Skriftlig HTX A besvarelse

Hej alle sammen. Jeg var til skriftlig engelsk A eksamen og har lige fået respons. Jeg synes min karakter var noget lav ift. det forventede, og jeg ville blot spørge om der var en venlig sjæl der ville kigge den igennem og komme med en evt. karakter/kritik.

Mange tak!

A. Account
Throughout the last century, the water usage on the globe has increased immensely. This is due to many factors, but the most important aspect in this regard, is the fact that the population on the Earth is increasing exponentially. One may wonder: how come this is such a big issue, if the Earth is mostly covered by water? The main challenge is concerning that our water usage is growing at twice the rate of the population. Thus, we are not only troubled with an increased population – which by itself is bringing plenty of trouble – the population is also using increasingly more water. The increased demand for water is in coherence with the increased demand for food. As of 2008, 1.1 billion people did not have access to sufficient water. That is about a quarter of the world’s population! And as time goes on, this number is expected to rise, unless humanity accepts the challenge, and tries to solve it.
Besides the increasing population of the world, there are additional factors which play a big role in regards to the water crisis. It is obvious, that the climate changes are happening right now. These climate changes will have an even bigger impact throughout the next few centuries. Due to these climate changes, we are being presented with new challenges such as decline of rainfall and vanishing mountain glaciers. Areas which already have very little fall of rain, will have an even harder time struggling to get water. However, the problems are not limited to increased population and climate changes – even humanity itself is the cause to some of the problems. The ground water, which we praise in Denmark, is being pumped faster than it can recharge. Consequently, we will eventually run dry on ground water, leading us to the conclusion: something must be done.

B1. Essay
There tend to be two different crisis’ we hear about concerning the well-being of our globe. It is either the oil crisis in which we are running out of oil. If it is not about oil, it is about the increased amount of greenhouse gases, which is being released into the atmosphere. Rarely, if ever, do we hear about the water crisis. Albeit may not be the most well known crisis, it is indeed a true horror story.
We have been victims of spoiling ourselves, throughout the last century. We have become gradually richer in the western world, while the rest of the world has been watching enviously as we feasted. However, more continents, especially Asia, are finally catching up, as they are becoming progressively more westernized – and they want a piece of the cake. Consequently, we need gradually more water, although getting this water could be very expensive.
As aforementioned, it appears bizarre, that the globe is mostly covered with water, considering that we are having a water crisis. However, water in the sea is salt water, which requires tremendous amounts of energy to desalt. It is possible to desalt the water which henceforth could solve our water issues. This particular way of dealing with the problem brings forth a new set of problems though. Thus we must value the need for water against these problems. As I mentioned, desalting is a very expensive procedure in order to make new water. It requires about ten times the energy required to cleanse ground water, in order to produce drinkable water from salt water. However, I do not believe that the main issue regarding this solution is related to money. I believe, that the main issue is that by draining the water from the sea, we risk to threat aquatic animal life, and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere due to power consumption. I realize that the current way of cleaning water requires energy as well, but if we raise the power level to ten times of what it is currently, we are going to use a lot of electrical energy. The electrical energy will most likely origin from fossil fuels, and as a result we are running into another global threat. To be fair, some of these desal plants are actually powered by offset wind power. However, this is merely the minority.
Although it may be great that we have found a solution to the water crisis, we have to consider the environmental impacts which may occur. Besides, once the water has been desalted, what ought to be done with the salt? I reckon that the necessity of salt will not suddenly explode when we begin to desalt water. Thus we are going to have a ton of left-over salt, which perhaps should be dumped in the sea. It is certainly not very appealing to have salt dumps everywhere on the ground.
Luckily there is an alternative to desalting water. It is called rain harvesting, and is based on having containers on the roof. Once it starts raining, the containers will gather the fallen rain, and from there lead it to a waterworks. Of course, this procedure will not work in the parts of the world where it never rains. However, even if it just rains occasionally, it is quite possible to gather some water, and as a result not having to desalt water – at least not to the same degree. The downside of this method is that it requires enormous amount of engineering effort to get working, which, of course, is expensive.
As the population throughout the world grows larger, it becomes clearer that we need an answer to the ever-growing water crisis. I support embracing desalting as a necessary measure – but only as a temporary solution. More research should be conducted, in order to evolve the technology required for rain harvesting. Once ready, the technology should be implemented in the parts of the world that would benefit from it. I realize that this is tremendously expensive, but considering that this crisis is not going to go away, I do not believe that hesitating helps in any way. I’d rather see the world prepared, than realizing way too late that we’re in trouble.