Environmental Protection Persuasive Speech
This message brings together a great variety of programs. It deals not only with ways to preserve
the wilderness, wildlife, and natural and historical resources which are a beautiful and valued part of
America's national heritage: it deals also with the effects of pollution, toxic chemicals, and the
damage caused by the demand for energy. Each of these concerns, in its own way, affects the
environment; and together they underscore the importance of environmental protection in all our
lives.
Americans long thought that nature could take care of itself—or that if it did not, the consequences
were someone else's problem. As we know now, that assumption was wrong; none of us is a
stranger to environmental problems.
Industrial workers, for example, are exposed to disproportionate risks from toxic substances in their
surroundings. The urban poor, many of whom have never had the chance to canoe a river or hike a
mountain trail, must nevertheless endure each day the hazardous effects of lead and other
pollutants in the air.
I believe environmental protection is consistent with a sound economy. Previous pollution control
laws have generated many more jobs than they have cost. And other environmental measures
whose time has come—measures like energy conservation, reclamation of strip-mined lands, and
rehabilitation of our cities—will produce still more new jobs, often where they are needed most. In
any event, if we ignore the care of our environment, the day will eventually come when our economy
suffers for that neglect.
Intelligent stewardship of the environment on behalf of all Americans is a prime responsibility of
government. Environmental protection is no longer just a legislative job, but one that requires—and
will now receive—firm and unsparing support from the Executive Branch.
Our great natural heritage should be protected for the use and enjoyment of all citizens. The bounty
of nature—our farmlands and forests, our water, wildlife and fisheries, our renewable energy
sources—are the basis of our present and future material well-being. They must be carefully
managed and conserved.
The quality of our environment must be nurtured by wise decisions and protected from hasty or
unplanned actions. Clean air and water remain essential goals, and we intend to achieve them in
the most efficient and effective ways possible.
