Dump the straws, help the planet

In our disposable world, people often fail to think before they use, toss and repeat. Debates about bottled water and plastic bag bans are about more than the actual impact of the plastics on the environment. That’s important, but the discussions matter in another way — they can change our thinking.

Modern humans do not have to use, toss and repeat. Take the plastic straw.

Who hasn’t enjoyed a soda or shake through a straw? The joy and anticipation of sucking the sweet liquid is part of the fun. Straws are a necessity for good spit-wad fights and, for germaphobes, a way to ensure lips don’t touch glasses. Straws originally were intended to stop the spread of disease.

Yet, straws are unnecessary. And, it turns out, they do a lot of damage.

The Last Plastic Straw (lastplasticstraw.org) is a group seeking to remind the world that straws are not needed. The goal is in the name — the last plastic straw. In the U.S. alone, some 500 million straws are used and discarded every day, adding up to 175 billion a year to landfills or simply littering land and water. In the United States alone, enough straws are used daily to wrap around the Earth 2.5 times — and that’s every day of the year.

This can change. When ordering water or another drink at a restaurant, let the server know you do not want a straw. It can be done, even at a fast-food joint. Bars and restaurants can join in the movement by declining to serve drinks with straws, offering them only when asked. It’s the plastic equivalent of serving a glass of water only when a customer asks as a waterconservation measure. There also are compostable or reusable options. That’s it. One straw at a time, we stop waste. According to a Washington Post story from June, Milo Cress decided straws were a waste at age 9 and went from restaurant to restaurant in his hometown of Burlington, Vt., asking business owners to stop offering straws without patrons asking. His campaign, Be Straw Free, continues some six years later.

The movement exploded, according to the Post, in 2015 after a video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose went viral. Some 11.8 million people have watched the effort to pull the plastic from the creature’s bloody nostril.

To date, businesses in cities across the country — Bradenton, Fla., Huntington Beach, Calif., New York, Miami and others — are pledging either to ban straws or withhold them unless customers ask. The Plastic Pollution Coalition has estimated that 1,800 restaurants, groups, institutions and schools across the globe have either banned the straws or started a serve-only-on-request policy.

This is a movement that fits Santa Fe like a glove. Not because of law or ordinance, but because this is a movement in which individuals can take the lead and, by their choices, make a difference. No plastic straws. Let your server know you don’t need one with water or in your drink at the local drivethru. If you know people who run restaurants, let them know about the movement.

Straws. Served only upon request. A worthy movement.