Speech 04: Persuasive Speech
MP
Submitted to Professor Sarah Billington
COMM 1020-056-F12
Speech 4: Persuasive Speech
November 13, 2012
Persuasive Speech: Audience Assessment
Specific Goal:
My audience will feel motivated to put down their electronics and get out in nature more.
Type of Claim: This is a claim of policy.
Ethos: Primary Ethos:
a) Competence: I have practiced nature therapy to fight depression for many years.
b) Fairness: I will state that electronics serve a good purpose to mankind when used in moderation.
Secondary Ethos: I will cite 5 authoritative sources.
Audience Assessment: Most of my audience members will probably have an attitude toward my proposition that is somewhat
favorable.
Adaptation to Audience Attitude:
a. Common ground: I will share how much I also enjoy using electronics and being in nature. I will also share reliable statistics
that show how nature therapy can improve their health.
b. Latitude of acceptance: I believe they will accept my proposition because most people value their health and desire to
know how to improve their health.
Baby Steps: I state that a minimum of five minutes in nature is all that is required to improve health.
Pattern of Organization: Motivational Sequence
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Persuasive Speech: Key-Word Outline
The Remedy for Screen Addiction
Introduction [Attention Step]
Hook: The great poet Walt Whitman penned, “There was a child went forth every day, And
the first object he look’d upon, that object he became, And that object became part of
him for the day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years stretching cycles of
years.”
By a show of hands, how many of you sleep with your phone, computer, or TV within
reach of you?
Unfortunately, these days with such easy access to our electronics, most of us are
‘screen addicted.’ We are the child referred to in Walt’s poem, and the first object most
of us look upon every day is some sort of screen, and screens have become part of us.
While they offer us entertainment, information, and education, studies are now
showing the negative effects of screen addiction.
Proposition: For the benefit of our health, we need to put down our electronics and immerse
ourselves regularly in nature.
Preview: I am going to address:
1. how ‘screen addiction’ negatively affects our health
2. how nature can improve our health
3. how we can incorporate nature into our lives
Transition: First, let’s look at the negative effects of ‘screen addiction.’
I.
Body
A mind constantly in motion causes negative physical and mental effects. [Need Step]
A.
B.
C.
Brain changes
i. Abnormal white matter structure [Gretchen Reynolds, The Outside Rx]
Directed-attention fatigue [Rachel/Stephen Kaplan, Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods]
Depression/loneliness [Carnegie Mellon University study, Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods]
Transition: So, what is the remedy to the negative effects of screen addiction? It’s really quite
simple: get outside.
II.
Being in nature improves our physical, mental, and emotional health. [Satisfaction Step]
A.
Brain [Madison Kahn, Free Medicine, Outside Article]
i. Alleviate Directed-attention fatigue
ii. Adrenal cortexa. less cortisol
b. less stress
c. more memory retention
iii. 50% Increased creativity
B.
Eyes
i. Sunlight
(i) Increased serotonin-mood/appetite
ii. Less nearsightedness/myopia
C.
Nose
i. Inhaled microorganisms=altered hormone levels
a. Improves mood
b. Decreases anxiety
c. Improves cognitive function
D.
Bones
i. UV=calcium absorption
E.
Lungs/Heart/Muscles
i. Sunlight
a. More white blood cells-disease fighters
b. More red blood cells-muscular endurance
F.
Immune System
i. Microbes
a. less allergies/asthma
ii. Increased natural killer immune cells
a. Help fight infections and cancer
G.
My past depression
Transition: You may be wondering how to incorporate nature into your life.
III.
Incorporating nature into your life doesn’t need to be difficult. [Visualization Step]
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Walk out the door [Jules Pretty, Professor of Environment and Society at Univ. of Essex]
i. First 5 minutes=greatest impact
Visit park x1/week [Qing Li, Immunologist at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo]
Wooded area x1 weekend/month
Cypress or other oil
i. Drops blood pressure
Have houseplants
Water magnifies effectiveness
Conclusion [Action Step]
In conclusion, as Florence Williams, author of The Nature Cure: Take Two Hours of Pine Forest
and Call Me in the Morning, said, “We don’t need a scientist to tell us that flowers and chirping
birds make us feel good. But if the benefits of getting outside are so intuitive, why don’t more
of us do it? Nature-based recreation has declined 35 percent in the U.S. in the past four
decades, according to the Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences. We
underestimate the curative effects, or perhaps we’re just too readily beguiled by the easy
entertainments of technology.” But for the benefit of our health, we need to put down our
electronic devices, step outside, and experience the restorative benefits nature is continually
producing.
Works Cited
Reynolds, Gretchen. "The Outside Rx." Outside December 2012: 79-92. Periodical.
Kaplan, Rachel/Stephen. "The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective." Louv, Richard. Last Child
in the Woods. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006. Book.
Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006. Book.
Kahn, Madison. "Free Medicine." Outside December 2012: 84.
Williams, Florence. "The Nature Cure: Take Two Hours of Pine Forest and Call Me in the Morning." Outside
December 2012: 79-92.