95 Appendix A: Persuasive Speech Topic Ideas
Environmental Topics
- Citizens should try to reuse items before recycling them.
- The U.S. should ban mountaintop removal as a mode of harvesting coal.
- Contemporary climate change is human-caused.
- Governmental funding for clean energy should be increased.
- All municipalities should offer public transportation.
- The U.S. should ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
- Bottled water should undergo the same quality testing as municipal water.
- Preservation is a better environmental sustainability model than is conservation. • Hunting should be banned on all public lands.
Social Justice Topics
- The right to marry should be extended to gays and lesbians.
- Abortion should be illegal.
- State colleges should be free to attend.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most influential leader of the civil rights movement
- The death penalty should be abolished.
- Convicted rapists should be sentenced to the death penalty.
- Women should receive equal pay for equal work.
- Affirmative action does not work and should be ended.
- Individuals and communities affected by environmental injustices should receive compensation.
Campus Life
- Dorm rooms should have individual thermostats.
- Professors’ office hours should be held at reasonable hours, not 7 a.m. on Mondays.
- Free coffee should be provided in all classroom buildings before noon.
- Student fees at universities are too high.
- Dining halls should provide nutritional information for all meals.
- Student government leaders should host regular forums to answer questions from the general student population.
- Plagiarism should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
Everyday Life Topics
- The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18.
- Frequent flyers should not be required to remove their shoes in airport security lines.
- Eating five meals a day is better than eating three.
- Smoking should be illegal in all public areas.
- Gmail is the best email service.
- All restaurants should offer vegan and vegetarian options or substitutes.
- Netflix and Hulu are better ways to watch movies and television shows.
- ATM fees should be outlawed.
- Proximity to religious facilities should have no bearing on alcohol sales.
Economic Topics
- Social security benefits should be guaranteed for those who pay in to the program.
- All multi-year jobs should include pension plans.
- The U.S. should spend less on wars and more on education.
- Everyone should be required to pay an equal percentage of taxes.
- A consumption tax is more just than an income tax.
- The minimum wage in the U.S. is too low.
- Multi-million dollar bonuses for corporate executives are unjust because they preclude better wages/reduced prices for others.
Quirky Topics
- Tacos are the greatest of human inventions.
- Ghosts are real.
- Short haircuts are more comfortable than long hairstyles.
- Bourbon should only be served “on the rocks.”
- Traditional eyeglasses make those who wear them look smarter.
- Eating chicken with a fork should be illegal. (An actual law in Gainesville, Georgia!)
