"Giving up plastic straws is going to save the sea turtles."
Switching to a metal straw is not the answer to saving the earth. Is it a good step in the right direction? Yes. Is it really saving the sea turtles? Maybe.
In July 2018 Starbucks released that they would go plastic straw free by 2020. Because Starbucks is such a trendy well-known business it started a frenzy of the #StrawsSuck and The Last Straw movement. Even Disney Cruise Lines promised to rid their cruises of straws by mid-2019.
After this initiative I got bombarded with ads on Instagram with free metal straws, people becoming ambassadors for metal straw companies, and people posting with fancy worded straws gloating of saving sea turtles.
A fad is not the solution to environmental change because a fad is just that. I did a simple Google trends report on the interest of "plastic straws" over time and as you can see right about when Starbucks announced that they were going straw free by 2020 on July 9 there was a peak in interest. By August 26 both search results were back down to where they had started, minimal.
Chances are many of the reusable straws have gotten tossed, lost, or thrown into a back drawer where they are no longer used. That's the nature of fads and the true cost is much more for an environmental mission. So try to stay away from a hashtag and rather make a real long-lasting difference.
Don't get me wrong, these fads are great because they spark an interest. They pull attention to a matter and promote a cause. However, it's important to stick with our positive changes so that they do not become more detrimental to the environment. So keep on sucking (through your metal straws that is) and make a lifestyle change not just a change in your Instagram feed.
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