Introduction
Identifying tiny plastic material in human excretion came as a big surprise to many people. The identification opened individuals’ understanding that plastic bags hurt not only the environment but also human health. Currently, plastic bags are everywhere worldwide, with some businesses treating them as a reliable and affordable packaging material with the potential to save investors’ operating costs. However, plastic bags are non-biodegradable and pose a lasting threat to the environment. The product’s ease of motion via air and flowing water takes the litter to unexpected places, where they cause real environmental harm.
The speech’s topic is “plastic bags should be banned,” aiming to inform the forum’s attendees of the need to support the plan. The speech also intends to invoke a motion towards the change of environmental policies in the U.S. to realize a plastic bag-free environment.
Using plastic bags is harmful to the environment and causes pollution, promotes human ill-health and hurts wildlife and marine ecosystems.
We are human beings and have the responsibility to take care of the environment and other people. However, our continued utilization of plastic bags exposes nature, humans, and other creatures to harm. As national leaders on environmental issues, scholars, students interested in environmental conservation, and business persons, we must act now. The effects of plastic bags have formed debate on different platforms for a while. Now we have facts about the issue and are tasked to make the change. We all need to encourage policy change and avoid utilizing harmful plastic bags. We also have the responsibility to share the factual content of this speech with peers in different forums to cause an enormous force with the ability to change the whole world on this specific matter.
Being a staunch environmental researcher, scholar, and participant in environmental conservation subjects grants me the ability to handle the topic with authority. The content of the speech also comes from peer-reviewed and practical sources that are reliable, verifiable, and creditable.
Organizational Pattern
The speech tackles three crucial ideas supporting banning plastic bags. The first point concerns the bags’ pollution effect on land and water. The second idea covers plastic bags’ harmful effects on human health, while the last point expresses the impact of plastic bags on wildlife and marine life. A counter-argument and rebuttal section forms the concluding part of the speech.
Banning plastic bags in the U.S. will curb land and water pollution
Plastic bags are the most common litter around the U.S. The material fill landfills, urban centers, forests, beaches, and the ocean, as shown in Appendix 1. Being non-biodegradable makes plastic bags resistant to almost all natural forces that destroy litter, according to Napper and Thompson (2020). The impact of such spreading is the existence of dirty locations unsafe for human and animal habitation.
Plastic bags are lightweight and easily get picked up by travel water and wind. The material ends up dispersing almost everywhere, including areas where one least expects to find them. For example, river estuaries and oceans are full of these bags due to their ease of motion and resistance to natural destructive forces. Their lightweight nature increases the potential risk as they get into all primary elements of the natural food web, thus causing more danger.
Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and pose a lasting threat to the environment. The animals accidentally feeding on the material often die due to digestive system complications. Being non-biodegradable also allows tiny plastic residue to get into humans’ food sources and drinking water, thus posing a fatal risk.
The presence of plastic bags waste in water bodies leads to the waste’s presence in humans’ bodies.
Plastic bags harm human health
Medical research has found plastic bags traces in human feces, implying the material’s threat to human health. The point that people do not know the margin of harm caused by the plastic bag particles present in the body causes significant panic. Ibrahim et al. (2021) further report that plastic waste products in the digestive system bind rare minerals, making them unavailable to the body. Synthetic dyes used to color plastic bags also contain toxicities and heavy metals that jeopardize human health.
The availability of microplastics in regular foods and drinks also exposes humans to more harm than they comprehend. Researchers now report the availability of such microplastics in soft drinks, tap water, and seafood, according to Ibrahim et al. (2021). Heavy metals making plastic bag dyes such as cadmium and lead are also present in some people’s bodies. The particles harm human health, implying more danger in the future if the bags will not be faced away.
Plastic bags clogging sewer lines in urban and rural establishments lead to floods that increase the risk of water-borne sicknesses among humans. The issue is highly present in Asian urban cities and estuaries, as Ferronato and Torretta (2019) reported. The U.S. needs to learn from the situation and act quickly by banning plastic bags to avert the looming danger.
The presence of plastic bag waste in oceans and wild reserves further endangers the lives of animals in the oceans and game parks.
Plastic bags generate waste that is harmful to wildlife and marine life
Plastic bags in ocean waters resemble the oyster fish that many turtle species eat. The availability of waste in the waters thus forces turtles to eat them, leading to their death. The aspect significantly affects the endangered Leatherback turtle species irreversibly, according to Napper and Thompson (2020). Continuing to use plastic bags converts humans into destroyers instead of a protector.
Plastic waste in oceans and seas poses a critical threat to the vital coral ecosystem. Napper and Thompson (2020) say that the waste’s deposition on coral reefs stimulates diseases outbreak that progressively finish whole reef colonies. Terminating the coral ecosystem means making the oceans and seas dead, which we cannot afford to risk as humans.
Waste from plastic bags also entangles animals in the oceans and dryland, causing injury and death at times. Appendix 3 shows a Leatherback turtle entrapped in a plastic bag. The animal has visible cuts and appears exhausted. Continuing to use these bags means exposing more animals to this kind of suffering, thus the need to ban plastic bags soonest possible.
Counter Argument & Rebuttal: Business people worldwide exhibit significant concerns on the call to enforce policies that ban plastic bags. The lot argues that such a move will make many people’s lives unstable. The arguments find substantial justification because plastic bags promote low-cost products that support minorities’ lives. However, such opponents seem not to understand that while it takes a few cents to buy and use a plastic bag, the damage caused by a single such plastic bag to the environment exceeds $10,000. This aspect makes plastics unsustainable and worth doing away with them. The best way to handle the matter is to ban plastic bags completely within the U.S. and around the world.
Conclusion
The present human generation has the power to make the human species the best or the last based on how they handle plastic bags and other innovations causing harm to the environment. Every change starts and proceeds gradually before becoming a full force. Choosing to act today forms the beginning of a powerful transformation that will soon sweep across the world. Let us all purpose to be agents of change by living a life free of plastic bags and endorsing policies that ban their global production and utilization.
Using plastic bags causes more harm than good and should end. The practice puts human health at significant risk, causes death and injury of wild and marine creatures, and makes the world inhabitable. Passing laws that ban the production and utilization of plastic bags is the best point to start the transformation process.
The speech’s topic is ‘plastic bags should be banned’ and calls for American legislators and environment-conscious to lead the strive to realize a safe world free from plastic bags.
I challenge everybody present in the meeting always to go shopping with a non-plastic carrier bag to be part of the change.
Insisting on using plastic bags because of their low price amounts to sleeping through a revolution. May all of us purpose to be true agents of change. Thank you.
References
Ferronato, N., & Torretta, V. (2019). Waste mismanagement in developing countries: A review of global issues. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(6), 1060. Web.
Ibrahim, Y. S., Tuan Anuar, S., Azmi, A. A., Wan Mohd Khalik, W. M. A., Lehata, S., Hamzah, S. R., Ismail, D., Ma, Z.F., Dzukarnaen, A, Zakaria, Z., Mustaffa, N., Sharif, S. E. T. & Lee, Y. Y. (2021). Detection of microplastics in human colectomy specimens. JGH Open, 5(1), 116-121. Web.
Napper, I. E., & Thompson, R. C. (2020). Plastic debris in the marine environment: history and future challenges. Global Challenges, 4(6). Web.