The Last Straw
It has come to my attention that in England and in the U.S. a large campaign has started against the use of plastic straws. News programs and ads are used to warn the public about their responsibility to take care for the environment.
Drinking straws thrown - source: Wikimedia Commons
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And I'm getting sick of it. Not that there's an effort made to make people, or I should say consumers aware of the endangered environment and of their role in polluting our oceans. It's the way in which it's always the individual consumer is made to be the guilty party. Now I admit immediately that I did something similar in my post about bottled water when I mentioned how much pollution that habit causes. But ultimately it's the industries that should come up with better solutions: like better tap water in this particular case.
But now we are being told that we shouldn't use plastic straws anymore because the environment... Well, let's look up some facts about the real plastic pollution in our seas. The biggest patch of plastic pollution in our seas is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. When looking on the internet for information about it's composition I find this:
As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear—not plastic bottles or packaging drawing headlines today.
[...]
The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates, and baskets.
source: National Geographic, MARCH 22, 2018
The fishing industry is to blame for the most part for all the plastic in our oceans. Not that we don't share any responsibility; that's not why I'm angry here. It's the coordinated effort to blame the consumer, the individual for all that's going wrong in the world, and the expertise with which they do it; we all tend to fall for it. And it's yet another campaign to distract from real problems, thereby preventing real solutions to ever emerge. Trust me: the fishing industry is killing our oceans, not only with their enormous pollution, but also with their overfishing. In reality, when it comes to the environment, there's no way individual consumers can make a real impact.
The War Against Plastic Straws I Fortune
In the video above you see a perfect example of how we're being misled; big companies get to "lead by example", granting them some much needed free airtime, free advertisement one might even say, and then on just the right moment we're pointed towards the suffering oceans. Well, we know that the oceans need saving from a whole other type of abuse than consumers sipping a Coke at the McDonald's... Less than one tenth of a percent of the plastic in the oceans is from straws, and that's being generous as I'm just "guestemating" here and I am sure it will be even al lot less that that. If you search for some more of those adds and videos, you'll see they all have the exact same recipe. Another war against something to distract from some other thing.
It's the producers and the way we define growth that will have to change to put a stop to this ever accelerating rate of destroying nature. The economy of perpetual growth, and of glorifying and blaming the individual at the same time, needs to stop. The drive for more profits and more economic growth have brought us here. I guess it's idle hope, but I really wish this was the last straw.
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Some would say that the only real power that the people now have is their power as a consumer. If people refuse straws when they are offered (or anything else for that natter) and also stop buying them then no corporation (no matter how large) will make them. It's easy, don't want them - don't use them and the problem is sorted.
The same goes for any product that is toxic, environmentally unfriendly or any other negative you care to mention.
No corporation will produce products that they can't sell so a lot of the power is with the people.
Now there is another issue with damaging manufacturing processes etc which require more research and education to learn about but as a start, don't like - don't buy or use can achieve a lot.
Thank you for reacting @p-props, I really appreciate that :-) We're not in disagreement here; all you say is true. That doesn't make this campaign right though. For an answer as to why, I'd direct you to my answer to @fosterswisdom.
also this- I know what you're saying and I agree that we need to do a whole lot more.
I have a personal view of the straw debate because I have young children and they have started refusing straws. Now it's a small act but one that they can relate to and small steps when they are children will hopefully lead to bigger and more meaningful steps in the future as they grow older and can assert more influence. My eldest has already expressed an interest in entering the world of politics to try and make the world a better place, now i'm not going to crush their dreams and give some cynical responses like "no point it's all corrupt" etc because I want them to keep dreaming of a better world. Who knows, maybe there are millions of kids out there refusing straws at restaurants who collectively will make the world a better place, I know it sounds naive but let's stay positive and look at the bright side.
I have copied and pasted this answer from an answer I gave on another post but I think it has relevance here.
I love your response @p-props, thanks for that! :-)
And you do right, I think, to keep your kids positively interested in these matters. But I also think this: what's wrong with simply telling them the truth? That it's great to care about the straws and that it will have some effect if they refuse them, but tell them the rest of the story to. That's not cynical, at least I don't think so. Don't confuse them by starting too soon with this of course, but there comes that day when you explain to them that Santa Clauthe norms isn't real.
Again, I don't presume to know what's best to do; raising kids is the everlasting human experiment with no end ;-) But I strongly believe we should at least try to speak as much truth as possible, especially to the children. Having said that, I truly admire your heart and intent toward your kids!! I believe they're lucky to have a father that wants the best for them; don't ever change that please :-)
I know what you're saying and I agree that we need to do a whole lot more.
I have a personal view of the straw debate because I have young children and they have started refusing straws. Now it's a small act but one that they can relate to and small steps when they are children will hopefully lead to bigger and more meaningful steps in the future as they grow older and can assert more influence. My eldest has already expressed an interest in entering the world of politics to try and make the world a better place, now i'm not going to crush their dreams and give some cynical responses like "no point it's all corrupt" etc because I want them to keep dreaming of a better world. Who knows, maybe there are millions of kids out there refusing straws at restaurants who collectively will make the world a better place, I know it sounds naive but let's stay positive and look at the bright side.
This is really eye-opening for me. I was arguing with some people traveling around here as they tend to be 'holier than thou', blaming only the individuals for all the plastic straws and bottles. I tried to explain that their corporations are far more responsible for the environmental destruction on a massive scale.
Indeed :-) <3
And straws are particularly ridiculous, because they account for almost nothing of the total amount of plastics in the oceans. This is nothing more than a giant ad-campaign for the industries at the cost of guilt-tripping the customers. I've seen so many YouTube videos now of well meaning individuals who take up arms against straws... it breaks my heart. But I'm so glad that more people are seeing through this...
Thanks so much @diabolika, I love this comment :-)
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving this comment, @fosterswisdom :-)
Yes, agreed. I didn't contradict that in my post either. What I did say is that plastic straws account for less than one tenth of a percent of the plastic pollution in the oceans. It's like there's a big campaign against weapons and we're all made to feel guilty about owning a Swiss army-knife, while nothing's being said about guns, tanks, fighter-planes, guided missiles ... "Let's act responsible people!! Get rid of your Swiss Army Knives NOW!!" And the person shouting this is sitting in a tank.
That's my problem here, and if you really care about the environment, it should be everybody's problem. So, please do all you can to reduce your personal impact on the environment, I applaud that. But please don't get rid of your Swiss army knife because the man in the tank says you should. Better ignore that man, or better yet, tell him to get rid of the tank.
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