What do I think are the main threats to securing sustainability for the future?

I have really struggled with this blog to find out what main threats there are. It is really hard because sustainable issues could be discussed continuously, and after discussing it, do you always come ‘full circle’ and find yourself back to the original issue that you started discussing with no answer? My only conclusions that I really kept coming back to, were peoples’ attitudes, money and time.

As Bacon, one of the founders of modern science put it,
The world is made for man, not man for the world’.(cited in Hopwood et al, 2005)Pg38.

This seems to be a view that many people have and that needs to be changed to be able for us to secure some hope of sustainability for the future. Our lifestyles and the way we live need to change drastically.

Granted, that things are changing slowly in the UK. In Defra Handbook for sustainability development 2008, 53 indicators show improvements since 1999. Some of these include renewable electricity, waste recycling, fear of crime, and housing conditions, but most of us know that there is a long way to go to reaching our targets for these.

I think the UK has become a ‘nanny state’ in which the government tells us everything we have to do. There was the ban of smoking to try and reduce the illnesses related to this, then came the age limit that was increased on cigarettes, but has this created a new wave of illness? Now there is a huge rise in obesity, and the government are now considering putting a tax on chocolate!
"Irresponsible" marketing techniques are being used to sell chocolate and fuel Britain's obesity problem, Tory leader David Cameron has said. BBC (2006)

Is this the government just trying to pin the blame on one thing though, and not its own doing. I remember years ago when I was a child at school, and I don’t think there was more than the odd one child that was classed as ‘fat’, but we still ate chocolate and sweets. Will the next thing to be taxed be computer consoles?

Also taxes on alcohol per unit, so that there will be no more ‘cheap’ alcohol, but will this really stop anyone from buying these products?
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson will tomorrow recommend a ban on drinks being sold for less than 50p per alcoholic unit when he delivers his annual report on the state of the nation’s health. Oakeshott (2009)

What may this lead to? Will people just buy other things instead. Illegal drugs will soon be cheaper than the legal drugs, which will lead to a bigger problem and health issue risings.

Peoples’ attitudes have started to change slightly towards recycling our rubbish and turning off our lights, and other electric items to save electric in these ways, and companies are doing more to promote this too. I bought Tesco’s out of easter eggs the other day, and on all the packs it tells us that the whole packaging is recyclable.

Other small issues are becoming more apparent and common, such as shops charging for carrier bags, and the bigger supermarkets are trying to encourage everyone to re-use their bags, by keeping the bags under the counter and having to ask for them. Have you ever noticed when you are in shops that it is mostly the older generation that always have their own bags? This is not because they are retired and they have plenty of time to ‘think’ about taking their bags to the shops with them, it is because years ago the shops used to charge for bags. This is not a ‘new’ idea!

It is the same principle for other issues. We are now being encouraged to shower, rather than have a bath, but the older generation are used to this, in their lifetime. Only having baths ‘once or twice’ a week, and a washing day with a twin tub. Their food wastage is minimum where they have never wasted food. Any leftovers have been kept for the next day or given to the dog. Recycling is not a ‘new’ concept. Bottle used to have a deposit on them to encourage people to take them back to the shop.

There is a huge attitude shift in the younger generation that were born and grew up in the late 80’s when the ‘boom years’ were here. This was the time that excess money was ‘rife’, and the ‘throw away’ society really kicked in. Nobody had to worry about how much water, electric they were using because it wasn’t an issue to them. They could afford it. This generation have never had to worry about conserving anything, be it electricity, water, or food. These are also the years that technology advanced quickly. Computers, games consoles and mobile phones were being updated rapidly and people would want the newest version whether their old one was broken or not. This in turn made things cheaper to buy because of competition, so items like washing machines were nearly as cheap to buy new, than to get the old one repaired.

Years ago everything was conserved and recycled, because not as many people had surplus money. They would work nearby to where they lived. Many couldn’t afford cars, so would walk or bike to work/school, and because everybody worked and lived in the same community it was friendly towards each other, and safe. It was unheard of to lock your house in the day, there was no fear of crime.

What I am trying to ‘work out’ with all these examples I have mentioned is the money aspect of this. After all the government are telling us that billions of pinds are needed to restructure public transport, housing, poverty, education etc, but do we?

We all spend within our means. If we didn’t have as much money, maybe we all wouldn’t be so ‘throw away’. We would have to conserve more of our individual energy resources such as water, electric & food, which in turn would create less waste. People would have to start living nearby to their work to save them money, and in turn this would create a better community spirit.

Is it the fact that the government are telling us what to do by making up new laws, and in turn changing peoples’ ways of lives that is a main threat to securing sustainability for our future?, Or is it money, ‘the root of all evil’? Do we need more money, or less? Have we becaome spoilt in the past years in what we have had and now we don’t want to change? Is it impossible to go back to a former way of life?

In conclusion, is it really possible to change people’s attitudes enough to secure a sustainable future? Is it really all down to money? Do we really have enough time left to change any of this? Personally I have no idea!

'The concept of sustainable development represents a shift in understanding of humanity’s place on the planet, but it is open to interpretation of being anything from almost meaningless to of extreme importance to humanity. Whatever view is taken, it is clearly an area of contention.’ Hopwood et al. (2005) Pg 40.



References:


BBC (2006) Cameron attacks chocolate sellers .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4580778.stm. [accessed 30/03/2009)

Hopwood. B, Mellor. M, O’Brien.G, (2005) Sustainable Development: Mapping Different Approaches, Sustainable Development. 13, Pgs 38-52.(www.interscience.wiley.com)

Oakeshott, I (2009) Price of alcohol could double. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/drinks/article5909773.ece (Accessed 30/03/2009)

I live in a small village that is in the Milton Keynes area called Olney.

Area: Milton Keynes 001D (Lower Layer Super Output Area)

As you can see from this table there are not many people that live here, and I would describe as a rural townand there si not a great deal of ethnic cultures

Milton Keynes 001D

2001 Population: All people (Persons, Apr01)1
Count
1,609

2001 Population: Males (Persons, Apr01)1
Count
799

2001 Population: Females (Persons, Apr01)1
Count
810

2001 Density (number of people per hectare) (Persons, Apr01)1
Rate
0.86

People stating religion as: Christian (Persons, Apr01)1
%
73.21

People stating religion as: Buddhist (Persons, Apr01)1
%
0.25



According to the statistics on the table of Milton Keynes SOA 001D, we have a minimal amount of people on benefits, have no deprivation, no cause for issues, and I believe that to be true. There has just been a secondary school built for the children of Olney and surrounding villages, and as much as it is hi-tech, it has also been built with sustainable thoughts in mind also.

Housing in general is very high priced, and has not faltered through the beginnings of the recession. This does make it hard for the younger people to get their first affordable house here, and many of them move further away to cheaper places nearby in Bedfordshire or Northants.

3-month moving averages by number of bedrooms in Olney

Mar 2008 - Mar 2009

Change
5 Bedrooms
£645,000
£553,736
-14%
4 Bedrooms
£377,808
£362,655
-4%
3 Bedrooms
£238,398
£262,054
+10%
2 Bedrooms
£221,490
£202,647
-9%
1 Bedroom
£192,633
£141,504
-27%
All
£336,723
£285,900
-15%

This shows that on average families are still striving (and struggling) to afford to move here.

Olney is quite often classed as ‘quaint’, and many people move here, that commute to work once they are married and have children. The schools are good, and it is a nice place for children to grow up, with little crime, and plentiful spaces to play.

On the whole, council tax is banded extremely high, because we are banded to Milton Keynes Council, so the facilities are available to us, such as the library, etc, but are quite far out of reach, as are the police. Policing has been an issue of late, because of small issues, such as teenage drinking, and graffiti, but in comparison to other places in MK we have nothing to complain about, and this has been dealt with having a couple of Special constable police to be seen about.

Milton Keynes recycling for households is very good, and they also have a recycling scheme for outdoors waste for compost, at a small charge, and there are 2 large recycling centres to go to.
Sustainable issues are ‘rife’ at present in olney because there is a wind farm being proposed. Personally I am all ‘for it’, but there are many that are against, arguing that it will compromise the natural beauty of the small town and countryside. Unfortunately for the people opposing, it has been through court and rejected.
http://www.blew.org.uk/

The Milton Keynes area as a whole, does have problems..
there are 6 LSOAs in MK which are within the most deprived 10% in England. These areas cover a large part of Woughton Ward and part of Eaton Manor Ward. Overall there are 22 SOAs within the most deprived 30%. There are 14 areas within the least deprived, 10% of these are in rural areas, Newport Pagnell and some areas in the city. [Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 – Lower Super Output Area Analysis of MK]

Milton Keynes as a whole, is grouped into areas, of deprived and non-deprived due to its construction, so obviously they are trying to help the areas most needed at present.

The tannery of Olney was closed approx 6 years ago, and many people in Olney had worked there since leaving school, so this was a problem, also there are many farmers in this SOA, and there used to be a huge cattle market in Olney in the week, and has now ceased to exist, which meant having to go to Northampton, which has also moved now, but other industries have taken their place and so there is little unemployment here. There is a small industrial estate, and many of the 'long' lived locals work there, and the majority of the community is very close-knit, however there does still seem to be a slight animosity to the new people that move here, but still commute to their work place.

Community spirit is still high, and Olney has its yearly Cherry Fair, , and Dickens Day throughout the year, and we have a high tourist input with the farmers market also, which generates a lot of business for local businesses. There is also a monthly magazine all about the goings on in olney, to keep everyone up to date, and to comment on. Usually the comments are quite random, and non-specific, eg. The colours of shop fronts, and a slight tinge of graffiti in the bus stop, so it concludes to me, that most people are happy in this town/village.

Local transport links are good to Milton Keynes, and Northampton etc, but slightly erratic if living in one of the smaller villages. (They only seem to turn up when they want to). I think this could be improved quite considerably.

There are few amenities available for the youth, and this is the main cause for others annoyance, but there are 4 pubs, and several other restaurants. I think it would be good if there was somewhere for the youngsters to ‘hang out’ without getting in the way of everyone else, ‘not seen, and not heard’ scenario.

references:

http://www.blew.org.uk/

http://www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk/councils/olney/index.html

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=301167&c=MK46+5BJ&d=141&e=13&g=410003&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1236729047328&enc=1&dsFamilyId=789
http://www.mkiobservatory.org.uk/page.aspx?id=1912&siteID=1026

http://www.phoneboxmagazine.co.uk/default.aspx?g=topics&f=6

Sustainable Development in Education

I think educating sustainable development in schools from Key stage 1 is a great idea. This is will teach our future the importance of all aspects and will for them, become instinct to react and deal with it.

Education is changing greatly with new subjects being introduced. For example, sex education to promote safe sex, and the knowledge of STI’s, hopefully to decrease these diseases back into ‘rare cases’, Up to one in ten sexually active young people are thought to have Chlamydia, and in some places/schools where 1 in 4 students are suspected to have Chlamydia. Hopefully, this will prevent the disease, instead of having to deal with the disease.

‘It is informed by the past and relevant to the present, and prepares individuals for the future. Education teaches people to be better individuals, family members, community members and citizens.’(UNESCO online)

Scotland have already introduced this into their education and have a vast knowledge and learning departments to refer to, to teach all year groups the different importances of sustainable development.


Climate Change resource
The Climate Change resource for Scottish secondary schools encourages young people to investigate, communicate and act to tackle climate change.
The resource features the latest international research and essential information, details of climate research in Scotland, and photographs from around the world for use in Scottish schools.

Schools' Global Footprint
Use the Schools' Global Footprint resource to calculate the amount of resources you and your school use compared with what is available in the world and find out how to reduce your school's impact on the planet.

This should hopefully develop their awareness and understanding of the
Environment in which we live, and make them more committed to help with sustainable
development issues at a personal, local, national and global level."

The importance of Geography
"Geography is a focus within the curriculum for understanding and resolving issues
about the environment and sustainable development....It can inspire them to think
about their own place in the world, their values, and their rights and responsibilities to
other people and the environment.
However, other sustainable issues can also be taught in other subjects, not just in Geography.

The importance of Science
“...They learn to question and discuss science-based issues that may affect their own
lives, the direction of society and the future of the world.”

Design and Technology
They combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetics, social and
environmental issues, .....Through design and technology, all pupils can become
discriminating and informed users of products.....

Citizenship
It encourages pupils to play a helpful part in the life of their schools, neighbourhoods,
communities and the wider world. It also teaches them about our economy and
democratic institutions and values; encourages respect for different national, religious
and ethnic identities; and develops pupils' ability to reflect on issues and take part in discussions.(www. Itsscotland.org.[online])

I think teaching sustainable development in all different subjects and integrating it into the learning is achievable, and will be very beneficial to our way of life. Its harder to try and make people change their views once they have been ‘set in their ways’, but if you teach the young from an early age, they will grow with the idea of sustainable development in ‘mind’.

In taking this module I have learnt so much that I was unaware of, and because I am a lot older than most of the other students in this class, I have noticed that they have a lot more knowledge about this subject than I do. I have loved learning more about sustainable development, and don’t feel so naive as I did when i first started this class, but I only wish I knew more about it years ago.


References:
http://www.fpa.org.uk/information/leaflets/documents_and_pdfs/detail.cfm?contentid=128
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sustainabledevelopment/findresources/index.asp
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27542&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://www.services.bgfl.org/services/pdf/yoenc.pdf

Credit Crunch.

‘The action taken in response to the credit crunch indicates the scale and speed of what is possible. Saving the ecosystem services upon which we all depend would seem to be at least as important as baling out the worldwide cartel of reckless and greedy bankers.’

This was the response from Professor Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum, London, when asked by The Independent whether we should have a’ Plan B’ to curb the worst effects of global warming. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/what-can-we-do-to-save-our-planet-1221097.html

This is true.. The government have gone to huge lengths and costs to try and sort this out for everyone, to make it as painless as possible, so why can’t they ‘step it up’ a couple of paces with the climate change and solutions to it? Surely all they need to do is start putting through some new laws about carbon output, and taxes on coal and other non-renewable fuels, and it would be achieved, after all they are usually quite happy to put new laws into action.
If you just tap into google or another search engine ‘new laws in 2008’ there are a vast amount of them, ranging from tax exemptions, missing peoples families, men paying for sex, and forced marriages to name but a few that most of us know nothing about!

However, while life is in a changing time, with the credit crunch and ever increasing redundancies being made life will surely change for the better for our sustainable development issues hopefully.

Our spending ways are decreasing dramatically for most of us. Where are most of us going on holiday this year?, if indeed, a holiday at all!

Feb 4th Thetimes:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5654242.ece
British Holidays for British Workers.

Pontin's announced yesterday that it is creating 2,000 jobs and spending £50 million updating its Ocean Parcs to cope with demand. Landmark Trust (the upmarket Pontin's where you can stay in 18th-century follies in the shape of pineapples) has been inundated with requests not just from the Shadow Cabinet, which now has to holiday in Britain, but from bankers vying to sleep in a Gothic temple in Buckinghamshire.

This will help with unemployment in the UK, and less carbon emissions from aeroplanes. Who can afford to go on holiday abroad when the pound is so weak to the Euro and the dollar? The flights to these places are still cheap, but then it is going to cost a small fortune while you are holidaying there.

Most of us that are over 20 can remember some kind of credit crunch/ recession, and even if it wasn’t a worldwide, or nationwide credit crunch, most individuals at some point in their life have a period of having no spare money and wondering how on earth they are going to pay the big red bill that has just zoomed through the letter box! (or is that just me?)

This will change most people’s views on leaving the lights on because they are in too much of a rush, and leaving the TV on standby all night because they can’t be bothered to turn it off. The little things as everyone always tell us, are the most important. Its like the old saying, ‘Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves’. I’m not so sure that it is true, but when you are struggling to pay the basic household bills, and rent/mortgage, anything is worth a go.

Gone are the days, that you want to ‘dress to impress’ and spend over the odds on new clothes. Now it has become ‘Bargain Hunt’ Era. Less people are shopping for the finest foods, and are with the rest of us at the local Poundland, or 99p store.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5541951.ece

These shops are definitely not feeling the credit crunch. Poundland are revelling in it, aiming to open another 30 stores this year.

Primarks are also a leading ‘bargain’ store for clothes, which are still doing well, but what about the child labour that goes into all these clothes getting made? Have we now stopped caring, because we can’t afford to care? Does everything really revolve around money.

The Fairtrade and Organic brands were often bought at the supermarkets. Have we stopped buying these now and started buying the ‘Value’ instead? Was the reason that we bought them in the first place just to look like we cared, or can we really not afford that extra 20p for them anymore?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1970474/Financial-crisis-Credit-crunch-fails-to-stop-our-summer-holidays.html

Another subject is ‘home-growing’. Having your own allotment has been on the increase steadily for the last couple of years, probably due to all the gardening programmes, and the chefs like Jamie Oliver that have their own little cabbage patch, but in the last year, some of the councils have been inundated by requests for an allotment.

In Sheffield 2,200 people want an allotment, compared to 35 people 10 years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4409956/Recession-creates-queues-for-allotments.html
Figures from councils across Britain reveal that as many as 100,000 people could be waiting for allotment places as hard-pressed families seek to save money by returning to "The Good Life".

Could this be the Good Life..... returning to this?

I think it could definitely help us towards reducing our waste and carbon emissions, but I also agree with Nef;

Out of the ashes of the crash, a new economic order is emerging. This is a genuinely historic – and for many, painful – time. But it presents us with a unique opportunity to build a financial infrastructure that actually does the job the old order failed to do: to value and protect our fundamental social and natural operating systems. In a new economy, these are what must be valued and invested in, not the hollow, unsustainable and destructive promises of easy credit, consumerism and unsustainable economic growth. A return to ‘business as usual’ is not an option.

http://www.sustainablescotland.com/library/new-thinking/wellbeing/view-category.html?dir=ASC&limit=5&limitstart=0&order=name

Whatever good things come out of the credit crunch, there still needs to be huge restructuring to our way of lives to make everything better, if that is at all possible any more.

Our Travel Survey

Last thursday the whole class split into small groups and for an hour each throughout the day, with a half hour lapse of each other, we did a survey of the amount of cars entering the university car park in tally form, tallying how many had 1 person or 2,3 etc. The travel survey, was completed at 11am. I was surprised how many cars came in at this time. I thought that the majority of people arriving at uni would be in the morning and around lunchtime.



We did seem to notice that a lot of people were having real problems trying to get into the car park because it was the first couple of days that the barriers had started working, and over half of the people parking at this time were trying to access the car park using their student card, which caused much amusement for us within this hour!



However, I had to leave the survey half way into it because of family chaos, but the time I had completed seemed to be quite constant with cars turning up probably averaging 1 car per 1-2 minutes, and I was surprised to find that most cars only had 1 person in.

Its a shame that there isn't a more wider knowledge, or site that can be posted on nile, so advertise car sharing, because this would reduce the amount of cars by quite a huge ammount.



The questionnaires that were completed were hard to get people to stop. I think it was because most people were in a rush to get to lectures...or so they said!!, and the people that did offer to fill one in, seemed to get bored half way through, so if we had to do this again, I think it would be better to keep it less complicated. I think it was mainly question 5 and 7 that made the questionnaire longer than it looked.



If we were to do the travel survey again, it would be effective if we could get enough people to do it for more than one day, ideally 3 to get more of an average over the week of cars using the car park, and maybe doing hours without the half hour gap, as that data is missing.



As we only had so many groups though, I think it was the best possible solution to space it out through the day like that, and it will give us a good enough result of cars using the car park throughout the day.



Our group struggled considerably to get questionnaires, not just because a lot of people declined, but also because of the lack of people in our group, but we did our best to get as many filled out. It was also raining at the time of our hour outside doing tallies and questionnaires, so this didn't really help either.

WHAT CAN ‘WE’ DO TO HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

There are a number of things that we can all do to help make a difference, such as recycling, saving energy by turning electric appliances off when they are not needed, washing our clothes on 40 degrees instead of 60 (or maybe not washing them as much as you would normally!) Walking small distances instead of driving, or maybe taking the public transport that is available instead; and not forgetting the all famous compost heap down the bottom of the garden. But is this really enough? I think it is a start, and is better than doing nothing at all....

‘But’.. I hear some people moan...... ‘what’s the point of me doing it if the rest of the world isn’t. On a worldwide scale it will have no effect!’, and you can see their point, when in the The Guardian on Tuesday 9 Dec they printed a nice picture of new figures that confirm that China has overtaken the US as the largest emitter of CO2. (compiled by EIA, the Environmental Information Administration.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/interactive/2008/dec/09/climatechange-carbonemissions

As usual there is always two sides to every story.. and this may be so, but if we do nothing and no other country does anything then the world as we know it won’t be about for much longer..

So I ask myself, is there anything else that we can do to help??

Some people have gone that little bit further to help like the group ‘Plane Stupid’. As much as I admire them and think ‘Yay, go for it!’. I, fortunately wasn’t one of the many people stuck at Stansted airport because my plane had been cancelled!, and in the long run, what has this achieved? Certainly lots of annoyed people that didn’t get to go on holiday that day, 50+ of the group getting arrested, bad publicity.... (or is there such a thing?).

I believe there are many successful protesters that have fought long and hard for what they believe in.

http://articles.mibba.com/People/907/Emily-Pankhurst -

If it wasn’t for Emily Pankhurst, that fought from 1889 – 1928 to get the right for women to vote equally as men. She fought hard and was imprisoned countless times, because she believed in our rights as human beings.

Maybe we should all become super heroes, like ‘Climate Man’?, who this week breached the most heavily guarded power station in Britain and crashed a giant 500MW turbine, leaving a calling card reading ‘no new coal’.

Nobody has a clue who this was, but he singlehandedly cut UK carbon output by 2%... Not bad for a days work.Can’t fault the guy!!). He has also gone that little bit further to help with the current climate issue.

So, I think we should do as much as we can to help in this struggle to save our planet. If we can’t be a super hero, or don’t want to get arrested, just change your life a little and you know that you are doing your bit for our world as it is, to stay like it is a little longer.

Blog 4.. UN debate

Doing this exercise of the ‘UN’ style debate I found out lots of facts on SouthAfrica which I would have had no idea about. I didn’t know a lot about this country at all apart from the fact that people go there on holiday a lot ad they have a good rugny team! I was aware of the fact that there was a massive problem with AIDS/HIV and the basic structure of the whole country, eg the bits you see on the news; appartheid, nelson Mandella etc, but that was all. So when we started researching this country it was easy to find the basic facts, but it took a little while to play with ‘wording’ on the site engines to get any information up about the sustainable Development issues. Once we had sorted that out though we found vast amounts of information.

The end of appartheid in 1990 has completely changed tis country, before this the majority of the population were unaccounted for (so to speak), and now it is having to care for the whole population which has brought on huge changes & difficulties. However, South Africas Constitution is now regarded as one of the most progressive in the world.
Also, we found the South African Energy Policies for Sustainable Development, edited by Harald Winkler from the Energy research Centre, In University of Cape Town, and this showed policies that could happen, how easy they would be to implement, and the cost effectiveness of them. Both these items, I forgot to mention in the presentation!!

I think South Africa are definitely progressing well, but still have a lot to achieve to be on target for their ‘Vision’. Hopefully with the FIFA Wold Cup 2010 being held there, a lot of money will be invested wisely into the country which will give them a helping hand towards some of their targets.

By doing a presentation, we were able to not only find out about our own country through the research we did, but also find out all about the other countries policies and struggles which we had no idea about, (Imagine how long that would have taken us to research on our own!!). Eg, i now know that Denmark is the ‘elite’ in sustainable development, and all I can imagine now is that it looks like something out of the Honda advert..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXf5UUnLzwQ

On the day of the ‘UN’ debate, i know everyone was very nervous. (Iknow I was). I’ve never stared at a table for so long!, but considering this, i think we all did really well. I agree that we all should have looked up more & not just read from our notes, but the fact we all did our presentations without passing out with fear was quite an achievement i thought.

I know the money went to the most deserved countries that needed it, but if it had been different and the money had gone to the contries that gave the best presentations, i think it would have been given to Cambodia & Malawi. I think they were the most confident speakers.

Despite the fact that I felt sick all day knowing I had to stand up and give a presentation I really did enjoy it. It will be good to do it again, and is a great way of learning the differences other countries face. Next time we all have to do this, i am sure everyone will be much more confident and will be far louder and ask more questions... bit more debate-style. I did think the whole group were really supportive of each other though.

Considering the handout was only to be 2 pages long, it was hard to compress all the research we had found into it. If I was to do it again, I would probably just put the main points down, and not describe it so much.
I like working as a team because you get the added bonus of ‘back up’ and Adam was good in the presentation. It was hard for us to meet up and collate findings because of work & other commitments, so we ended up mostly relaying information through e-mails, but seemed to work fine. We only met briefly to discuss what each of us was going to say in the presentation, and I think we should have gone through this in more detail to make our presentation flow better, but on the whole... I think we worked well.