speech outline

By CPP Student, Rosalinda Barcellona

The United States should rejoin The Paris Agreement

INTRODUCTION

I. Attention Getter: Do you want your future children to suffer from our inability to

take care of our environment? According to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (unfccc), the Paris Agreement is a pact made by

countries within this convention to fight against climate change through investments

in sustainability and certain requirements such as a global cap on carbon emissions.

Our country, the United States was one of the countries that signed on until President

Trump withdrew us.

II. Specific Purpose Statement: Today I will persuade you that President Trump should

rejoin the Paris Agreement.

III. Identification of Opposition Statement (Fair Hearing): Some of you may argue

that the Paris Agreement is a waste of America’s money, but the effects of Global

Warming are becoming increasingly more life threatening, and if America officially

rejected the agreement, then the economy of other countries would be damaged.

IV. Significance: This issue applies to everyone around the world. If we ignore the

effects of Climate Change, then our home will continue to become less and less

inhabitable.

V. Credibility: I am extremely passionate about Global Climate Change and the efforts

to reduce its harmful effects and I have participated in a program that taught me the

many ways Global Warming has become an issue. I have also done extensive

research on the consequences that will rise from the withdrawal from the agreement.

VI. Preview Statement: Today we will look at the potential problems that our

withdrawal will cause. Then I will propose a solution.

MAJOR TRANSITION: First, let me explain the problems created by the United States’ lack

of participation in the effort to fight against Climate Change.

BODY

I. Main Point: A withdraw will inevitably reduce the United States’ efforts to remain an

environmentally sustainable country.

A. Environmental issues

1. The reason this is such an important issue is because of the dangers of our unsustainable habits as a country.

a. These habits include burning fossil fuels, deforestation, inefficient waste management, and overproduction of non-biodegradable

products.

b. The continuous burning of fossil fuels emits a variety of greenhouse gases. These gases make their way to the Earth’s atmosphere where

they act as a “blanket” around the Earth because of their heat retaining

properties.

ii. One of the greenhouse gases, CO2, which is the primary focus of the Paris Agreement, is recycled by

nature through the ability of plants to absorb it.

a) You may be thinking, “well that’s good because we have a lot of trees,” but this is no longer the case due to

mass deforestation for products such as palm oil,

rubber, and crop land. Instead of the CO2 being

absorbed by the plants, it is added to the blanket.

B. How this affects each one of us personally.

1. This blanket not only increases the Earth’s temperature, but it also has detrimental effects to the air we breathe.

a. We can see this result in China, where civilians are unable to leave their house due to the dangerous air quality.

2. Bad air quality also affects the ocean, which is a primary source of our oxygen and the main absorber of greenhouse gases. However, according to

seethesea.org, the ocean is unable to produce as much oxygen due to the

overproduction of carbon dioxide. This means there is an imbalance.

a. As you all can see, the United States must follow the aspects of the Paris Agreement in order to reduce these destructive

outcomes.

Minor Transition: Not only does the Paris Agreement aid the world environmentally, but it also

helps the world economically.

C.America’s withdraw will adversely affect other countries who are within the Paris

Agreement.

1. Mitigation/Building Support: One of the many parts of the agreement is mitigation. In this case, mitigation is when the countries come together to

decrease the severity of climate change.

a. As stated by the World Bank Group, America, China, and India have agreed to steadily reduce carbon emissions.

2. Another significant way the countries are working together through this agreement is by the goodwill of developed countries helping developing

countries build a sustainable future.

a. One may argue that our country should not spend more money

on another country, but the investment in a renewable world is

most definitely worth the extra aid given.

Minor Transition: Our retracting from the Paris Agreement affects the Global Economy.

D. The global economy will also be extremely affected by this probable withdrawal. As emphasized by the Advances in Climate Change Research journal in the

ScienceDirect database, the main issue is with China.

1. If the US pulls out of the deal, then China will have less “emission space.” This means that because the US will no longer follow a limit to the

amount of carbon produced, China will have to compensate for this extra

carbon and further reduce its emissions.

a. This means the mitigation costs for China will increase

exponentially.

b. China is a leading country in exporting goods, so this extra costs

for China will lead to unfavorable (to say the least) effects in

the entire world’s economy.

MAJOR TRANSITION: I have explained at many problems linked to our withdrawal. Now

let’s look at what needs to be done.

II. Main point: A sustainable future will only be possible if America rejoins the Paris

Agreement.

A. In order to meet our commitments to the agreement, our states can work together with the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency to allow the U.S. economic

growth with our pulse on sustainability. Our nation, its citizens, and all the

countries in The Paris Agreement stand to benefit from us rejoining.

CONCLUSION:

I. Review of Main Points: This is because it ensures that each country is doing its part

to combat the change in conditions to the weather and environment. In the end, these issues are

going to affect our future families not only environmentally, but also economically.

II. Call to Action: To urge our President, Donald Trump to rejoin the agreement, sign

the petition to support the Paris Agreement at moveon.org. According to KTHV, 338,000 people

have already signed it.

III. Lasting Thought: It is not too late to make a change. As stated by Mark Cooper in

a journal from the Greenfile database, an official withdrawal cannot occur for another three

years. This means that we still have a chance to convince President Trump and the government

to continue on in the Paris Agreement alongside other countries that are willing to change their

behaviors for a chance at a future.

Works Cited

“Atmospheric Changes and Air Pollution.” Invasive Species, see-the-

sea.org/topics/pollution/air/AirPol-body.htm.

Breeding, Brittany, and KTHV. “Over 338,000 Sign Petition Supporting Paris Agreement That

Will Be Delivered to President Trump.” KTHV, KTHV, 2 June 2017,

www.thv11.com/article/news/local/over-338000-sign-petition-supporting-paris-

agreement-that-will-be-delivered-to-president-trump/445263693

Cooper, Mark. “Governing the Global Climate Commons: The Political Economy of State and

Local Action, after the U.S. Flip-Flop on the Paris Agreement.” Energy Policy,

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.03.037.

Mani, Muthukumara; Hussein, Zekarias; Narayanan, Badri; Wadhwa, Gopalakrishnan Deepika;

and World Bank Group. “Paris Climate Agreement and the Global Economy: Winners

and Losers.” World Bank Group, April 2018,

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29604/WPS8392.pdf?sequence=1

&isAllowed=y.

Potenza, Alessandra. “The US Is Now the Only Country in the World to Reject the Paris Climate

Deal.” The Verge, The Verge, 7 Nov. 2017,

www.theverge.com/2017/11/7/16617594/syria-paris-climate-change-agreement-donald-

trump-nicaragua.

“U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Reasons, Impacts, and China's Response.”

NeuroImage, Academic Press, 27 Sept. 2017,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927817301028.

“What Is the Paris Agreement?” UNFCCC, unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-

agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement.