Having completed a good portion of my research for the Unit 2 assignments of the essay and TED talk, I have found three really good sources to help me craft a good essay and speech. All three of the sources have provided me with general information on the decline of cigarette smoking in the United States and the key events that have served as catalysts for this paradigm shift.
The first source I looked at was the Britannica article for the smoking culture in the United States. The article provided insight into how tobacco consumption became popular in America and how it started to cripple in the late 20th century. An important event it mentions is the 1964 Surgeon General’s report on the health hazards of cigarette consumption. This particular report is mentioned in all of the sources I’ve looked at as the event that initiated the paradigm shift.
The second source is on the changing image of public smoking from 1964-2014. This extremely useful chronologically-structured article mentions the key events that have accomplished the reduction in smoking levels over the past 50 years. It mentions Surgeon General’s report as well as the legislation implemented in the United States against tobacco advertisements, the socioeconomic shifts smoking has taken, and finally some of the restrictions that apply to this practice across the whole of the US territory.
On a final note, the third and last source I want to mention talks about the statistical implications of the ending of the tobacco problem. Thanks to this source I have a huge amount of statistics that reflect the effectiveness of all of the policies and reports that have been made or issues over the years.
I really like your topic and I am excited to see how you turn it into a TED talk! I think your sources look good so far as well!
While presenting your elevator pitch, I really liked the reference you made regarding how airplanes became the battleground over smoking laws. This interesting metaphor could fit into your speech in various areas, but potentially consider it as an effective introduction to grab the audience’s attention.