Paper Straws. A Good Idea?

With the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic Nominee for the

President of the United States an interesting topic has come up. What is that topic you may ask...paper straws. Everyone who is honest will acknowledge that plastic straws have components that have a long half-life and thus degrade at a very slow rate. So environmentalist have decided that we need to eliminate plastic straws in order to save the next generations of this planet and Mrs. Harris has stated that she would support the banning of these items. As with most things I will be posting I ask yourself to question if this is really a good idea.

Listening to the radio earlier this week the host discussed Kamala Harris's idea and then began to discuss what they don't like about plastic straws and how they could be improved. If you've ever used one you know that if you don't down your drink pretty fast the straw will become a mushy mess. The host then went on to discuss possibly making the straws thicker so they lasted longer and then they addressed a story from Europe in where scientist found that paper straws were actually bad for you, but that is not what's unfortunately amusing by the whole conversation and proposal.

In the 1980's and 90's there was a desperate attempt by environmentalist to 'Save the rain forest'. Activist would literally tie themselves to these trees in an attempt to save them because without the trees we would not have the oxygen we need to breathe. At school we would have a day where everyone planted a tree in an attempt to combat the deforestation that was taking place across the planet. If you're not picking up on the irony yet let me help you out. We are now going to chop down the forest to make paper straws (which are made from trees) in order to stop putting plastic straws in designated waste sites. I'm not sure about you, but oxygen seems to be a bit more important than a few more feet added to the dump site.

This is the problem with some aspects of the environmentalist movement around the world. Just because one items is bad and you come up with an idea to combat the first does not mean the second is the answer. Originally, we were told that ethanol was a clean alternative to fossil fuels so we dedicated our corn crops to make highly inefficient fuel. Then it came out that Ethanol was actually worse for our environment than oil and not only that but we greatly diminished the world's supply of corn for food. This caused the countries whose food base is based on corn (such as the United States) to see the price of corn rise and thus the price of food to rise.

When we see what could be a 'real' environmental threat we need to take a step back and evaluate every option and determine whether or not they're a good and viable idea. The reality is that some of the things we produce are not going to be best thing for the earth but they are essential for human life to continue at the population level we are currently at...and if you're for depopulation or population control that his a whole other dark discussion.

By Jeffrey Brandon Lee