Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

A friend and I went out to eat tonight, to share each other’s company and to acknowledge the passing of the year 2023.  The restaurant was nice, a Tex-Mex kind of place and the server, a young lady was smiling when she greeted us.

We ordered our drinks and when she brought them to the table, she sat down flatware, napkins and two straws.  I smiled and said, “I won’t need that,” as I handed back to her the sleeved covered straw.

“Are you trying to save the turtles?” she asked. 

“Yes,” I said, “among other forms of life.  I’m trying to help save marine life.”

“I applaud your efforts,” she said, “but do you think not using a straw really helps?”

My friend, across the table from me, rolled her eyes, as she recognized, as did I, our server had just offered me a soapbox.

“Does it help?” I said.  “Just one straw, is not a big deal, but did you know Americans use 500 million straws every day.  With the exception of a small number of people that require such an aid due to medical reasons, that is 500 million pieces of plastic that is not needed for us to consume our meals.  Do we use straws when we eat at home?”

“I don’t use straws at home,” Kiki, our server, volunteered with a smile.

Neither do I,” I admitted.

The straw, that innocuous tube of plastic, that we use and then discard without a thought or a care is one of the ways we are killing our planet and subsequently the life on it.

Do you think I am overstating the danger?  Maybe you feel I am the modern version of the boy who called wolf.  Consider this.

500 million tons of a substance is discarded every day.  The substance, due to the chemicals used to make it, cannot be recycled. It is not biodegradable and so it sits, wherever it finds itself.  It may be in landfills, along our streets, in our parks and woodlands, vacant lots in our cities, and sadly, in our waters.  The average straw takes an estimated 200 years to break down into what is called micro plastics.  Micro plastics are microscopic pieces of basically plastic that currently make up a significant amount of what we like to call sand on our beaches.

But they also pollute the oceans.  Anyone who consumes fish also consumes micro plastics.  By the way, they don’t digest any better than they decompose.

It is easy, and in my opinion, lazy, to sit around and blame big business, or the governments or anyone else about the mess we have made of our world.  As long as we delude ourselves that the problem is too huge to solve, we will do nothing.  Some, may be, but much of the mess of this world is caused by us, the lowly consumer who uses plastic shopping bags, single use coffee cups, water bottles, and even the plastic straw.  We can do better.

We don’t use them at home, we don’t need them in restaurants, and if we do, there are several models of reusable straws from which to choose.  It is time to take action as if we wait much longer, there will not be a sustainable nor inhabitable place to live.  Maybe we can figure out a way to move humanity to another planet like in the films.  Then we can mess that place up as well.

You think I overstate the issue?  Ponder this:  According to studies, by the year 2025, there will be one pound of plastic in our oceans for every 3 pounds of fish.  By 2025?  Crap that’s next year.

I invite you to join the cause.  Stop using straws.  Join me.  Join others.  This planet is worth saving but if it is to be saved, it is up to us to do it.

Any takers?  Anyone want to join me in my New Year resolution to not use straws?