Plastic Straws Suck More Than A Two Dollar Hooker

I freaking love using straws!  I’m not sure if I have some sort of unhealthy oral fixation but I require a straw for most beverages.  It brings me great sadness to learn that straws aren’t good for us and they aren’t good for the environment. Plastic single use straws are made from (you guessed it) crap plastic and you know from reading my comedic and informative blog that we shouldn’t be putting crap plastic (or really any plastic) into our bodies.  Since single use straws are difficult or impossible to recycle, they get tossed into muggle trash cans around the world and they go to the dump. We don’t need more plastic buried in a hole but we are actually lucky if the straws we throw “away” end up buried in a hole.  Why? Great question! Many straws find their way into water systems that ultimately lead to the ocean. If said straws are not gobbled up by not so palate savvy animals, they end up in the water and eventually photodegrade. Photodegradation is a process where the plastic breaks into smaller and smaller pieces from exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays.  Those smaller pieces are eaten by fish and eventually go up the food chain to humans. The tiny plastic pieces that don’t get eaten stick around like a sludge in the water. Does The Great Pacific Garbage Patch come to mind? It should. So what to do if you also have an unhealthy oral fixation like me? Invest in high quality reusable straws. I love the stainless steel and silicone straws made by Kleen Kanteen.  They are easy to clean and easy to take anywhere. Yes, they have silicone, but it’s high quality and will last many years and doesn’t leach evil toxins. Speaking of evil toxins, don’t fall for reusable plastic straws. They are still crap and present the same issues as single use plastic straws. You can also get glass straws (they are shatter proof), stainless steel straws, or bamboo straws. All good choices. Giving up “disposable” straws is a huge step that makes a big difference. It’s easy to get into the habit of saying “no straw” at a restaurant. In fact, the first time I brought my own straw to a restaurant I felt like they were going to look at me all weird but I had a waitress stop over at our table to tell me how cool it was that we had brought our own straws! Me cool? I don’t think so but being environmentally wise is pretty darn cool. Check out my straws below, they are cool AF.