The specialist reporting unit threw up many challenges which I enjoyed facing. For example, choosing a specialist subject was something that I initially struggled with. I wanted to do something I was already quite well informed about, but I also wanted to challenge myself. I chose the environment because, to be honest, it is something my generation don't really think hard enough about, or even think about at all.

I've always cared for the environment, as I detest seeing big TNC's and OPEC countries blend it up into one big polluted mess for a future generation to try and unravel. This specialist area also allowed me to branch out into a new area that I had never really written about.

The whole exercise of choosing a specialist area also gave me more freedom and reason to research environmental stories. Whilst writing for my blog, I also grew angry over the fact that so little environmental reporting makes it into the front page or the top of the bill of a news programme - something that also inspired me to do an environmental blog.

Unfortunately, due to the target audience of our Specialist reporting newspaper, NewsFeed, I was never able to produce an environmental story for every issue of the paper that I worked on.

But, I have enjoyed writing about environmental issues and hopefully giving them to a wider audience to digest and think about.

This blog has opened my eyes further to the consequences of environmental degradation, and I'm thankful for choosing this subject area, as I have broadened my writing spectrum.