I was reading this article in Times of India dated 5/3/2018 "BAN STRAWS" by Daniel Victor and suddenly there was an ardelaine rush which promptly inspired me to research on the topic and be a part of the movement to spread awareness. I researched on the campaign and found that :
It started so innocently. A kid ordered a soda in a restaurant.
“It came with a plastic straw in it,” Milo Cress recalled. He glared at the straw for a while. “It seemed like such a waste.”
Not only did Cress yank the plastic from his drink, but he also launched a campaign, “Be Straw Free,” targeting all straws as needless pollution. He knocked on the doors of restaurants in Burlington, Vt., where he lived at the time, and asked managers not to offer straws unless patrons asked. He was 9 years old.
Today Cress, 15, is one of the faces of a growing movement to eliminate plastic straws. They have been found wedged in the nose of a sea turtle, littering the stomachs of countless dead marine animals and scattered across beaches with tons of other plastics.
Why single out pollution as small and slim as a drinking straw?
Straws are among the most common plastic items volunteers clean from beaches, along with bottles, bags and cups, conservationists say. Americans use half a billion straws every day, at least according to an estimate by Be Straw Free, based on information from straw manufacturers. That many straws could wrap around the Earth 2½ times.
The slightest wind lifts plastic straws from dinner tables, picnic blankets and trash dumps, depositing them far and wide, including in rivers and oceans, where animals often mistake them for food.
And they are ubiquitous. Nearly every chain restaurant and coffee shop offers straws. They’re in just about every movie theater and sit-down restaurant. Theme parks and corner stores and ice cream shops and school cafeterias freely hand them out. DO WE REALLY NEED ONE ???
But they are starting to disappear because of the awareness campaign Cress and dozens of conservation groups are waging. Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom bans them, as do the food concession areas of Smithsonian Institution museums.
Keith Christman, a managing director for plastics markets at the American Chemistry Council, which promotes plastics manufacturers and fights attempts to ban plastic, said in a National Geographic article two months ago that the group would do the same for attempts to eliminate plastic straws.
The movement was growing at a slow, steady pace when Cress joined it six years ago, but it exploded after a YouTube video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose went viral in 2015. The cringe-inducing effort to pull the plastic out of a bloody nostril outraged viewers — 11.8 million so far.
Cress has launched a website on the issue, partnered with several organizations that support the cause and testified against straws in the Vermont legislature. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) cited Cress’s activism in a 2013 proclamation that made July 11 a straw-free day in the state. The Plastic Pollution Coalition estimates that 1,800 “restaurants, organizations, institutions and schools worldwide have gotten rid of plastic straws or implemented a serve-straws-upon-request policy,” said Jackie Nunez, founder of a group called the Last Plastic Straw.
Its our turn now ....
SO LETS ......
I request all my family and friends to be a part of this campaign and help me take to a level where we can together make a difference.
Join MILO in reducing waste by taking the pledge to go strawless or adopting an "Offer First" policy at your restaurant or business. Get the whole community involved and follow Milo's lead:
"One person can make a difference for our environment !"
As a consumer
As a business or restaurant
As a community
Commit to ask for your drinks "strawless" when eating out or on the go.
ITS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
Reach out to at least one restaurant or business in your community about the Be Straw Free campaign. Together we all make a difference.
Adopt an Offer First policy, a best practice of the National Restaurant Association, by asking customers if they would like a straw with their drink, rather than providing one by default
Proclaim your community straw free by adopting an offer first policy.
Organizations & Clubs
Reach out to all the restaurants or businesses in your community about the Be Straw Free campaign through Each One, Reach One.
KINDLY VISIT
http://www.ecocycle.org/bestrawfree/one FOR MORE INFORMATION.
LOOKING FORWARD FOR EACH ONES SUPPORT.
REGARDS,
RAJVANSH RUNGTA
