Stop Sucking

So plastic straws are keeping me up at night. We recently did a little post about 8 Things You Can Do for Earth Day and one of them was being more mindful about using plastic straws.

In case you missed it, we dump an average of 500 million single use plastic straws every single day. That’s more than 1.5 straws for every American man, woman and child each day. What’s with the straw obsession, people?

The worst part is that these straws aren’t even recyclable. They mostly end up polluting our oceans, leaching toxins into the water or if swallowed, can cause injury or a slow, painful death to marine life. Even if these straws do make it to a landfill, they can take up to 200 years to decompose. Ugh!

That was enough for me. I started poking around on the Internet, looking for travel cups and straw alternatives to the SUPS (single use plastic straws). I found a ton. And one of them is from Tiffany’s, so you can keep your straw habit and feed your fancy!

Another thought I had was this: Why can’t mega fast-food chains like McDonalds and Starbucks offer cold drinks with the same sip-style lids they give us for hot drinks and side-step the need for straws altogether? How hard can this be? I found a compostable one that would be perfect! They’re probably more expensive than the traditional plastic lids and straws, but at the huge volumes they would buy, I’m thinking they’d get a price break, right?

As for me, I’m asking for a new stainless steel Thermos for Mother’s Day and when I can’t use it, I’m requesting NO STRAWS in restaurants; drive-thrus and Starbucks. I’ve done it a couple of times now and it’s already becoming a habit! Plastic straws are one of those dum-dum things we mindlessly consume without thinking about it. Grown-ups don’t actually need straws. They are a remarkably easy thing to give up and a small price to pay for preserving the planet.

You can #stopsucking today. HERE’S HOW: