#lowwaste
Straws are the Beginning
I’ve seen a few posts ranting that stopping our usage of straws isn’t going to save the planet. And that’s true. But the point of it is that straws are a good starting point because almost everyone uses them. They’re commonplace in restaurants, cafes, and even in some households. However, straws themselves aren’t necessarily the problem. The problem is single-use plastic. In reality, we should be focusing on cutting our usage of any item we use once and throw away, but everyone’s focused on straws because of how many are used. But if we can get society to cut them out, it’s one less thing to worry about. After straws, it could be plastic cutlery or unnecessary wrapping on food. If you’re angry that the anti-plastic movement is primarily about straws right now, don’t be. Understand that it’s an easy way to bring about the banishment of single-use plastic in everyone else’s everyday lives and it’s also a gateway for unconcerned people to learn about what their usage does to the planet and feel inspired to make a change in their lives. If you still want to be angry, boycott the corporations that don’t care about their impact and support those that do. You can also work to educate those around you that while cutting out straws is a good start, we need to be making more drastic changes if we want to stop the catastrophic course we’re on right now.