Before I start my speech, I want you guys to do something for me. I want you to picture your favorite place outdoors. It can be anywhere. A place you visit frequently, or even a place that you’ve been once, or even just seen in a picture that left a memory, or an imprint in your mind. I want you to picture the animals, the greenery, the fresh air that fills this place. Imagine how many people, and organisms that this one area has affected, and how many of these organisms depend on this place to survive. Now picture this place covered in garbage. Gross, disgusting, stinking garbage. The luscious green color that once blanketed the land has turned into a dull brown. The air that used to smell fresh and clean now wreaks of waste and toxins, and the animals that once lived here have either moved away or have died. It doesn’t take an environmentalist to appreciate the beauty of nature, and it also doesn’t take an environmentalist to change this awful fate that so many natural places on our planet are doomed to have. Today, I want to talk to you about why it is so important to change the way we, as young adults, think, as well as how we act towards todays environmental crisis. Our generation has an opportunity that we must seize, and take advantage of. We live in a time of amazing scientific breakthroughs in how we can conserve energy, recycle and reuse our waste, and conserve and protect our land that houses organisms that are on the brink of being lost and forgotten. We are being given chances everyday to change how we live, and make a difference, but to so many of us, we pass by this chance with the dim thought that we can’t make a difference, and that one person cannot change the planet. It’s so easy to believe that you are... ... middle of paper ... ...YOU can become more cultured. Most of our lives up to this point have been entirely devoted to benefiting us. I’m not asking anyone to change the world all by yourself. We all know that it’s going to take a long, long time to fix the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. I’m not even asking you to convince your friends to change what they do. I’m just asking you to change the way you think. I truly believe that to make a real impact, you have to genuinely care about what you’re doing. The same idea goes for a job. If you love what you do, it makes a world of a difference in how well you do it. It’s up to us, as the new generation of the planet, to change the way we think about the world around us. We need to realize that the environment is not just a background to our lives, it’s apart of our lives and has just as much importance and right to be here as we do.
I always loved to go out into the forest and wander around hoping to find something magical hiding in its depths. I always saw nature as something to be respected and taken care of. However nowadays we live in a world where nobody cares about mother earth and nature, therefore causing global warming and greenhouse gases. Due to the ever increasing gas emissions in our atmosphere, it is causing many people across the globe to suffer. For example, when I went to Somalia in 2009, I had not experience any kind of rain for a year. It was one of the worst drought Somalia have ever seen, and unfortunately I was a victim of it. I would remember myself herding the goats for my grandmother, in search of grass so that the goats could eat and gain weight. However that was not possible due to the drought, and in the end my grandmother was left with no goats. People lack to understand that this world is ours, and if we don’t take care of it then our kids won’t have a world to live in. Most people are ungrateful and fail to recognize our duty as a human beings living on planet earth. There are high increases in tornado’s, and other natural disasters due to global warming. For example just last week a rare tornado hit Sydney, causing cricket ball-sized hail, and winds up to 200 km. It is reported that Australia is experiencing an El Nino weather pattern, therefore causing extreme droughts, storms, and floods. John Muir hinted
“Environmental Studies” were the most interesting and abstract words I had ever seen preceding “High School”. For this reason and the fact that it was near Central Park, I decided to apply and then attend. Because of the central theme of my classes I have been exposed in the shape of special speakers and class discussions to others who share my fear but not my growing sense of hopelessness. Quite recently, it has become more and more important to me that I am a part of the solution for the problems facing the environment. It is fear that I feel when I allow myself to dwell on the ignored warnings and the very complicated mess of problems and impossibilities that plague this planet. I don’t understand why there is even the possibility that one of the last natural, pristine ecosystem, in North America, namely that of Alaska, is in danger of being ruptured by the ever-powerful oil companies. I don’t understand why the heads of state who are infinitely more knowledgeable than me on the dangers of continued abuse of our gracious home don’t drastically and immediately cause change. I don’t understand why people haven’t listened. I guess it’s because they are not fifteen and scared.
At my school, I am an active member of a program called S.E.E.D., which stands for Students Ending Environmental Destruction. As a group, spread awareness about recycling, water conservation and remediation, climate change, and other environmental problems the world faces today. We make sure that every classroom has a recycling bin and informative posters above them. We have hosted movie nights where we provide healthy, GMO-free refreshments and show an educational film that relates to a current issues to spread awareness. We have also convinced our school to install stations that are specifically meant to refill water bottles as it encourages students to stop buying plastic bottles and wasting plastic. Taking care of the environment and educating our youth, the congressmen, women, and voters of tomorrow who will be the deciding factors of the earth’s health, and consequently the people’s health, is crucial to me.
In Michael Pollan’s “Why Bother?” Pollan argues that each person can contribute to helping to the environment by erasing their carbon footprints. In my everyday life I experience the choice of driving my car to work or riding my bike. More often than not I choose to drive my car because it is the easier option. I, along with many other people, believe that my individual impact will not cause a larger impact on the global scale. In Pollan’s essay, he makes each person think about the effect they are leaving on the environment and how each person, as an individual, can change his ways before it is too late. Wendell Berry, a naturalist and well-respected and influential writer, was a key factor in recognition of the environmental crisis and how to solve the problem.
All my life, I always had an affinity for the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants. I felt I needed to play a role in the prosperity of the environment. In college, I studied graphic design so I can convey messages to others through aesthetics. Towards the end of my college career, I realized I want to be substantive in the messages I communicate. I know that I cannot fix the entire world, but if I can make a quantitative change, it would make all the difference to me.
In 1989, seventy five percent of Americans identified themselves as environmentalists, and the number has continued to grow since then (Walls 1). Environmentalism is now the most popular social movement in the United States, with over five million American families donating regularly to environmental organizations (Walls 1). Environmentalists today focus on what kind of world they hope to see in the future, and largely deal with limiting pollution and changing consumption rates (Kent 1 and 9). Modern environmentalists also have much different issues than those Carson’s America faced. With climate change becoming more threatening each year, protection of the natural world is needed more than ever. Pollution has caused the warmest decade in history, the deterioration of the ozone layer, and species extinction in extreme numbers (Hunter 2). It not only threatens nature, but also human populations, who already suffer from lack of clean water and poisoning from toxic chemicals (Hunter 16). Unlike environmental actions in the 1960’s, which were mostly focused on protection, a massive increase in pollution has caused efforts to be focused on environmental restoration (Hunter 16). Like in the time of Silent Spring, environmentalists are not only concerned with one country. Protecting the environment remains a global issue, and every nation is threatened by the
If we took the time out of our day to do even the simplest of these options then there would an impact because as psychologist Dr. Sam Osherson points out, small actions accumulate. In his article, “Climate Change: How to Really Make a Difference,” he also acknowledges the power college students can have in social movements when he references Harvard students suing the university for investing in fossil fuel companies (Osherson). Ending climate change is no
“We are forced, for the first time, to understand that we are truly a titanic force, capable of affecting and altering the operation of the planetary whole” (McKibben 501). This place called home is being destroyed; the damage seems irreversible. What is the point in even trying to change decades of wasted water, carbon dioxide emissions, and filled dumps? Why even try to change? Environmentalists have been sending out an “SOS” for quite a while now. There’s no ship this time though, it is our planet that is in need. It is time to “save our planet”; an “SOP” is in order. It is easy to think that one person’s efforts are pointless in the scheme of things, but maybe not. Maybe it the impossible can be done; maybe the damage can be reversed and this planet will last as long as it needs to. Saving the planet on an individual level is worth the effort.
This persuasive speech was given in Rio de Janeiro, and was a plea to the individuals in attendance at the United Nations Earth Summit to recognize how they are contaminating the environment with hopes that these audience members will revise their future proposals.
“Change is the end result of all true learning”. This quote from author and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia, supports the idea that change can only come from those with education. With statistics showing that 80% of Americans are heavily influenced by outdated myths or just plain false facts, according to Environmental Literacy in America, 2005, change cannot and will not come any time soon. It is because of this that the only way to bring about beneficial environmental change is by educating the U.S public more on environmental conservation, in order to encourage their political leaders to create and support laws that focus on protecting nature.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
There are many things we need to change in society to become sustainable for future generations. One thing is for certain, we all need to do our part to contribute to this effort, and there is no time like the present to change our ways.
For each individual, there are many ways to save the earth which they must know and do. First and foremost, people must
By showing the world the severity of our need for conservation, we will be able to save the earth and get the most out of our resources. We need to fix this problem before it becomes uncontrollable to the point of having no resources to supply our needs. By reducing our consumption of resources, we will be able to become closer to fixing the problem of global warming, high gasoline prices and pesticide filled meats. The outcome of respecting our world and “going green” will better how we live our lives, our communities and the environment. The concept of “going green” is a necessity for the future because “our children deserve cities as beautiful as they are.
Improving and maintaining the earth’s environment is becoming a more important task every day of our lives. Due to ignorance and frequent carelessness, this important task is quickly becoming a critical one. For this reason, I took it upon myself to construct a strategic plan to enlighten my peers to the problems of our environment. I did this in hopes that it would encourage everyone to act responsibly towards improving and maintaining the environment. With ongoing threats to the earth’s water supply, atmosphere, and surface, I found it necessary to devise a method of environmental enlightenment. I plan to apply this method at my place of academic study, The University. If supported by the faculty and staff and approached with confidence and determination by the student body, I am convinced that our environment on campus would undergo a drastic improvement.