Harmful Effects of Global Warming on the Environment and Show the Audience How to Be Eco-Friendly Without Having to Pay the Price

Jane Doe

COM 115.________

Centennial Campus

Informative Speech

Full Sentence Outline                  

Prof. Karen Coyle

9 July 2012

Title:  Global Guilt

General Purpose:  To inform

Specific Purpose:  To teach about the harmful effects of global warming on the environment and show the audience how to be eco-friendly without having to pay the price.

Central Idea: By understanding how to daily reduce, reuse and recycle, the audience will learn how to decrease the harmful effects of global warming in our environment.

Introduction:

1. Attention Material

1. What if you woke up one morning and didn’t think about what you were going to achieve that day because the change in the environment and weather patterns restricted you from following your dreams?
2. Well, this could be the future of your children, if today people fail to step up against the beginnings of global warming with the processes of reducing, reusing and recycling, and let animals and plants live more mornings.

1. Orienting Material (Thesis Statement:  Preview of main points and purpose)

1. I would like to teach you how to become more sustainable and socially responsible, right now in your daily lives with reusing, reducing and recycling rather than later, when the earth could be at greater risk of global warming.
2. Every day you can help the world to become a better place by reusing, reducing and recycling.

Transition: Many people feel comforted to horde objects, while others would rather cleanse themselves by throwing them out. However, it would be beneficial to find a balance between the two with the idea of reusing items.

Body:

1. Reusing specific materials can decrease waste.

1. Plastic and paper are big contributors to this due to the increasing space they are taking up in the landfills. You can reuse paper by writing on both sides and keeping already written paper for scratch. Plastic bags and bottles can be traded in for cloth bags and reusable plastic and tin water bottles.
2. Clothing has a harder time decomposing in landfills. If you need new clothing I encourage you to donate your old clothes to people in need, have a garage sale or reuse your clothing around the house for decoration or as rags.
3. There are other objects, such as furniture, which can be deconstructed and put back together in new shapes and designs without having to buy it new and let it take up new space. Try to purchase items that never go out of style but are interesting enough that you aren’t in danger of becoming bored.
4. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims that reusing certain materials can decrease the amount of waste that has increased between the years of 1960 to 2010 from 2.7 to 4.4 pounds per day.

Transition:  Now that we’ve learned about how reusing affects our society, let’s look at how reducing can help relieve global warming.

1. Reducing the amount of items we use can help ourselves and the environment.

1.  Layne Wood claims, “Plastics, which make up 12 percent of municipal solid waste, are mostly made from petroleum. The Colorado River Commission of Nevada estimates that in about 98 years, we will have used up the world's supply of petroleum. Making products from renewable resources still has a detrimental effect on the environment. Harvesting these resources often destroys ecosystems and animal habitats.”
2. I can’t stress enough how much plastic has to do with problems in the environment. It is possible to reduce the amount of plastic used by buying less, products that are heavily packaged and buying more in bulk.
3.  Reduce the amount of items you purchase for yourself and your house. Maybe instead of putting your money toward items that you can’t hold onto once you die, you can focus on paying to live through memories with different activities such as travelling.

Transition:  Now that we understand the effects of reducing and reusing, let’s look at one more action that can positively affect our environment

1. Recycling is probably the best way to become eco-friendly.

1. Recycling has definitely been more surfaced during this age thanks to the media. However the media fails to report the steps required in this activity. The Environmental Protection Agency says, “[that] in 2010, the United States produced 250 million tons of municipal solid waste, and recycled and composted nearly 85 million tons of this material, which is a 34 percent recycling rate.”
2. Depending on your local recycling center you may not be able to recycle some items. Although, almost every recycling center has bins available for plastic, cardboard and paper. You can also buy items made from recycled materials.
3. The easiest way to get yourself to recycle is to set up bins labeled for materials such as paper, aluminum, plastic and glass in your garage or around your house. There are some waste companies that have recycling services to accompany regular trash services with additional costs.
4. I encourage you to research what kinds of items recycling places are willing to take and if they even recycle. Some places may say they recycle but after a day’s work, drive their bins and dump them into a landfill.

Transition: Finally, let’s look at how the affects of the three R’s can affect our environment.

Conclusion:

1. Summary (Review Thesis)

1. By recycling, reducing and reusing you can help extend the life of the environment as well as yourselves.

2. The three R’s may seem overwhelming at first but they are so closely connected that it would be almost impossible to focus on just one without performing all three acts simultaneously.
3. You are the future generation and are the ones who will determine what you want the environment to say about you.

1. Clincher

1. According to the United States Carbon Footprint List, Colorado leaves an 89.72 million of tons in carbon emissions.
2. The author of the website Eco Evaluator asks, “Do you know that there have been only two recorded manmade structures that could be seen from outer space? One was the Great Wall of China. The other was the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, New York. 14,000 tons of trash is being dumped into Fresh Kills every day. That’s 5,511,000 tons of trash every year!”                       

References

1. “America Recycles Day, November 15.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

2010. 13 June 2012. http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/rrr/ard.htm.

1. “How to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Eco Evaluator. 2008.

http://www.ecoevaluator.com/lifestyle/recycling/how-to-reduce-reuse-a-recycle.html.

1. “Interactive United States Energy Use Comparisons: The United States Carbon

Footprint List.” eRedeux Energy Renewable. http://eredux.com/states/?sortBy=carbon_percap_invert&sortOrder=ASC&rows=53.

1. O’Hair, D., Stewart, R., & Rubenstein, H. (2010). A speaker’s guidebook. Boston:

1. Bedford/St. Martin’s.

1. “Reduce & Reuse.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 13 June 2012.

             http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/reduce.htm.

1. “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” NIEHS. http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/explore/reduce/.
2. “The Three R’s of the Environment.” Fact Monster. 2007.

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0775891.html.