When we switch from the plastic straw to the paper straw, we fall into a trap. We find ourselves in the makeshift mindset—a way of thinking that satiates our inner activist, blurring us from reality. Let me explain. When big cities enacted plastic straw bans, corporations resorted to the paper straw, and nobody made a fuss. People surmised that paper straws wouldn't contribute to ocean waste as did plastic straws—that exotic sea turtles or sea horses wouldn't ingest or dangle upon paper straws—but this is far from reality. In fact with the paper straw, we still have animals dying due to ingestion or dangling. We still have leftover residue—more in fact with paper's faster decomposition—adding to ocean garbage patches. We're worsening the problem: targeting the symptom instead of the disease. And yet we're satisfied with a worsened situation? If we remove the straw entirely, we're living sustainably. We’re eliminating all risk posed by the oblong open cylinder we endear in every beverage, if we eliminate the straw. ♦
This post was partially inspired by the irony portrayed in the American Scholar's "The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History." View the article here from an unusually familiar monopoly: https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/apc/_ap06_frq_englishlang_51616.pdf#2.
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