Keeping the Green Earth Green

This is my final speech I gave for my Speech class at KCU.

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to use fewer natural resources and help to preserve the Earth.
Central Idea: By living in a more environmentally friendly way, you can earn money, live healthier, and preserve the creation God has given us.

Introduction
I. Rivers pour forth, light begins to dawn, mountain valleys are painted, trees spring up and the colors of the wildlife emerge from the lush earth.
A. This is the scene of creation. God created a piece of art for us to take care of and enjoy in which we were to live in harmony with creation, God and mankind. “God blessed them and said, ” And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ASV).
II. God is a god of relationships and the earth is part of our relationship with him. By helping to take care of the earth, we are honoring, worshiping, and respecting everything God has done for us. We, as Christians, should be the leaders in taking care of and showing others how to take care of the earth. By taking care of the earth and living in an environmentally friendly way we can live healthier, earn money, and please God.

(Transition: There are many ways that we can help to preserve our earth and respect the things God has given us. Let’s look at some now.)

Body
III. First, using environmentally friendly products you can live healthier and save money.
A. Begin with survey.
B. At home
1. Natural cleaners are a great way to clean and great alternative to chemical products. You can use lemon juice or borax to do your cleaning. There are even popular brand new eco-friendly products that have recently been released in stores. Check out eartheasy.com for basic household-cleaner recipes. (Ramirez) (Read HOW TO LIVE A GREEN LIFE)
2. You can also switch to environmentally friendly lighting. This is a very wise choice considering, although more expensive, the compact fluorescent light bulbs use 75% less energy than regular incandescent light bulbs and run 4 to 15 times longer (Sketch) (Department of Environmental Energy of Michigan). (read LIGHTING)
3. It’s also great to learn to preserve water. Read personal story about summer camp here. “This summer…”
IV. Secondly, changing your lifestyle can help reduce the billions of metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions created yearly by the U.S. (Ramirez)
A. On the road
1. You can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,590 pounds per year if you leave the car home two days a week and take public transportation instead. (Ramirez)
B. At work
1. You can stop receiving mail for former employees by visiting ecologicalmail.org. For every former employee entered into the site’s database, a company will avoid 100 pounds of waste in undeliverable mail. That’s equivalent to one tree. (Ramirez)
2. 78 percent of cars on the road carry only one person. If you carpool with several people in one car it could save so much money and help to preserve our natural resources. (Ramirez)

(Transition: By following some of these methods and practicing a more ecologically friendly lifestyle, we please God.)
V. Lastly, God has called us to care for creation. Caring for creation is a way to honor God and respect his power and authority.
A. Genesis says that we are to take care of God’s creation and we are to be in charge of all of the animals and plants. We are called to have dominion over it.
1. The word dominion in Hebrew means to subdue, to rule over in a kind manner, and to protect.

B. By preserving creation we are worshipping God. God is in every aspect of creation and He did not create it for us to destroy it or waste it. It is a beautiful thing and once something is gone it won’t come back.

(Transition: It’s true that humans have a huge role to play. We are to be good stewards of the things God has given us.)
Conclusion
VI. In conclusion, by living in a more environmentally friendly way, you can earn money, live healthier, and preserve the creation God has given us. Being more aware of the impact you have on the environment and doing your best to change that for the better is one of the greatest things we can do to show our love and respect for God. By taking good care of what God has given us here on earth, God will bless us so much more with many things to come. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10 NIV)

Bibliography

BBC Green. 2008. 4 November 2008 .
“Green Living & Eco Friendly Home..Learn To Go Green.” Squidoo.com. 4 November 2008 .
Ramirez, Jessica. “How to Live a Greener Life.” Newsweek Online. 4 November 2008 .
Sketch, Trent. “Five Ways to Live a Greener Life.” 7 March 2007. Associated Content. 4 November 2008 .
The Holy Bible – New International Version. International Bible Society, 1978, 1984.
Yahoo’s Living Green. 2008. 4 November 2008 .
Department of Environmental Quality of Michigan. 2008. 1 December 2008
Green Solutions. 2008. 1 December 2008

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