It was last winter when I heard the first rumblings of the anti-straw crusade. First avenue was getting rid of plastic drinking straws. Turns out they're not recyclable and tons of them end up in the oceans, killing fish, hurting sea turtles, etc.
I'm not an environmental crazy person but I've spoken about this before. We're really killing our planet. Last week, I blogged about how Amazon is everyone's favorite but it's sooooooo bad for the planet. The paper, the fuel, the plastic bubble wrap...all of it's so damaging. But it's convenient so we pretend it's okay.
Same with concerts and sporting events. Huge amounts of energy are used to put these on and the gas used to drive millions of people to them each year is staggering. But no one ever thinks about that.
I'm on the fence about the straw thing. To me it seems great but it also screams "slactivism."
The thinking would go something like this:
I don't use a straw, therefore I'm not harming the environment, but I have an SUV that I drive alone to work every day, and a giant house that I heat and cool plus a boat and a cabin that I heat and cool. But the straw thing? I'm doing my part now.
See? It's not enough and some people wonder if alternatives to plastic straws are any better. It takes energy to make metal straws and they clog up landfills too. What about washing your metal straw? Running hot water and putting some used soap into the environment; is that better than using a plastic straw?
And why worry about straws when we all drink bottled water and pop and Gatorade and a huge percentage of that doesn't get recycled. You and I might recycle but look in any trash can out in public. A lot of the trash is plastic bottles.
So sure, don't use a plastic straw. But don't tell yourself that's enough. Cuz it's not and we know it.
BTW, here's a link to check out some reusable straws and possible order them.