America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

The Last Straw!

Straw’s Suck…LITERALLY!!!

Image result for no straw please

This week I heard about about not using plastic straws. They started campaigns called The Last Straw or No Straw Please, which I thought was very clever! I have always been one to not use a straw if I didn’t have to. I’m glad the rest of the world is finally taking notice as well!

Disposable straws are not recyclable. I actually told some of my friends this and they were surprised and didn’t know this. They often end up in landfills, oceans or our environment! According to the National Park Service, Americans throw away a half a billion straws everyday! That’s insane! It is insane to think that a tiny little piece of plastic could have such a big impact on our Earth. It is also crazy to not realize how many times you use a straw! Eight million tons of plastic enter our marine environments every year! They say by 2050 there will be more plastic then there is fish! These fish are also eating these plastic materials! This matter because we eat fish! I eat fish! This means were eating plastic! We are killing ourselves!

Image result for plastic straws in the ocean

CNN tells us that the average American uses two plastic straws a day, “Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses. That means the average American uses over 35,000 of them in a lifetime.” Image result for turtle and plastic straw

The movement started in 2011 by nine-year-old boy named Milo Cress. His campaign was called Be Straw Free.  It started when he went to restaurants and they gave him a straw without him even asking. He really didn’t need one and they gave him one without asking! He started going to local restaurants and asking them to not give anyone straws unless they ask. Those restaurants reported that they used 50% less straws!

Image result for restaurants saying no to straws

 

This campaign, however, started in our very own Seattle. The campaign saved over 2.3 million plastic straws in as little of three months! Restaurants are switching to paper straws. The city is even looking into having an official ban on straws and plastic utensils! Image result for no more plastic straws

 

I’m not asking you to stop using straws. I simply asking you to not use plastic straws! There are other alternatives like reusable glass, stainless steel, copper, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws. I challenge you to go straw free for a full week! I am asking you to make the switch and say no to plastic straws!!

Image result for alternatives to plastic straws

 

Check out this video! 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *