Environmental/global issues?

overpopulation is obviously the biggest problem and is probably played out as a topic.

It would be interesting to go into depth about the environmental devastation being caused by the industrialization of many developing countries and the creation of a massive consumer class outside of the traditional first world.

uneven and combined developement (look it up)-

basically how the first world exploits the third world resources to their benefit and this causes massive illegal immigration and migration from the southern hemisphere to the northern, percieved overpopulation (the world really isn't that overpopulated right now, the first world just uses all of the resources), human rights abuses (exploitation of third world labor) , and environmental destruction (seen in all developing countries) I wrote a 25 pager on this and it was really interesting and eye opening, it is a truth that more people should realize.

Coal mining in appalachia- how coal slurry has been pumped underground and is now breaking through into the water supply of the residents and people are dying and getting cancer... not very talked about. You could just write about how coal is the dirtiest fuel and write about all the downfalls of it... air pollution, water pollution (through coal slurry), ect.

Well, I will throw a few random ideas that I have gotten from my environmental science class.

-Global climate change is causing winter to start later and end earlier in many areas which is effecting a lot of species such as bears, migratory birds, and fish.  Bears hibernate for shorter periods of time and have messed up their diets, migratory birds are having to travel to different places, and many fish are dying off because of the climate change.

-You could research the effects of Damming the Colorado River.  Although I am not sure if you need something that is a global issue.  But, the Colorado River is fed primarily through the melting of the snowpack, but the snowpack is reducing because of global climate change. 

-The Three Gorges Dam in China is a very interesting subject.  It is the worlds largest hydroelectric powerstation and has had a ton of environmental consequences.  You could talk about the general consequences of building dams such as sedimentation, disruption of fish migration, etc.  You could also talk about the benefits, such as the clean energy it provides, the ability to control flooding, etc. Then you could talk specifically about the Three Gorges Dam and how it displaced about 1 1/4 million people and destroyed a lot of agricultural and cultural sites. Also the dam lead to the extinction of a species of dolphin and is impacting other fish species.  There is a lot of information on this topic and it is fairly interesting.

-Of course you could always do a paper on the global population

That's all that I could think of... I know theres a TON of topics you could choose from... I'll try and think of some more.

yes... dams- they're all over the place, and although hydropower is a healthy alternative because of the lack of air pollution it produces, its super controversial because of the process of daming a river and the effects on the fish populations, etc. ties in with water polution.
also, if you want another idea for a controversial topic- nuclear power. the air pollution is non-existant, but the byproducts are horrible. Plus there's the global fear of a terrorist attack on them, blah blah blah...
sustainable agriculture- its becoming a huge ordeal. organic or not, vegetarian or not... pesticides are becoming a huge controversy. do some research, and that could be a really interesting speech.
if you want a global issue that's not environmental- world genocides. tibet, sudan, etc. there's the big thing in africa with child soldiers as well. so many people are focused on solely the holocaust. however, there are many current genocides today that aren't getting attention.

wow lots of good ideas. thanks y'all! unfortunately, i didnt turn in my project proposal so he assigned me a topic. i am now doing the effects of farming fish. oh well, not bad. not great, but not bad.