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I.

Title of Speech
Introduction Plastic bags are harmful to the environment
a. Attention Grabber/Relevance- Imagine eating a one ton of plastic, the discovery
of a dead minke whale off the coast of Normandy, France did just that over its
lifetime. According to an article called What Animals are hurt most bysingle-use
plastic bags by Shane Shirley in 2014
b. Thesis Statement- Single-use plastic bags are harmful to our environment by
polluting it as a whole, impacting wild life, and their toxic breakdown.
c. Preview- During this discussion I will be going over the definition, threshold, and
application.
d. Credibility- Based on the research Ive conducted on the harmful effects of plastic
bags in the environment, its clear that the elimination of these bags is our only
option.

II.

First Main Point- The pollution of plastic bags in our waterways has become so
serious that they are second only to ciggarett butts in litter found in the ocean.
According the article Facts About The Plastic Bag Pandemic, in 2008
a. By these bags being littered throughout our waterways they pose serious threats to
wild life and invade their habitat.
b. Not only do these bags dwell in our waterways, they also accumulate on land as
well. According the article Facts About The Plastic Bag Pandemic, in 2008, its
stated that Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has
sprung up to harvest them. These are then woven and sold as hats and (more durable)
bags.

Transitioning Statement: Now that I have discussed the problem of bags being littered on
land and at sea, let me move on to my next point which is _how wildlife is affected.
III.

Wildlife is being affected by the presence of so many plastic bags that land and sea
animals are suffering.
a. According to an article called What Animals are hurt most bysingle-use plastic
bags by Shane Shirley in 2014, About 44 percent of seabird species worldwide are
impacted by litter either by becoming entangled or through ingestion

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i. That is a staggering realization of how mankind can harm wildlife by
something we see as so minuscule.
b. Not only seabirds are affected, sea turtles, whales and all marine life are more at
risk due to them being in the confines of the sea with no escape.

Transitioning Statement: Now that I have discussed the harm these bags cause on wildlife, let
me move on to my next point which is the decomposition issues.
IV.

These bags dont just simply biodegrade, they photodegrade meaning they break into
smaller toxin absorbing fragments that is then dispersed in the soil and all over the
environment. This process will also happen over a thousand year period until the bag
is degraded. As stated in the article Facts About The Plastic Bag Pandemic, in 2008.
a. With a reported 25 percent of landfills taken up by plastics according to the article
Biodegradables to bag demand despite falling growth rates in 2009 edited by Natalie
Hasselbacher

b. Its evident dont have the time, space or environmental capacity to support the
use of these bags.
In Conclusion
V.

Conclusion- In conclusion the harmful effects these single use plastic bags pose on
our environment far outweigh the help they provide to humans.
a. Restate your Thesis- To recap single-use plastic bags are harmful to our
environment by polluting it as a whole, impacting wild life, and their toxic
breakdown.
b. Review your Main Points (add one detail for each main point)- By being the
second most common litter amongst out waterways this heavily impacts our
worlds water pollution. The ingestion of these bags by land and sea animals is
becoming more and more prevalent. The space and time for decomposition to
occur is absurd and not feasible.
c. Closure- By eliminating these bags all together we can better improve the
environment as a whole, including land, air, water and the animals that call it
home

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References