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Every day, over a BILLION single use plastic straws are used and discarded. Unbelievable, isn’t it? Can you even visualize this scale of mindless waste? The vast majority isn’t recyclable, even if we wanted to. We may use a plastic straw or fork for a few minutes or seconds, but in the environment, it lasts pretty much forever. And with 7.5 billion humans on the planet (and still growing), all this single-use waste is adding up…FAST. Where does it all go? Well, millions of tons finds their way to our oceans every year, causing immense devastation (including untold numbers of fatal encounters with marine animals). In theory, this problem should be soooo easy to fix, simply by not using plastic straws, utensils, and other single-use items anymore. But, widespread lack of awareness and apathy makes it far more challenging than it should be. The City of Seattle has had enough, banning plastic straws and utensils starting in July 2018. While we need grassroots activism and raising of awareness, this problem also needs serious political lobbying and governmental regulations. Our environment can’t afford to wait for billions of busy individuals to change their personal habits, or hope that corporations who produce and use plastics will suddenly put the environment ahead of their profits. Seattle already banned disposable plastic bags and takeaway styrofoam food containers, and is leading the way. Let’s be vocal and lobby for other cities, states and jurisdictions to do the same, with urgency. We need to substitute plastics for reusable and biodegradable alternatives, and YESTERDAY. There’s no excuse for what we are doing to the environment and to the other animals with whom we share this planet. |