Originally Posted by
recyclersteve
I'm not saying that straws shouldn't be used by anybody. But frankly, when I have my usual glass of water with my meal and they automatically give me a straw almost every time, I have to wonder. I absolutely don't need to have a straw every time I drink something, and neither do a lot of people. Also, did you see the video I referenced with the sea turtle having a straw removed from its nose? No I didn't and I don't care. How many animals are killed by sharp pointy sticks in Africa? I have seen plenty of those videos. Should we outlaw sharp pointy sticks? Seems to me like straws are a first world problem.
Whether there is a Great Pacific Garbage Patch or not is open to debate. The concept of pollution in our waterways and on our beaches due to ignorance or a lack of caring on the part of many is hard to ignore. Post a picture. If it is as bad as they say, there should be evidence in a satellite photo. If you had a dog, took it to the beach, and had it choke on something that some jerk just threw on the ground, you'd probably be pretty miffed at whomever did that. The dog (depending on age and breed) likely wouldn't know any better. I've seen my dog try to eat some really raunchy stuff and actually throw up small pieces of aluminum. Perhaps we should outlaw aluminum foil.
I'd rather err on the side of making my life a bit more difficult rather than assume that everything will work out fine and we don't have to worry about stuff like asbestos, mercury, PCB's, etc. I know that there are always wealthy people who want to change the world to serve their own agendas. I'm willing to take the risk that I might be wrong from time to time and try to balance that with the potential reward that can be achieved by making things truly better in some ways. You are "the wealthy people." All the things you listed in this paragraph kill people. Straws do not kill people.
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