WHY PLASTIC STRAWS ARE A PROBLEM

It’s easy when sitting at home or in a drive-thru to brush off the impact of just one single-use plastic straw. It’s easy to claim that we cannot make an impact, as individual consumers, when faced with the hundreds of tons of pollution caused by corporations. Too many times this year I've overheard comments such as "do reusable straws really make a difference? How big of a threat are the straws REALLY to the turtles? Bigger than overfishing? Bigger than coral bleaching? How is MY STRAW going to kill a turtle?" The simple truth is that if you see the plastic problem as hopeless and then do nothing about it, the problem becomes just that. Hopeless. If you let yourself have that plastic straw and justify it against the corporation argument, you are contributing to the problem. The corporations will not stop producing plastic straws until there is no demand for them. There will be no large overhaul and change in operations until society DEMANDS that those changes be made, and in conjunction changes their habits.

So YES- the big green plastic straw you’re using in that Starbucks drink or the big orange one in that Dunkin drink make the difference to the turtles in the long run. Those straws have become an easy visual symbol of the extent of the problem for marine life- they end up in turtle’s noses, in turtle’s throats, on beaches everywhere waiting to be mistaken for food. Sure, they end up in lots of other harmful places and in many other marine organisms, but the turtle has unmistakably become the “face” of this problem. The point is that even if they don’t end up IN a turtle they don’t just magically disappear. If they aren’t a DIRECT problem to a turtle, they’re one waiting to be found. They’re the grim reaper around the corner- they’re the food rotting in the back of your fridge and smelling up the whole thing. The turtles will not recover from the problems with straws unless we demand the problem stop at the source of production. That seems like an impossible task indeed- so impossible that many of you justify using that straw because there’s no way anything YOU can do could change that fate for the turtles, right? Wrong. You, as an individual consumer, participate in creating the demand for the production of those awful straws every time you use them. 

As with anything, there are a million excuses. There are times you will slip up- there are times you won’t have your reusable straw. Caroline and I aren’t perfect and lord knows a straw or two or three has slipped through those cracks in the past, but the mere effort of trying to change your mindset, and making the active decision to not need the straw, is a step in the right direction. In the recent past, I’ve also been of the justification type- the “every once in a while won’t be that bad” type. The commitment I made to 2020, however, was not letting a single plastic straw into my life. It’s almost the end of March and so far I have succeeded. My tricks: put a few reusable straws into different bags you take to different places, so that you can never be caught without one. Personally, I’ve got a bamboo straw in my travel backpack, a long metal straw in my nice purse, and a small metal straw in my school backpack. In the rare event I am caught without one- I drink from the cup directly. In the event of being given one at a restaurant- I don’t open it or mention I don’t need one. As soon as you make this strict decision for yourself- not one more straw- you’ll be surprised how easy it is, and how rewarding it feels. I encourage everyone reading this to attempt to stop those subconscious bargainings and justifications, and just simply stop using plastic straws. It may feel at times as if your contribution is small, but every society overhaul has to start somewhere.

Wishing you a good outlook on life, and that laughter always comes easy

- by Josie Slaathaug, VP