Yes or No To A Ban On Straws

It was during the 1960's when fast food exploded onto the restaurant scene, that straws became so popular.  Every Coke bought came with a plastic lid and a plastic  straw.  Now that over 500 million plastic straws are dumped in the ocean every year, those concerned with the future of our oceans and our planet, are taking a hard look at the use of straws.

Many progressive cities like San Diego, Santa Monica and Berkeley, have proposed banning plastic straws.  These straws are dumped into the ocean, creating an ecological mess.  Fish and birds ingest them and get stuck in them.  They are no biodegradable, so they build up and build up as the years pass.  Legislation has been proposed to get rid of plastic straws.  In their place we could use paper or bamboo straws, or  people could bring their own straw with them (a reusable one), just as one brings their own reusable bags to the supermarket.  This all sounds so inconvenient, but that's what people thought about reusable shopping bags 20 years ago too.  We would all get used to it.

Many people are against this.  The restaurants don't want to ban plastic straws because bamboo straws would be more expensive and raise the price of the product.  One proposal is to only offer straws to people who ask for them.  This is similar to what was done during the drought.  Water was not served at restaurants unless asked for.  I'm sure we can find some compromise to make those who absolutely must have their throwaway plastic straw and those that want to ban plastic straws completely.  We've got to think of our environment and the future of our oceans.  The statistic I read said that soon there will be more straws in the ocean than  fish.  It seems like banning plastic straws is a small price for us to pay to improve the quality of our environment.