Assalamualaikum and a very good morning to the panel of judges, teachers

and friends.
[Coughing sound, having a difficulty to breath.]
Have you ever experienced that like what I did just now? You are trying
your best to breath but all that is coming inside your lungs is poisonous
smoke and smelly air full of dirts and germs.
It may be a cliche but that is what is going on at this juncture. Some
people seem to be so ignorant and are not realising how they are affecting our
Mother Earth. As quoted from Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Water and air, the
two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage
cans. Imagine how a garbage can looks like and put water and air into
context. That is undeniably really bad. As shown in a study on
Now, people talk about the cause and effects. All the pointing of fingers
to who should be responsible of what has been done. For today, let us talk
about how we as students can contribute for the better of our environment.
Maybe before this, we are only contributing in the form of suggesting in
essays writing on what should and should not be done. Well, now, let us talk
about what we can do right here, right now and maybe later.
Firstly, right now, I am sure some of us have water bottles with us.
When we are done with the bottle, try to put it, not throw it, into a recycling
bin. Do not leave it lying on the floor just like that. Try to have an initiative of
collecting water bottles or other recyclable materials at home or even in our
class at school. Later on, we can send them to a recycling centre. Believe me,
the feeling is way beyond being happy just because you will get money for
recycling and handing them in, but you will have this beautiful feeling inside
you as you know that you have just contributed a little something for the
better of the environment.

Also, lets try to do more walking instead of riding on motorcycles or

even cars. If we have our parents sending us to school, make them drop us a
bit further from the school compound. So that we will have less poisonous
gases coming near the school. At the same, it helps us to stay healthier.
Trees. We are exposed to the fact that trees are important as they are
the source of oxygen. We need oxygen to stay alive. With that, why not plant
trees ourselves. When we have time during the weekend and feel like doing
something beneficial, we can dig a hole or put some soil in a pot and put a
plant into it. There you go. As easy as that. Besides that, when planting a tree,
we can somehow channel out our stress using the trees. Now how is that
possible? Yes, try talking to a plant and see what miracle it does for you and
also for the plant itself. It is like a nature therapy. Trust me.
To name it, we have a vast amount of things that we can do to help
improve or sustain whatever we have left of our beloved environment. From
as simple as a gesture of picking up a rubbish that you come across while
walking, using recycled paper instead of the plain shiny white ones to putting
away all the long and thin smokey things called cigarettes. Acts on a bigger
scale like carrying out a campaign as a school level or around the
neighbourhood or sending reports to the authorities on destructions
happening caused by irresponsible people may be a burden to some but if we
can achieve things up to that level, the commitment and effort that we made
will give us a sweet victory. We might even end up in the newspapers.
Looking at the serious side, our world is really dying and bleeding. We
do not have look afar, it is happening right here in our own country. We
should be learning from advanced countries like Japan. They care so much
about the environment and appreciate those taking care of it highly. For
example the garbage collectors are actually called as health engineers and
they even have a system of garbage collection which will blow our minds. We
may not be able to copy their system but we can set some things as examples.

Well, hopefully there are a few things that we can benefit from what i
have been speaking about for the past few minutes. One significant thing is
how we, as students can contribute to the well-being of our environment and
that all of us should be aware of the importance of our environment. I shall
end my speech with the saying Destruction is a man's will, Nevertheless
Prevention is also a man's will,Its a man's choice to choose between
Destruction and Prevention.
Thank you, Assalamualaikum.

:)
Babu Rajan