Straw Wars?

Straw Wars?

Last year, I was listening to the radio, and I heard a new term, “paper straw.” One of the listeners was on the air, talking about how disgusting paper straw was. The host asked the listener, “didn’t you see that turtle with the plastic straw in his nose? Don’t you want to save the planet?” There was an awkward silence after that. My mind began to recall one incident where I saw a cow a plastic bag.

Seattle is believed to be the first city to ban plastic straw in 2018 (CBS & AP, 2018). When plastic straw hit the market in 1960, it changed the world. Sixty years later, plastic straw becomes an issue. An average of five hundred million plastic straws is used by Americans daily. It is estimated that about eight billion plastic straws polluted the world’s beaches. This tiny monster usually ends up on the beaches along with other plastics from the ocean. A lot of you might be thinking, “isn’t plastic recyclable?” You will be surprised to learn that between 1950 and 2015, only 9 percent was recycled (Ritchie, 2018). What?! Just when you thought you were saving the world by separating plastic and compose, you were destroying the planet. Plastics, in general, can take up to one thousand years to decompose. Plastic straw specifically can take up to five hundred years to decompose.

The public’s awareness of plastic pollution has increased, thanks to the constant reminders from social media and other media sources. Several States have passed bills to ban plastic straws at restaurants and bars. Starbucks is one of the heavy users for plastics and has stopped offering plastic straws. Starbucks’ pledge to end the plastic war has become sensational. Many corporations followed as part of social responsibility.

The pledge reminded me of the Ice Bucket Challenge years ago. It was a simple YouTube video and a hashtag, but it spread to seventeen million people worldwide. $115 million dollars was donated, and the donation helped many lives. Just out of curiosity, is there a plastic straw challenge? I found several hashtags: #nostraw, #refusethestraw, #skipthestraw. There is a site that is #nostarwchallenge, and I thought that could be a campaign that is similar to the Ice Bucket Challenge. It turns out that it is just a site that encourages no straw usage so the wild lives can be saved. The site also has an online store that sells reusable straws.

People say paper straw is disgusting. I would agree, but to save the planet, we have to give up on things that are destroying the ecosystem. Many environmentalists stated that the change of habit will be a slow process, but it’s inevitable. I think if we want to push this awareness forward, we would need to integrate public figures to speak on this topic so that more people are convinced of the situation. Once we have the public’s full support, campaigns will be easier to execute. I wonder, if a celebrity starts a NoStraw challenge, would it become as phenomenal as the Ice Bucket challenge? I’m very interested in finding out.