Speech on Climate Change

Purpose Statement:  To persuade my audience about the reality of climate change and its consequences.

Thesis Statement: Climate change is really happening and it will have devastating outcomes if we do not start acting responsibly now.

Introduction

Attention Getter

Don’t you think that the earth is warming up? The weather used to be hot and hold depending on different seasons but not extremely hot in the past. I asked the question because I want to address the issue of global warming in my today’s speech (Visual 1).

Overview of Main Points

Climate in an area refers to its weather condition that exists now and tend to exist over a period of time. Climate change has adversely effected oceans and glaciers. Oceans are behaving in a dangerous manner causing tsunamis and floods across the earth (Visual 2). Climate change can effect human health in different ways. It can affect the health of individual as well different communities (Visual 3). Climate change is increasing earth’s temperature and contributing to global warming. This has devastating effects on different eco systems across the world and contributing to many problems related to the existence of forests and agricultural means for the indigenous people (Visual 4). I would like to discuss these stated points in detail here.

(Transition from intro to first main point)

1. Climate change has had devastating effects on glaciers and oceans across the world.
2. Oceans are warming up and becoming more acidic. This has negative effects on the marine life. If we do not take climate change seriously now, we might not be able to taste many of the species of fish that we love in the future.
3. Climate change is also melting glaciers. The melting of glaciers at a rapid rate in the Antarctic is causing sea levels to rise across the globe (Visual 5).
4. The rise in the sea level has caused many floods in the coastal areas. These floods have been the source of deaths of hundreds of people (Jonkman, 2005) (Visual 6).
5. Research by Bogdal & Schmid (2009) suggests that melting of glaciers at a high rate may be a cause of persistent organic pollution. These glaciers may be holding pollutants inside of them which were never supposed to melt and exposes but thanks to climate change and global warming, they are mixing with clean water in the oceans and becoming a source of pollution (Visual 7).

(Transition)

1. Climate change is not only dangerous for the earth but also can be fatal for human health in both short and long run. It could become a source of different diseases.
2. Malaria is caused by a parasite that requires a hot weather for its survival. Malaria has been one of the danger to human populations across different regions, especially remote areas of Africa in the Past (Visual 8).
3. Research by Rogers & Randolph, (2000) suggests that a warmer earth in the future may be more hospitable to malarial parasite. Health professionals working to prevent malaria from spreading and succeeding on most of the fonts may find themselves confronted by malaria in the form of an epidemic in the future which will need the allocation of many resources to fight malaria again after it has already been controlled to a larger extent.
4. One of the cause of climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are emitted when fossil fuel is burnt in our cars or industries. These gases are dangerous for our health. Research by McMichael & Hales (2006) suggests that the emission of these gases in larger quantities would have many health risks including diseases related to human respiratory system (Visual 9).

(Transition)

III. Climate change is going to have devastating effects on different ecosystems across the world which not only endangers the lives of animals and plants that are part of these eco systems but also pose a danger to humans relying on these eco systems for their livelihood.

1. Climate change for forests means a change in the weather conditions and a disturbed supply of water for forest trees. These trees may not be able to survive the changed environment and the animals living in these forests may lose their natural habitat and start to vanish (Visual 10).
2. The agriculture of remote areas may depend on water resources that are the part of the eco systems of those areas. With disturbed ecosystems, water supply for agriculture may also be disturbed and hence have a negative impact on the agriculture of those areas which is no way a good news for the traditional indigenous people (Visual 11).

(Transition)

Conclusion

I would like to conclude my speech by stressing that climate change is a reality. It would definitely effects the oceans, glaciers, human health and different ecosystems across the earth. It’s better to accept this fact today and start responding to the threat right now. We should start by changing our own habits and convert to greener means of energy. We should also advocate the need to respond to climate change on any scale possible. Only then can we stand a chance to counter the negative effects of climate change and save our future (Visual 12).

References

Bogdal, C., & Schmid. (2009). Blast from the past: melting glaciers as a relevant source for           persistent organic pollutants. Environmental science & technology, 43(21), 8173-8177.

Jonkman, S. N. (2005). Global perspectives on loss of human life caused by floods. Natural          hazards, 34(2), 151-175.

McMichael, A. J., & Hales, S. (2006). Climate change and human health:    present and future       risks. The Lancet, 367(9513), 859-869.

Rogers, D. J., & Randolph, S. E. (2000). The global spread of malaria in a future, warmer world. Science, 289(5485), 1763-1766.