Code Green?
Introduction: The dictionary defines persuasion as “communication intended to induce belief..” The political candidates at the national, state, and local levels differ and sometimes agree over many environmental issues that are facing not only America but also the world.
Assignment: This assignment will acquaint you with some of the environmental positions adopted by various political candidates in this year’s election. As part of this assignment, you will do the following:
- Choose a pro or con position on a specific environmental topic.
- Find, read, and analyze three articles on the research topic from Lexis Nexis, SIRS, Congressional Researcher or EBSCO Host. Two articles must support your position and one must be against it.
- Keep an e-mail record of those articles for a future, fourth quarter assignment in Science 8. Send a copy of your e-mail record to Dr. Ehrlich.
- Write an approximately 125-150 word persuasive speech in which you devote one fourth to stating your position, one fourth to summarizing two articles, one fourth to acknowledging a counter argument and one fourth to your conclusion.
- Cite your sources on Noodle tools.
- Prepare a set of short talking points based on your written speech. Practice beforehand so that you are not reading your speech, but delivering it to the audience.
- Deliver a 2-minute speech to the class. Turn in your position speech to Mrs. Dubois using the same format as the “Sample Position Speech” in your packet.
- Serve as an evaluator of others’ speeches, using the evaluation sheet provided.
Persuasive Speech Elements
- According to the Purdue Writing Center, a persuasive speech must contain “a series of generalizations or propositions, supported by evidence or reasoning and connected in a logical manner, that lead to a justified conclusion. Sustain your argument by giving evidence and reasons.”
- Your approach is to take a stand on an issue and use evidence to back-up your stance, not to explore or flesh out an unresolved topic. In a persuasive speech, you need to defend your side of an argument. You are not talking. You are convincing.
Finding the Evidence
- Your speech needs the weight of evidence to support your opening statement and convince the audience.
- Evidence consists of specific facts, research results, and the opinions of subject experts which support and illustrate your side. Try to give several examples rather than just one. You want to make sure that there is sufficient evidence for you to make a strong point; the evidence must also be relevant, reliable, and representative.
Evidence Sources
1. SIRS > Look at the leading issues list on the SIRS homepage. Click on a relevant topic. Read the overview and scroll through the suggested articles listed below. A click on any link of interest will produce the full text of the article. Next – click on PRO/CON. Note the articles listed below the PRO/CON box. Click on My Analysis for excellent tips in writing your speech.
2. Lexis Nexis > Click on News, then General. In the keyword search box, type in one general search term in the first box and a second keyword in the Additional Terms box.
Lexis Nexis Example: keywords = food safety Additional term = spinach
In the publication title box you may type in Washington Post, New York Times, or Wall Street Journal or leave it blank. Under Date: Set it for “previous six months” or something more recent.
3.Ebsco Host When the search box appears, place a check mark in the full text. Type in relevant search terms (if necessary combine them with the word and) in the search box.
Ebsco sample search = nuclear fuel and safety
Sample Position Speec
A. Begin with a title for the speech. “
Blocking Facebook Widens the Digital Divide”
B. Statement of position.
The most critical interpersonal relationships are no longer always conducted face-to-face with friends, colleagues, and businesses in our immediate environment. Social networking on the Internet has become a necessary aspect of our social, academic, and professional lives. Because some students do not have access to Facebook and MySpace at home, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) would block access to social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace in schools and public libraries. This lack of access constitutes the digital divide.
C. Summary of an article.
In 2003, the National Center for Educational Statistics’ study on Computer and Internet Use by Students found that sixty-seven percent of white students, forty-four percent of Hispanic students, and forty-seven percent of Blacks used the internet. (Brown, 2.). Banning use of cyber social networks in schools and public libraries would remove the opportunity for many economically disadvantaged students to practice essential cyber social networking skills while economically advantaged students widen their circle of contacts and future professional associates.
D. Acknowledgment of counter argument.
A great deal of the recent public policy debate surrounding MySpace and Facebook presumes that the communication taking place is simply trivial and perhaps potentially dangerous to adolescents who use it. Yet an increasing number of teachers and public libraries have concluded that cyber social networks have potential pedagogical merit. (Gordon, 4-10).
Educators are starting to employ blogs, libraries are developing profiles of their programs and services and posting them, and teachers are also posting homework assignments, class requirements, and syllabi linking their classes to similar classes throughout the country and the world. (Clark, 3-4).
E. Conclusion.
DOPA would jeopardize these programs by restricting use of cyber social networks via public schools or libraries. Although the bill does permit educational institutions to disable filters for use in an academically supervised environment, in practice teachers who wanted to access these sites would confront increased surveillance and pressure to cease using them. The digital divide that currently exists between those with and without access to cyber social networks would be irreparably widened, as adolescents without Internet access at home would be excluded from social contacts and education-related information.
Works Cited
Brown, John. “Summary of the NCES Report,” USA Today (May 21, 2007): 2
Clark, Robert. “Educators Use Social Cyber Networks,” New York Times (November 14, 2006): 3-4.
Gordon, Susan. “There’s Education Occurring on Facebook,” Newsweek (February 20, 2007): 4-10.
“Code Green” Issues
Barack Obama:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Environment.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Energy_+_Oil.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Blueprint_Obama_Energy_+_Oil.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Blueprint_Obama_Environment.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Environment.htm
John McCain:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Environment.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Energy_+_Oil.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Environment.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm
Environmental Topic Statements:
1. Alternative Energy
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000022123.pdf
PRO: The benefits to renewable energy sources are important to sustaining our environment.
CON: Using unconventional energy resources is not environmentally friendly.
2. Alternative Energy
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000022123.pdf
PRO: Alternative energy sources are plentiful and environmentally benign.
CON: Alternative energy sources are not cost-competitive with fossil fuels and are unreliable compared to fossil fuels.
3. Conservation of Natural Resources
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000005825.pdf
PRO: If we use the resources we have, there will not be any left for future generations.
CON: Traditional uses of the land have been declared "illegal," resulting in prosecution of the inhabitants by government authorities.
4. Conservation of Natural Resources
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000005825.pdf
PRO: Business and industry should be at the forefront of protecting and conserving natural resources.
CON: Closing federally protected lands to commercial development will negatively impact the country’s economy.
5. Conservation of Natural Resources
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000005825.pdf
PRO: Economic and political pressures cause communities to slight flood-plain management for fear of hurting economic growth – communities plan for present conditions without accounting for future growth and developments.
CON: Certain kinds of flooding are unavoidable because when water levels reach a certain point it is difficult to prevent damage.
6. Endangered Species
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000008804.pdf
PRO: Science, not economic interests, should be the critical factor in determining species at risk.
CON: The Endangered Species Act is harming more humans than protecting species, as it can impede the country’s economic growth.
7. Endangered Species
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000008804.pdf
PRO: Rigorous enforcement of the Endangered Species Act is necessary
CON: The endangered species list is a “death trap” for many species - adding animals to the endangered list gives the appearance of action, but it really does nothing to protect the species.
8. Environmentalism
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000009049.pdf
PRO: Protecting the environment is the key to the maintenance of our ecosystem.
CON: Environmentalists use “scare tactics” to ensure laws are put in place.
9. Environmentalism
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000009049.pdf
PRO: Living a green lifestyle will help to conserve our natural resources.
CON: Living a green lifestyle can be a problem because of the lack of uniform standards as to what constitutes a green product.
10. Global Warming
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000011191.pdf
PRO: Human factors are believed by some analysts to contribute to the severity and frequency of events such as hurricanes.
CON: Events like hurricanes occur in cycles and that we are simply experiencing a more intense period in one of those cycles.
11. Global Warming
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000011191.pdf
PRO: Human activity is accelerating climate change.
CON: Climate change is due to natural climate fluctuation.
12. Global Warming
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000011191.pdf
PRO: Industrial emissions including carbon dioxide have been the dominant cause of climate change, outpacing natural forces.
CON: Global warming is happening at such a slow rate that there isn’t cause for alarm, and extreme weather events and even the melting of the glaciers cannot be conclusively linked to global warming.
13. Food, Safety Measurements
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000010243.pdf
PRO: The use of antibiotics in animals is causing concerns by medical groups saying that the bacteria will become resistant to the medication making these bacteria not only deadly to the animals but people as well.
CON: The use of antibiotics in animals is a needed step that not only ensures a healthy animal but a leaner one.
14. Food, Safety Measurements
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000010243.pdf
PRO: Genetically modified foods are causing problems for farmers because testing facilities cannot contain the pollination of their crops which exposes neighboring crops to unwanted strains.
CON: The use of modified crops will put an end to world hunger by developing plant strains that are resistant to environmental hazards and pests but also provide needed nutrition by infusing plants with animal genes.
15. Nuclear Energy
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000018395.pdf
PRO: Nuclear Power can be used as a renewable, safe resource.
CON: Nuclear energy produces waste byproducts that remain radioactive for thousands of years.
16. Nuclear Energy
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000018395.pdf
PRO: Nuclear energy is the only reliable way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
CON: Because there remains a possibility that an accident or terror attack could release radiation into the atmosphere, there must be increased security at nuclear power plants.
17. Pollution
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000020439.pdf
PRO: Technological advances will find ways to clean pollutants out of the environment.
CON: Pollutants cause irreversible damage to the environment.
18. Pollution
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000020439.pdf
PRO: Pollution is an unavoidable problem.
CON: “Cap and trade” programs (pollution control laws) have been successful in reducing emissions as evidence so tougher regulations are needed.
19. Pollution
Be sure to check out the Research Guide (when SIRS is open): http://sks.sirs.com/pdfs/0000020439.pdf
PRO: Livestock accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation system and food grown for animals could be feeding people.
CON: Even if feed grains were given as food aid, hunger would persist because handouts can flood agricultural markets and discourage Third World farmers from planting crops.
Prepared by L. Lennon & K. Craver 10/08