Persuasive Essay: How We Must Save The Environment

I. Introduction A. Attention Getter: “The U.S. buried or burned more than 166 million tons of resources—paper, plastic, metals, glass and organic materials—in landfills and incinerators in 2008. We recycled and composted only one-third of our discards. U.S. EPA, 2009. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States, Detailed Tables and Figures for 2008.” (Environmental Facts 2011) B. Thesis: The preservation and restoration of our planet should be something that unites Christians and non-Christians, black and white, and young and old. Christians, specifically, must take a stand and take actions to preserve and restore our environment by recycling and forming groups to do things to help our environment. This

Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” a. The Hebrew words translated “work” and “take care of” in Genesis 2:15 may also be translated “serve” and “preserve.” (Christians and Environment 2015) B. Preserving/ Restoring the Environment 1. Recycling/ Reusing a. “The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates our average (across different products and industries) recycling rate to be 32.5%. What happens to the remaining unrecycled waste? The EPA explain that 12.5% are burned in incineration facilities (spewing hazardous emissions to the atmosphere) while the remaining 55% (well over half of the estimated 251 million tons of solid waste we produce in a year) are deposited in the landfills throughout the country.” (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) b. Reusing isn’t just about less trash going to landfills, but it also prevents harmful chemicals not to seep into the ground, harming the ground and vegetation. If we keep continuing to make landfills bigger and bigger, it will spill into our farms, forests, and water sources. (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) c. 7 reasons why recycling is beneficial? 1. Financial

Ink cartridges (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) c. Aluminum cans 2. Recycling helps conserve limited resources a. “Here are some compelling recycling facts from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: By recycling over 1 million tons of steel in 2004, Pennsylvanians saved 1.3 million tons of iron ore, 718,000 tons of coal, and 62,000 tons of limestone. Through recycling newsprint, office paper and mixed paper, we saved nearly over 8.2 million trees.” (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) 3. Recycling is energy efficient

a. “It costs more energy to manufacture a brand new aluminum can than it does to recycle 20 aluminum cans. 20 cans can be made from recycled material using the same energy it takes to make one new can.” (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) 4. Recycling builds Community a. People are working together to save the environment and make the planet a better place to live. (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) 5. Recycling creates jobs a. landfilling 10,000 tons of waste creates six jobs; recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs. (What is recycling 7 reasons why we should 2008) 6. Recycling builds a strong