I do understand the whole plastic straw controversy, and I applaud the efforts to clean up the environment, but I think there are far more significant changes that could be made to improve the environment for future generations. Balloons, plastic beverage bottles(and their caps), and disposable shopping bags have a much larger impact on our environment and could just as easily be eliminated. An alarming trend I've noticed lately is parents feeding their young children "organic" foods from "disposable" packets, that, once discarded, will probably survive on this earth longer than those children's children will.
So eliminating plastic straws is a great idea, but so much more needs to be done to preserve this planet.
It’s the latest virtue signaling so people can show others how good they are without actually doing anything.
The whole plastic straw deal (I think it was 500M/day just for the USA which doesn’t make sense unless every American is using 1.5 straws every single day). It’s rare when I see straws. Maybe in a milkshake but most people drink from plastic bottles and use more than one of those a day which would seem like a greater impact but, no, lets concentrate on straws.
...and why are straws the new in-thing to care about (and the new demon to expunge)? Because some kid was interviewed and made up some number. I kid you not, this is where it started.
Here’s the thing: We have plastic bags now, which most people seem to hate, especially the environmentalists, BECAUSE the environmentalists forced them down our throats back in the 1980s. Using plastic, instead of paper, was going to save the world! If you didn’t agree then you hated the world. Now we’re at the opposite.
It reminds me when, suddenly, everyone was dumping buckets of ice on their heads to pretend that they cared about ALS. They didn’t care before and they haven’t cared since (unless someone they know is struck by the disease). The most important part of that campaign was: “Look at me, everybody! I’m dumping ice on my head!”
I get it that there are those who want to do “good” but so much of this is because people want to take up a cause because they have free time and want to feel relevant. It’s why it’s never any actual hard work like making a city park better or helping out at some shelter or giving time to the elderly in the community but always something “super important” and just as vacuous.
You could point to the ALS bucket challenge and say, “Well they at least raise a lot of money THAT year!” And you’d be right. Think about what they had to do to do that: They had to trick narcissistic people into using their own vanity to get donations. Yeah, it worked one time. It didn’t convince anyone to actually help out and do anything - just “look at me” stuff and “see how much I care”.
...and it’s nothing new. It’s been going on for decades from pointless armbands to useless ribbons on cars. It’s all about “I care” and has nothing to do with “I’m actually contributing something to some cause”.
I await your angry letters.
Here’s a link worth watching if you’re still on board with plastic straws:
