Paper Sample: Evaluating a Speech on Carbon Pollution, Climate Change, and Public Health

The speaker is observed to choose the topic which is relevant and also interesting to the audience. First, there is an introduction by the speaker at the Children’s National Medical Centre in Washington. It is a place where kids get treatment for asthma and other related breathing problems. The issue of breathing problems to the children is something to be concerned with, and it is interesting. The parents would lie to know the causes of these breathing problems and how the government is trying to put strategies on the fight against it. From the speech, it can be noted that the speaker has its topic adequately researched by the way the ideas are connected. The speaker highlights that the health breathing problems result from air pollution, whereby sources releases carbon that contributes to climate change. The speaker can relate climate change with the topic of air pollution, which has far-reaching consequences. These consequences are the loss of lives, which increases cost life through the rebuilding process and taking insurance cover policies. Besides, the speaker can connect the challenge of pollution and climate change with various remedy strategies to ensure the impacts of pollution and climate change are drastically reduced.

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The point of interest in this speech is how the speaker can relate the problem of pollution and climate change with reports from scientists. The speaker indicates that hundreds of scientists have declared climate change as no longer a distant threat and has steadily moved into the present. It has its cost measured by the loss of lives, loss of homes, and increased food prices. On realizing the challenges brought by climate change and pollution, there is a connection of intervention strategies, such as the first climate action plan.

It is seen that pollution causes climate change, which results in an unclean environment of conducting economic activities. The climate action plan focuses on using more clean energy, which ensures there is less wastage in the economy. That aspect of having understanding the problem and come up with a strategized solution makes this speech to be more interesting.

From the speech, it can be noted that the speaker was able to deliver a perfect introduction, which gained attention and the audience's orientation. As can be observed, the topic is about the reduction of pollution in power plants. The speaker uses the concept of pollution and health concerns of children and the elderly to attract audiences' attention. It is a fact that power plants are among integral sectors of the growing economy.

However, if these power plants' activities result in some ethics, issues, then there is a need to review them. The speaker uses the concept of health for both people and the overview economy to drive the point of having a clean economy while still taking care of the welfare of vulnerable groups (children and elderly). From the way the speech was presented, it can be said that it was clear as there is an interconnection of ideas of the pollution, climate change, and strategies taken to neutralize the overall impacts of pollution.

The speaker also uses vivid descriptions, especially on the explanation of the Recovery Act. The explanation of how the rate of electricity is generated can result in triple and tenfold can vividly estimate the size of the investment. It can be suggested that it is well organized as no delaying while giving ideas about the organization of the speech. It is an aspect that shows how persuasive the speech is.

Most of the points in the speech were well supported, displaying the speaker's inbuilt skills. For example, there is the of fact, most carbon that comes from the power plant. The speaker highlights that about 40.0% of the carbon pollution in America comes from the power plants. The reason for this high percentage level is that there are fewer guidelines for dictating the amount of carbon released on the environment. The speaker continues to say that other pollutants such as Sulphur and mercury are regulated, and they do not contribute much to the pollution. It is a well explained supported point that gives the rationale for coming up with a strategy to reduce the usage of carbon and adopt other innovative methods.

On the personal style issue, the speaker has failed in one aspect of making speech interactive. It is noted that the speaker is not asking direct questions to the audience, but instead, the speech is continuous. Even though the speech is well organized, there is a need for pauses and direct questions involvement. These are skills that aid in assessing how the audience is obtaining the message. The prose narration of the speech can be monotonous, and the audience may fail to transits from one idea to another (Halim & Halim, 2016). The speaker is observed to talk gently without a threatening and commanding tone about the creation of immediacy. It is a skill that ensures that the audience and speaker are moving on the same page.

The speaker is seen to summarize the thesis in an organized way while providing closure. It is noted that the whole topic revolves around carbon pollution and climatic change and their impacts on people’s health. In the concluding remarks, the speaker is heard saying that they don’t have to choose between the economy and health of the children in America. That phrase explains that people can still adjust the economy set up and still maintaining the health of the people. It is noted that the power plants that release carbon are crucial to the United States economy. There is a tendency of not breaking the old rules of protection of power plants.

However, the speaker provides a solution by indicting that they use new technology to break those rules. The speaker's position is that as a parent, there is no need to condemn the children to a planet beyond fixing. The closure is that there is a need to develop a low–carbon economy, which will be an engine of growth for the decades to come. Throughout the speech, the speaker is observed to use the recommendable volume and maintenance of eye contact. The speech rate and pausing are not as per as the speaker is seen talking in continuous prose. There is minimal usage of gestures from the speaker, which, in a way, affects the audience receives the way message.

Conclusion

In general, the presentation of the speech is excellent since the speaker can connect ideas. The flow of ideas shows that the speaker was well prepared and done enough research to support the ideas (Schultze, 2020). Having the facts to support ideas and facts in a speech is something good and can be commendable (Timmis, 2016). However, there are those parts that need to be improved. The skills such as audience involvement, then pausing, and use of gestures were not well exhibited.

Those skills are usually helpful when it comes to assessing the level of understanding of the audience. For example, in the speech analyzed, it can be observed that the ideas are presented well and in a systematic way. However, there are those ideas that need to be insisted on. It is on those points or ideas that the use of gestures and body language is needed to show the differences. Otherwise, if the speech is given without those gestures, then it will not be achieved as intended.

References

Halim, S., & Halim, T. (2016). Adapting Materials: Revisiting the Needs of Learners. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926, 2(4), 633-642.

Schultze, Q. J. (2020). An essential guide to public speaking: Serving your audience with faith, skill, and virtue. Baker Academic.

Timmis, I. (2016). Materials to develop speaking skill. In Issues in materials development (pp. 83-92). Sense Publishers, Rotterdam.