Global Warming
There is little doubt that the planet is warming. Over the last century, the planets temperature has risen by around
1 degree fahrenheit (0.6 of a degree celsius). The warmest since the mid 1800’s was the 1990s. The hottest years
recorded were 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003.
The United Nations panel on climate change projects that the global temperatures will rise 3-10 degrees fahrenheit
by the century’s end - enough to have the polar caps all but melted. If the ice caps melt, a vast majority of our
countries borders will be under water. Monuments and great buildings, as well as homes and lives will be under
water, including New York City.
So now we know what some of the causes are for global warming, how can we as individuals do our part to help
save the planet?
The answer is simpler than you may think. You don’t have to go miles away from home to protest, or spend
masses of money. If you try to follow the few simple steps that I shall now give you, you will have started to help
us all.
Firstly, plant a tree. This could be easier than it sounds. Join or help out a local wildlife group and ask to plant a
tree. Trees, when fully grown, will help keep the planet cooler. On the same point, you could protest against the
demolition of the rainforests. This is the same principle, we need the trees to cool our planet and yet they are
chopping them down to create roads or homes.
Something as simple as walking instead of taking the car will help reduce pollution. As well as stopping pollution,
you are giving yourself exercise, something important for our bodies. So the next time you get into your car, or
your motorbike, think - do I have to make this journey by vehicle or can I walk?
When you are at home, and your getting a little cold. Put a jumper on and do not adjust the heating. The extra
heat produced by our homes also affects the planet. So try wearing an extra layer in winter.
If possible, buy your fruit and vegetables from local suppliers. And try to avoid imported goods. The more foreign
food that we import the more pollution from aeroplanes and boats it will create.
Keeping to the speed limit can also help the environment. The more you speed the more petrol you are going to
use, making the pollution higher. Also, SUV’s make about six times their own weight in CO2 each year. A small
efficient diesel car covering the same distance not only uses much less fuel; it makes two thirds less.
If possible use solar energy, after all it is free; all you need to buy is the equipment. You can get much of your hot
water and heating from the sun and even generate electricity.
Reduce, reuse and recycle. Only buy what you need; don’t stock the cupboards with things you may or may not
use. Reuse whatever you can, like containers and paper, and recycle what you cannot reuse. It really is as simple
as that.
Finally turning off unused sources of power such as televisions and heaters will help the environment, as well as
save you money.
If everybody stuck to these rules, we would be doing a great thing by protecting the earth. So please take into
consideration what I have said, and try to do your part. After all, it will be our next generation that will feel the
effects.
Persuasive Speech – Atticus Finch, Lawyer
From: “To Kill a Mockingbird” the movie
Atticus: To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The State has not produced one iota of medical
evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two
witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross examination, but has been flatly
contradicted by the defendant. Now there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten
savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken
“The Oath” with the only good hand he possesses – his right.
I have nothing but pity in my heart for the Chief Witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and
ignorance. But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to
get rid of her own guilt. Now I say “guilt,” gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She’s committed no
crime. She has merely broken a rigid and time-honoured code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is
hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But, what was the
evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson
was to her a daily reminder of what she did.
Now what did she do? She tempted a negro. She was white and she tempted a negro. She did something that in our
society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young negro man. No code mattered to
her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.
The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Lincoln County, have presented themselves to you
gentlemen – to this Court – in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted; confident that you
gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption, the evil assumption, that all negroes lie; all negroes are
basically immoral beings; all negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates
with minds of their calibre, and which is in itself, gentlemen, a lie – which I do not need to point out to you.
And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman,
has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is.
Now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no
idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That’s no ideal to me. That is a living,
working reality!
Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a
decision, and restore this man to his family.
In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson.