It sounds
like a completely unnecessary question, to which the answer doesn’t really
matter, but it turns out that the answer DOES matter. A lot. Nowadays, in the
world, 8 million metric tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year. In
case you hadn’t figured it out, that is a colossal amount. Unfortunately, we
all contribute to that, by consuming plastic that has only served once – straws
for instance – and throwing it away. The impact of so much plastic lingering in
the ocean is huge. Marine species are endangered, but not only! With the total
pollution of plastic in the world, everyone is at risk, including you and me.
What do we
do?
A movement has been going on for roughly 3 months,
which consists of banning plastic straws in different coffee shops. Quite a few
have, and the movement is getting bigger, but it needs to become worldwide.
Funnily enough, the USA is the country which uses the most straws; averaging
500 million of them, DAILY. To put that into perspective, that’s 1.6 straws per
American per day. How much more ridiculous can it get?
What are
the alternatives? Are we doomed to not use straws anymore?
First of all, does it hurt to drink your coffee or
your Coke from McDonalds straight from a cup? ABSOLUTELY NOT. If you really
insist on having a straw, why don’t you buy your own? A stainless steel one
would do the trick, you can use it every time you go to a coffee shop or tea
lounge or just at home! Even if you’re still not happy with that – there might
be something wrong with you – eventually plastic straws won’t exist anymore,
and they’ll be replaced by paper ones, but in order for it to be that way, we
must pay attention to the consequences of our consumption, and in a way, raise
awareness to the brainless people out there.
Are you convinced?
If not, I’m very disappointed in you. It seems like
just another environmental campaign, but this is already impacting your life,
and it’s only going to get worse if we just sit and watch it happen. These are
the devastating impacts on marine wildlife… Take action! Stop using straws!
Alex.
Great post Alex! I've already heard about that issue but did not realise how big it was... Let's change that and create bamboo-straws, which won't destroy the AUSTRALIAN coast ;) Thanks, Marion
ReplyDeleteA very well structured and convincing post, you have made here, Alex. I used to be one of those who often use straw, for a matter of hygiene. That is how I was taught in Ghana, because there virus could be easily transmitted or even to avoid sticky fingers dependigd on the drink. But since I have changed my mind because, first, you to either ask or look for one and then had to throw them away when you wanted to close the bottle in order to keep the rest for later. But it is good to remind us about the IMPACTS of the human activity on the ecosystem.
ReplyDeleteXavier
Straws are annoying anyways, because you can never get to the end of your drink when using one - and you'd make this very irritating noise if you woud try to, so don't - so you'll have to drink directly from your bottle/cup if you want to get these precious little drops that are left in the bottom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ReplyDeletegood tip Mimi
Deleteirena
Boarding school hack : Wash your straw everytime and re-use it :) Let's save turtleeeees
ReplyDelete