Stop Sucking … single use plastic straws

We suck, do you?

So cool, even Van Jones gets into the action in this clever PSA about the insanity of single-use plastic straws and the damage they are causing to oceans and marine wildlife. This entertaining and impactful video was produced by the Lonely Whale Foundation, founded by climate change cutie and environmentalist Adrian Grenier (GD swoon).

According to National Geographic, plastic straw use grew significantly in 2003 after the SARS respiratory illness and continued to expand from there. It is now calculated that the average person in the U.S. uses 2 plastic straws each day! Wait, what!?!? Yup, AND did you know those plastic straws are NOT recyclable? We learned that and more from Dune Ives, executive director of Lonely Whale Foundation on our latest 50 Shades of Green Divas podcast focusing on plastic in our oceans and what we can do about it. Listen …

There are plenty of alternatives to single-use plastic straws including just not using a straw at all! But one of our favorite ways to sip through a straw is glass. There are a number of cool companies making glass straws, but we are partial to Strawesome, because of course, they’ve designed a special straw just for us! Yes, you can now get your own GD Glass Straw! Please buy one or two or several… they make great gifts, just sayin’. Click here to get one!

GD Confession

I’ve been given several glass straws, including ones from Strawesome over the years, but I’m just now REMEMBERING when I’m out to tell the wait staff to ditch the straw BEFORE they come out with a drink with a straw already plopped in it with the paper already half torn off. Seriously, the learning curve for this green diva has been painful, but I’m finally getting it, and it feels good. I suck, but in a good way now. 😉

The statistics are staggering from the rapid die-off of coral reefs to the giant gyres of plastic and garbage the size of texas (and growing), we need to pay attention to our impact on the oceans, the marine wildlife that dwells in it and the communities that rely on it.

Saying no to single-use plastic straws is just one way to make a dent in this huge and fast-growing problem. There are projections that predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans!

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