Persuasive Essay Introduction Paragraph
Essay Format Persuasive Essayintroduction Paragraph With Thesis Statem
Essay Format Persuasive Essayintroduction Paragraph With Thesis Statem
Essay Format-Persuasive Essay Introduction Paragraph with Thesis Statement (Remember, the thesis statement will be the last line in this paragraph.) What could make this invention any better? It is free for most shoppers, it is convenient for carrying materials, it is lightweight, and it has multiple purposes. These are some benefits of plastic shopping bags. According to Kinnelon Conserves.net, plastic bags are made from crude oil, which is heated and releases ethylene gas, leaving polyethylene as a byproduct (2018). This gel-like material is what makes plastic bags.
Ever since its beginnings in the 1960s, plastic shopping bags can be seen in many places: in shopping carts, in trunks of cars, and in kitchens. Katherine Mangu-Ward states, “In 2010, Guinness World Records named plastic bags the most ubiquitous consumer item in the world” (2015). But, the problem is that we also see plastic bags floating in oceans and trapped inside aquatic organisms. So, the question becomes, do we ban plastic bags in all fifty states, or do we continue using them in shopping centers?
Paper For Above instruction
Considering many factors, plastic bags should be banned from stores in all fifty states due to the negative effect they have on the environment when they are produced and after they are produced, along with the fact that many countries and cities have already successfully banned them and reaped the positive environmental benefits of doing so.
Body Paragraph # 1 Topic Sentence: One reason lawmakers should ban plastic bags in all fifty states, is due to the negative environmental ramifications, when they are produced.
Major Supporting Detail # 1: Plastic bags are made from an already depleting fossil fuel: oil, which takes thousands of years to form. Oil already has many uses, including being used for gasoline and diesel in vehicles and homes, jet fuel, and for roads and roofs, among many other uses. Eliminating plastic bags will make better use of this limited oil resource. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — The Kinnelon Conserves website states that “five trillion plastic bags are produced each year, which accounts for .2% of the earth’s oil consumption each year…it takes 12 million barrels of oil just to make enough plastic bags for America!†That is a lot of wasted oil on a product we usually only use one time for about 15 minutes.
Oil is already being used up at an alarming rate for energy, construction, and other types of plastics like for toys and many household items, so we should not waste it on one-use plastic bags, and further negatively affect our environment. Major Detail # 2: When we extract oil from our land to make plastic bags, we also release methane into the atmosphere, which traps heat, and increases global warming. So, oil extraction, also induces air pollution. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — According to Kate Pickert from Time Magazine, “Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year.” So, we do in fact, pay a price for plastic bags, due to the emission of other toxic chemicals in the air, when oil is extracted. This added air pollution, along with our decreasing oil reserves, is not worth the price for a simple plastic bag that we can easily substitute with reusable bags and eliminate altogether.
Body Paragraph # 2 Topic Sentence: Another reasons lawmakers should ban plastic bags in all 50 states is due to the negative environment effects after it has been produced. Major Supporting Detail # 1: So, what happens to a plastic bag once it has been used? Many times, it ends up in the ocean. We can easily search online to see how plastic bags are negatively affecting our marine life. We will find many images, circulating the internet, of plastic found inside live and dead turtles, inside live and dead whales, because plastic bags look like jellyfish to many ocean organisms, and inside dead seals and fish. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — According to an article in Nation magazine, “8 million tons of plastic [enters] the ocean each year…60 to 80 percent of all marine litter is plastic…and in the year 2050…there will be more plastic than fish in the Earth’s oceans, if current trends continue.” These are all alarming facts that impact our marine life.
We have to ban plastic bags so they will not wind up in the ocean killing our ocean animals because these organisms take part in a larger food chain, that our existence depends on. We also have to consider the chemical material plastic bags are made from, polyethylene, and the negative effects this has in these organisms’ bodies. Major Supporting Detail # 2: So we have established that plastic bags find their way to the ocean and that animals are eating that plastic, which leads to another major environmental problem: microplastics. Studies have shown that small amounts of plastic are now being found in salt, crabs, fish, and seaweed, among other ocean life. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — Jennifer Barone states, “some of the same properties that make plastics great for consumer goods make them a problem pollutant (Science World 2017). Plastic’s durability comes in part from the fact that unlike paper or wood, it doesn’t biodegrade, or break down naturally…Those tiny pieces, known as microplastic, can potentially stick around for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years.” These microplastics are what marine life eats and soaks up, and we ultimately ingest it from fish, salt, and seaweed. So, we need to ban plastic bags so they will never reach the ocean because they not only negatively affect ocean life, but negatively affect our lives as well.
Body Paragraph # 3 Topic Sentence: Another reason that the government should ban plastic bags in all fifty states is because some cities have already begun to charge for plastic bags, which shows the importance of reducing them, and some cities have already taken the next step of banning them, and experienced a huge decrease in plastic pollution.
Major Supporting Detail # 1: The fact that some cities now charge to purchase plastic bags because it leads to a decrease in plastic pollution, is a clear indicator that we are ready for the next step: to ban bags for an even larger positive impact on the environment. These cities charging for plastic bags discourage their use and are essentially weaning shoppers off bags altogether. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — According to a Nation article by Glyn Peterson, “85% [is the] amount by which plastic bag use has decreased in England after it required all stores to levy a 5-pence-per bag charge starting in 2015.” And, according to Waste360 , the price for plastic bags in England is now 7 cents and has led to a 30 percent decline in plastic bags found in local oceans. That is a huge decrease in plastic bags that benefit our environment. Many plastic bag charging cities want to promote the use of reusable bags for shopping, which is ideal for our environment. Major Supporting Detail # 2: Many cities have taken extreme measures to more quickly positively impact our environment by completely banning plastic bags. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” — According to Kate Pickert from Time Magazine these cities include Austin, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle (2014). We already know the positive environmental effects of banning plastic bags because, “Plastic bags for retail purchases are banned or taxed [have now been implemented] in more than 200 municipalities and a dozen countries, from San Francisco to South Africa, Bellingham to Bangladesh (Reason, 2015). If it was a poor law that was not worth implementing, many cities would not have passed it.
Rebuttal Paragraph Topic Sentence: Many people may argue that we should not ban plastic bags in our fifty states and continue to use them because they can be reused and recycled like paper and cans.
Counterargument # 1: Plastic bags are convenient because they are lightweight, free, have multiple uses like to pack school lunches, or to carry objects, containers, or food, and many of us have whole drawers and spaces to collect them and use when needed. Refutation of Counterargument # 1: It is true that plastic bags are lightweight and convenient, but we can easily carry bags in our car trunks to use them when needed instead of getting plastic bags. That way, we do not have to worry about recycling them or adding to the huge plastic pollution problem we already have. Stores could also have cloth bag donation boxes for customers who want to donate some bags for people who forget their bags or do not want to pay for a cloth bag. We can also use cloth or metal lunch bags and boxes to carry food. The article from Katherine Mangu-Ward states “many American homes had a nook, cranny, or drawer that functioned as a kind of grocery-sack clown car. It seemed that whatever the size of the container, an infinite number of bags could be stuffed inside… If we wound up with an unmanageable surplus, we could just drop the bags at the recycling centers.” But many times, these infinite bags just get thrown in the trash can because people forget to take them to recycling sites and stores altogether.
Counterargument # 2: Another counterargument is that plastic bags can be recycled. Refutation of Counterargument # 2: But not enough people consistently recycle plastic bags. An article by Katherine Mangu-Ward, says that according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans only recycled 4% of plastic bags in 2010. This is not enough to make a significant positive impact. Also, when I try to recycle my personal plastic bags in the recycling bin that my city provides me, I am always told that the city cannot accept plastic bags that have food residue on them, and I cannot fill up the whole bin with plastic bags because the bags get stuck in the recycling machine. It is such an inconvenience to have to recycle my plastic bags elsewhere. So, if our government bans plastic bags altogether, we do not have to worry about recycling them.
Conclusion Paragraph (Might include a call to action and/or a statement of the implications.) Restatement of Thesis: In conclusion, the U.S. government should ban plastic bags in all fifty states due to the negative environmental consequences of producing and using them, and because other cities have already jumped on the plastic bag ban bandwagon, so we already know the positive effects it would induce in our whole country. Essentially, plastic bags are not “free” because the environmental negative cost is huge. Call to Action: Instead of using plastic bags, consumers should carry cloth bags in their car to reuse many times and not have to worry about recycling them or contributing to our pollution problem. I have been doing this for about 5 years now, and feel that my minute contribution is a step in the right direction towards a cleaner earth. This small action is very easy to make, but if enough people make it, the positive results are substantial. Statement of Implications: The implications of banning plastic bags are vast, including significant reductions in marine pollution, decreased reliance on fossil fuels, and fostering a culture of sustainability. This shift can ultimately lead to healthier ecosystems, improved public health, and a sustainable future for generations to come.
References
- Barone, Jennifer. “An Ocean of Plastic.” Science World, vol. 73, no. 11, Apr. 2017, p. 8. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=.
- Peterson, Glyn. “By the Numbers.” Nation, vol. 305, no. 16, Dec. 2017, p. 4. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=.
- “Amount of Plastic Bags Found in UK Waters Is Declining.” Waste360, Apr. 2018, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=voh&AN=.
- Mangu-Ward, Katherine. “Plastic Bags are Good for You.” Reason, vol. 47, no. 5, Oct. 2015, pp. 32-38. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&ab=a9h&AN=.
- Pickert, Kate. “Paper, Plastic, Or Neither.” Time, vol. 183, no. 2, Jan. 2014, p. 11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=.
- “Life Cycle of Products.” Kinnelon Conserves, Accessed 6 October 2019.
- Additional credible sources as needed for supporting data