to make reference to a few case studies and my conclusion was suffient and readdressed the key points I had previously made in the essay.

If you have any tips, points for improvements or good case studies/statistics that I didn't include but perhaps should of then please comment..........

With reference to case studies outline ways in which the fuelwood supply could be managed more sustainably [15 marks]

Theoretically, fuelwood is a sustainable source of energy as trees can be replanted to replace those that are cut down. Reforestation and afforestation schemes are often successful in the countries that implement them but such schemes are often costly and so are only implemented in more developed countries. This means that, globally, the fuelwood supply could be managed more sustainably as it is often the developing countries that rely on fuelwood as a source of energy which often leads to deforestation.

In Nepal, 87% of their primary energy is sourced from fuelwood and the ever increasing demand has led to the destruction of 71% of their forest coverage. This has resulted in the risk of flooding and landslides in both Nepal and neighbouring Bangladesh being greatly increased as the absence of trees increases surface runoff by reducing the interception store and it means that there is a lack of roots to bind the soil. One way to manage the fuelwood supply is to reduce people’s dependency on it by offering other alternatives. In Nepal, to reduce people’s dependency on fuelwood, appropriate technology has been used to give people an alternative to fuelwood. Biogas stoves have been installed in rural areas which run on the methane that is produced when livestock manure decomposes. Not only has this reduced the number of trees that have been cut down but it has health benefits as well as respiratory problems are associated with the smoke produced when fuelwood is burned. The Sahel is another area that has suffered environmental damage due to the unsustainable way in which fuelwood has been gathered. Excessive fuelwood gathering has led to desertification and salinisation and, in an attempt to remedy the problems provoked by deforestation; other alternatives are being introduced to reduce people’s reliance on fuelwood as a source of energy. In the Sahel, solar cookers have been introduced which means that people do not have to rely on fuelwood at all to provide the heat required for cooking. Both of these examples of appropriate technology have reduced the number of trees that are cut down. In developing countries, like Nepal and the African nations, forms of appropriate technology, like solar stoves, are possibly a better and more sustainable way of managing the fuelwood supply than implementing afforestation and reforestation schemes as, by offering an alternative source of energy, people are less reliant on fuelwood. Also many forms of appropriate technology don’t rely on fossil fuels as energy sources which are why they are often very environmentally sustainable.

Another method that could be used to manage fuelwood supplies is to implement afforestation and reforestation schemes. In Europe farmers are given grants, by the European Union, to turn farmland back to forests. However, a similar scheme could only be set up in countries that can afford to offer attractive incentives. A similar method of managing the fuelwood supply has been introduced in Nepal and also involves encouraging the local people to get involved. The aim of the project is to promote the regeneration of the fuelwood supply by encouraging locals to help with the planting of trees which are grown in local nurseries. Such schemes are often very successful as not only do they help to regenerate the forests but also provide locals with the skills required to continue with the replanting of trees in the future. Other countries have also initiated schemes that involve replanting trees and China is an example.  China, due to their large population, cut down many of their trees and this has led to the expansion of the Gobi Desert.  To prevent further expansion, in 1981, China introduced a law that said that every citizen over the age of 11 has to plant at least one tree every year. As a result of this law, China has the highest afforestation rate in the world and in 2008, 47,000 square kilometres worth of trees were planted. This has helped to solve the deforestation problem but, at present, fuelwood is no longer a major source of energy for China. As China tries to industrialise they have started to use other, more commercial, sources of energy like coal. This shows how finding other alternatives to fuelwood is one approach to managing fuelwood supplies and, in developing countries, this is where forms of appropriate  technology that can be used to supply energy are very beneficial for both the local people and the environment.

As fuelwood is, theoretically, a sustainable energy source the easiest way to manage the supply would be to ensure that trees are replanted to replace those that are cut down. In developed countries, that can afford to employ afforestation and reforestation schemes, this has been a successful method however this can work in developing countries too. For example, the replanting tree project in Nepal is a more sustainable way of managing the fuelwood supply as not only does it help to regenerate the forests but it also provides the locals with the skills required to continue this scheme in the future. Another way that the fuelwood supply could be managed more sustainably is by offering some alternatives, like solar cookers, so that people are not totally dependent on fuelwood. Reducing people’s reliance on fuelwood is an important way of managing and preserving the fuelwood supply, as when fuelwood is not the only option the forests are not exploited to the extent that the gathering of fuelwood has a negative and lasting impact on the environment. If measures like these are implemented then fuelwood can be a sustainable energy source for future generations and not have as many negative impacts on the environment compared to those that are created by the current, unsustainable, way of gathering fuelwood.

Millie's comments: Millie felt that I needed to address the issue of the start up costs of implementing afforestation and reforestation schemes in more detail and talk about why this is important, in relation to managing fuelwood supplies.  Her biggest criticism of this essay was that it lacked the addressing of how development plays a huge role in determining the management of fuelwood supplies. I failed to mention how,although schemes are great and important, they are not widely implemented due to a lack of both education and funds to kick start them. The fact that developing countries have other priorities, such as securing food, clean water and developing a health and education system, which therefore attract the most funding should also have been mentioned.

A note for Millie incase she reads this: - I found out about the replanting tree scheme, in China, in the second Al Gore book, Our Choice and I can remember that when I first read it, it shocked me slightly and definetly stuck in my mind. This is the extract from the book if you are interested "China stopped deforestation more than 10 years ago, and in 1981, the National People's Congress declared that all citizens of China above the age of 11 (and until age 60) have a duty to plant at least three trees each year. The planting usually takes place in March and April, during spring for most of China. The Chinese tree-planting program is driven by the central government in Beijing, with cooperation from regional leaders. The Chinese people planted 11.7 million acres of forest in 2008 alone - a 22% increase over 2007, according to the statistics released by the Chinese National Greening Committee. Chinese schools require each student to plant at least one tree before graduating, and most schools set aside time for a 'green education, program. The nation announced last year that it will spend almost $9 billion on its tree planting program for the year and set a goal of covering 20% of the nation in forests by next year. The president of China, Hu Jintao, has personally taken part in the tree planting to underscore its importance as a national priority". Apart from this, I am ensure of any other details - especially how a scheme like this is enforced - but I still think it is quite interesting and the statistics released, although I don't know any more recent ones, suggest that it is working.

My comments: This was my lowest scoring essay and I am very tempted, as part of my revision to redo it, especially as I found it the most challenging of the three to start writing about, and include the bits I missed - especially as, on reflection, they are rather crucial points. Levels of development are crucial to consider in practically any essay in relation to the energy module as differences in energy sourcing and consumption patterns ultimately come down to different levels of development and therefore, in this essay, I really should have considered it.

The essay below it just the one we did on the environmental impacts of fuelwood gathering and it was only a 10 mark essay but I thought I would include it anyway as, by realising the impacts of fuelwood gathering, it helpe me to evaluate the steps taken by countries to manage their supplies and the effectiveness of such steps.....

What are the environmental impacts of fuelwood gathering? (10)

Fuelwood is an important source of energy and is heavily utilised in developing countries and even though it is, theoretically, a sustainable source of energy, there are many negative impacts that fuelwood gathering has on the environment – especially if it is not managed. For small, isolated communities fuelwood is normally the most appropriate energy source to utilise and they do not use enough to cause lasting damage to the surrounding environment. However, as the population increases at a rapid rate the number of trees cut down to feed the increasing demand can cause substantial damage to the environment.

 87% of Nepal’s domestic energy is sourced from fuelwood and around 71% of the forest coverage has been cut down and this has had many negative impacts on the local environment. In wet climates deforestation reduces the interception store and thereby increases surface runoff which increases the risk of flooding. Deforestation in Nepal, which is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and so experiences heavy precipitation, has increased the risk of flooding and landslides in neighbouring Bangladesh. The risk of landslides is increased as the absence of trees means that there are no roots to bind the soil. Also the removal of trees means that, during times of flood, there is no large vegetation to prevent the movement of sediment and this increases the impacts flooding has on the local area. Another environmental impact of excessive fuelwood gathering is that it has led to the destruction of animal’s habitats. The forests of Nepal are home to thousands of animals, many of which are endangered or endemic and deforestation, caused by both over-grazing of cattle and the cutting down of trees for fuelwood, has meant that many of these animals have been forced to move or have died.

In regions that have dry climates, like the Sahel, deforestation leads to desertification as a lack of trees means that transpiration doesn’t occur as much and so rainfall happens less frequently. Also there are no roots to bind the soil and, as the soil is more exposed to the elements, it becomes more susceptible to soil erosion. Salinisation often occurs in unison with desertification as the antecedent moisture in the exposed soil is easily evaporated and when this happens the salts in the soil, which are highly toxic to the majority of vegetation, are drawn from the soil and this means that the land becomes even more unproductive than it already was. The combination of both desertification and salinisation has led to prolonged droughts and famines in the Sahel which have been experienced annually since the 1970’s.

Despite the impacts that excessive fuelwood gathering can have on the environment, when it is managed properly and the demand for wood doesn’t exceed the amount of trees that are being replanted, it does have some benefits for the environment. The burning of fuelwood produces a lower quantity of atmospheric pollutants than the combustion of coal and the other fossil fuels. Also the carbon dioxide that it released from the burning of fuelwood is offset by the uptake of carbon dioxide that would have occurred during the trees growth. For people in remote locations, it allows them to have an energy source that they would otherwise be without as they are not connected to a national grid and so can’t access electricity, which they probably wouldn’t be able to afford anyway even if they were connected a national grid. Also, as they can source this energy locally, the pollutants emitted from vehicles, that would have to be used to transport other energy sources like oil or coal, are not emitted.

It is clear that, if the use of fuelwood is not controlled and policies to replace the trees that are cut down are not implemented, the environmental impacts of excessively gathering fuelwood can be disastrous. However, for many developing countries, fuelwood is the only accessible and available energy source for isolated communities and at present, is possibly one of the best alternatives for them to coal, which is the energy source that industrialising countries often turn to next.

“Nuclear energy presents nothing more than a short term fix to the UK’s energy mix problems and the impacts of reaching peak oil” To what extent do you agree with this statement? [15 marks]

More and more money is being invested into nuclear energy and with 10 new nuclear reactors being commisioned, in the UK, in the near future nuclear energy is going to provide an increasing proportion of the energy we both produce and consume.

Personally, I think that; although nuclear energy is a much greener option than using some of the other fossil fuels, it can hold no more than a short term fix to the UK’s energy mix problems as the uranium used is also a finite resource. This means that in the future we are going to have to look for other, more renewable, alternatives to nuclear energy for the generation of electricity as someday the reserves of uranium will also run out. This is one of the main reasons as to why I agree with the above statement as, how can something that is not going to last forever provide a long term fix to problems provoked by our reliance on a dwindling energy source.

Another reason as to why I agree with the statement is that nuclear energy will not be able to remedy all of the problems that will be exposed when we reach peak oil and beyond. Although, using nuclear energy will mean that our electricity generation will be much greener, you cannot simply replace oil with uranium because of the wide range of uses oil has. Oil is used in so many of our everyday items from clothing to modes of transport and plays an important role in food production as it is not only used to power machinery but to make fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides as well.  So uranium alone will not be able to fill the gap that will be left when the global oil reserves run out. This is why I think it is important that people recognise that nuclear energy simply cannot be a long term answer to the problems we are going to face and that, although in the short term nuclear energy maybe the best way to go, is it really wise to totally scrap ideas, like the Severn Barrage, to instead give support to projects that aim to develop an energy source that, unlike tidal energy, is not going to exist for ever.

However, in the near future, I think that nuclear energy is going to play a very important role in electricity generation worldwide – especially in the developed countries. The production of nuclear energy has a very low output of greenhouse gases and so, in the short term, is a good alternative for the use of fossil fuels and can be used to reduce our global dependency on oil and coal. Many developed countries, in an attempt to boost their environmental credentials, are likely to turn to nuclear energy as the reserves of fossil fuels run out and more pressure it put on countries to become greener. Also, the supply of uranium is more reliable than the supply of oil as Australia holds the largest proportion (31%) of uranium reserves in the world. Australia is, by far, a much more politically and socially stable country than those in the Middle East who own a large percentage of the world’s oil reserves. Despite how attractive nuclear energy may look to some, I think that we need to remember what is one of the prime causes of the situation we are going to face in the near future and to learn from the mistakes, in terms of our exploitation of energy sources, that have been made. Globally, we are too dependent on oil and so the rate at which reserves are depleting has been accelerated and our reluctancy to invest in alternatives has been escalated. Nuclear energy is becoming an increasingly favourable alternative for many developed countries but it is important that countries to do not become too reliant on nuclear energy as a method of generating electricity as one day uranium reserves will run out.

Overall, I agree with what the statement is saying as how can nuclear energy offer a long term fix to our energy mix problems when, in the future, reserves of uranium will run out. Also, uranium alone, due to the numerous uses of oil, cannot fill the gap that will be left when oil reserves run out. Although I don’t believe that nuclear energy can offer a long term solution to the problems we will face; I think that it will play an important role in electricity generation in the near future. However, I believe it is important that we don’t let history repeat itself and become too dependent on nuclear energy and so I think that, in conjunction with the development of nuclear energy, we should develop our renewable energy sources so that we will not face similar problems in the distant future and so that nuclear energy can be a contributor to the UK’s energy mix in the long term.

Millie's comments: In my second paragraph (why does it seem that I always need to improve my second paragraph?), she said that I needed to define what peak oil is, which seems like an obvious thing to do seeing as the questions refers to it (why can't I do the simple things right!), and also to mention the issue with transport as, in developing countries, oil is primarily used in transport and nuclear power cannot meet this demand. Millie also commented that I need to refrain from posing further questions and, in response, I am going to blame this bad habitat that I have acquired on the writing of this blog as I have got in to the habitat of presented questions when I shouln't - a bit of a bad excuse, I know.

Another point, that will be relevant to any question that asks you to what extent do you agree with this statement, is that I should write in 3rd person but I don't know about any of you, but I find it extremely hard to to say 'I think that.......' or 'I agree.......' in essays like this one. However, this is clearly something that I need to work on.

In the penultimate paragraph, Millie felt that I needed to include the fact that the carbon involved in th construction of nuclear power plants, despite the fact that they have a very low output of greenhouse gases, means that they can never be carbon neutral.

My comments: There are clearly lots of things that could be done to improve this essay but, fortunatley, most of these are things that can easily be included in my future work. I must admit, whilst looking back at this essay, I was impressed at how sort, in comparision to some of the others I have written, it is. However, I still have a long way to go before my work is suffiently succint.