Plastic straws on DCL?

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I often wonder if people put their ziploc bags and boxes of plastic garbage bags/liners in the reusable bags they take to the store.
 
Seems to be a non-issue. About to go on our 11th Disney cruise and not once have I seen straws or even a straw flying around on deck, let alone see one go overboard. Rather than invest in a metal/reusable straw, I think the environment would be better served if the money spent on the metal straw was sent to a wildlife conservation group and then add up all time that would have been spent washing the straw and use it to volunteer somewhere.

Personally for most drinks I prefer to drink from a cup without any straw. For frozen drinks or the "drink of the day" type drinks where the glass is garnished, I like using a straw...preferably a plastic straw.
 
Just on the Wonder April 1st. Didn’t see any loose straws. Just discarded food/plates on the tables. A few would blow around just as the people left the table. :confused3
 


Seems to be a non-issue. About to go on our 11th Disney cruise and not once have I seen straws or even a straw flying around on deck, let alone see one go overboard. Rather than invest in a metal/reusable straw, I think the environment would be better served if the money spent on the metal straw was sent to a wildlife conservation group and then add up all time that would have been spent washing the straw and use it to volunteer somewhere.

Personally for most drinks I prefer to drink from a cup without any straw. For frozen drinks or the "drink of the day" type drinks where the glass is garnished, I like using a straw...preferably a plastic straw.

Those are both great things to do! Are you planning to do either of those things yourself? Of course, I'm not sure how many volunteer organizations are interested in people doing volunteer work for half a minute per day, and I'd be interested to hear those wildlife conservation groups' opinions on the efficacy of sending them a one-time donation of $20 versus keeping hundreds of plastic straws out of landfills....

Just to be clear, I do still use plastic straws, more often than I should considering the values I try to uphold in my regular life. This thread is just a good reminder that like plastic bags, they're really something I should be working to eliminate from my life.
 
Those are both great things to do! Are you planning to do either of those things yourself? Of course, I'm not sure how many volunteer organizations are interested in people doing volunteer work for half a minute per day, and I'd be interested to hear those wildlife conservation groups' opinions on the efficacy of sending them a one-time donation of $20 versus keeping hundreds of plastic straws out of landfills....

Was the snark really necessary? Change often begins with small steps. The poster was giving ideas for things people can do to help the environment and you demean them.
 


I do not object to people making small changes rather than large ones based on where they are in their lives. I think it's great, because small changes are what add up to big ones! Small changes are the only kinds of changes I've been able to make in my own life with any regularity, and there's a huge value to taking things at the pace you are able.

I do, however, object to it being framed in terms of "the environment being better served" by objectively less effective actions that sound like off-the-cuff suggestions no one is actually going to act upon.
 
Actually I read the original post as pretty snarky - volunteer the time to wash a straw? Did you take that as a serious suggestion? It was solid snark.

The poster said to add up the time that would be spent washing the straw and volunteer, which can be a lot over the lifetime of the straw depending on use and longevity of the item. So, no when added to the suggestion to make a donation to a worthy cause I don't consider it snark.

I do, however, object to it being framed in terms of "the environment being better served" by objectively less effective actions that sound like off-the-cuff suggestions no one is actually going to act upon.

Is the environment better served by someone doing something small like an hour of volunteer time here and there along with a donation or by someone doing nothing? It may be far easier for some people to drop a check in the mail than to deal with the hassle of the metal straw.
 
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here is the conservation point which is the REAL gorilla in the room:

We are paying to travel on a ship which uses fossil fuel, needs all sorts of paper and plastic products to offer their services...
and it travels around in circles in the water for our amusement because we can afford it and want it.

Any serious...I mean TRULY SERIOUS...concerns over environmental impact should start by addressing the colossal waste of resources involved at the outset. Its fine to worry about straws and plastic and such...noble even.

But you would think the ire would be focused on pleasure cruising as a whole....

IDK. Ahm jus' sayin'. Getting off soap box now and hopping in my car to drive to the airport in order to fly to FL so I can get on a big ship.....
 
here is the conservation point which is the REAL gorilla in the room:

We are paying to travel on a ship which uses fossil fuel, needs all sorts of paper and plastic products to offer their services...
and it travels around in circles in the water for our amusement because we can afford it and want it.

Any serious...I mean TRULY SERIOUS...concerns over environmental impact should start by addressing the colossal waste of resources involved at the outset. Its fine to worry about straws and plastic and such...noble even.

But you would think the ire would be focused on pleasure cruising as a whole....

IDK. Ahm jus' sayin'. Getting off soap box now and hopping in my car to drive to the airport in order to fly to FL so I can get on a big ship.....

TBH the best point made in this thread yet.

I do think that small changes matter, though. I think that even if we are wasteful in one way, we do not have to be wasteful in every way, and that it does make a difference to cut out even just one relatively small source of waste. I fall victim to the all-or-nothing mindset way too often, but when you think about it logically, all-or-nothing doesn't make real good in this world. It just makes a lot of nothing.
 
here is the conservation point which is the REAL gorilla in the room:

We are paying to travel on a ship which uses fossil fuel, needs all sorts of paper and plastic products to offer their services...
and it travels around in circles in the water for our amusement because we can afford it and want it.

Any serious...I mean TRULY SERIOUS...concerns over environmental impact should start by addressing the colossal waste of resources involved at the outset. Its fine to worry about straws and plastic and such...noble even.

But you would think the ire would be focused on pleasure cruising as a whole....

IDK. Ahm jus' sayin'. Getting off soap box now and hopping in my car to drive to the airport in order to fly to FL so I can get on a big ship.....

Or you could look at it this way:

Instead of each vacationer jumping in their own fossil fuel powered car/minivan/boat/camper to motor around the world on vacation we are all using shared transportation! It’s just like taking the bus to work or taking the train between cities!

;)

We are fortunate to have a fantastic public transportation system (one of the reasons we live here) so we do not own a car. I don’t have much guilt about using shared transportation for our vacations.

Edited to add: I 100% see your point - especially the going around in circles for our amusement.
 
Actually I read the original post as pretty snarky - volunteer the time to wash a straw? Did you take that as a serious suggestion? It was solid snark.
Not at all, I'm saying that if one took all the time they wasted washing metal straws and added it up and instead volunteered to use that time towards somethings actually productive that would help nature or animals it would be more beneficial to the environment than people simply feeling good about themselves because they use a metal straw. The graphic above said that one metal straw replaces 540 plastic straws. Assuming one is able to wash that straw in just one minute that's 9 hours of ones time that could be put to better use...and that doesn't include the water and detergent used to wash the straw 540 times.
 
And as countries like Britain and Canada debate banning straws, studies reveal that most of the plastic waste in the ocean comes from 10 Asian rivers.

Shocking report reveals that 95% of plastic polluting the world's oceans comes from just TEN rivers including the Ganges and Niger
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4970214/95-plastic-oceans-comes-just-TEN-rivers.html

"More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka."


But there's good news from the world of science, too:

Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...reate-mutant-enzyme-that-eats-plastic-bottles
 
Not at all, I'm saying that if one took all the time they wasted washing metal straws and added it up and instead volunteered to use that time towards somethings actually productive that would help nature or animals it would be more beneficial to the environment than people simply feeling good about themselves because they use a metal straw. The graphic above said that one metal straw replaces 540 plastic straws. Assuming one is able to wash that straw in just one minute that's 9 hours of ones time that could be put to better use...and that doesn't include the water and detergent used to wash the straw 540 times.

So what organization are you volunteering with?
 
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