{"id":154,"date":"2018-03-16T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/simplewaystochangetheworld\/?p=154"},"modified":"2018-03-16T18:00:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T18:00:16","slug":"the-last-straw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/simplewaystochangetheworld\/2018\/03\/16\/the-last-straw\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Straw!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Straw’s Suck…LITERALLY!!!<\/h2>\n

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This week I heard about about not using plastic straws. They started campaigns called The Last Straw <\/em>or No Straw Please,<\/em> 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!<\/p>\n

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\u00a0everyday! 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!<\/p>\n

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CNN tells us that the average American uses two plastic straws a day, “Every day, Americans throw away\u00a0500 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.”\u00a0\"Image<\/p>\n

The movement started in 2011 by nine-year-old boy named Milo Cress. His campaign was called Be Straw Free<\/em>.\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n

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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!\u00a0\"Image<\/p>\n

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I’m not asking you to stop using straws. I simply asking you to not use plastic straws! There are other alternatives like\u00a0reusable 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!!<\/p>\n

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Check out this video!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n