this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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It drives me crazy, this performative enviornmentalist bullshit. I have to pay 10c (on top of 300% food cost increase don't forget) for a plastic bag at the grocery when i forget my canvas ones. In these bags i must pay for i can place fruit individually wrapped in plastic.
Every time something gets worse, we must be the ones to pay. This whole environment-saving-by-paper-straw phenomenon is so insipid that I would rather believe that it's actually a deliberate corporate strategy. At least that would make sense. If they keep us thinking that something is being done, they don't have to change a thing, and if it's "all of our jobs" (read: not theirs), to save the world, we'll never take them to task for their (greater) part of the waste.
It is actually a deliberate corp strategy. Plastic straws were never a real concern, save for that ONE turtle. Plastic straw make such a negligible amount of plastic waste that stop using it will have virtually zero measurable impact in amount of plastic waste we create. All it ever was intended for was to make us feel like something was being done while doing absolutely nothing.
That's not to say all plastic reduction initiatives are pointless. But the straws definitely belong in the least environmentally impactful category.
It certainly does help a little bit. But it's of course still not a coincidence that companies are pushing for it instead of more effective measures... It's not just cheap but it also pushes people to believe that measures to save the environment are all useless and annoying, and makes them less likely to want more to happen.
It's the "thoughts and prayers" of environmentalism. I'm convinced the net effect is negative after you factor in the way it distracts people from anything that might actually help.
Let's not forget tht half the time they're individually wrapped.. in plastic.