I’m back after a week of R&R. Spent a good part of the time studying for a sermon I’m giving in July. The other part was spent on the beach with the Lovely and eating out here and there. To ease back into the blog as I anticipate the presidential debate tonight, I thought I’d give a mini-rant on something I encountered during my travels.
We ate at two restaurants that served good food but ruined the experience because neither would serve a straw with my drink. The first was a pizzeria run by authentic Italian immigrants. When I asked for a straw, the server said they don’t offer straws but that I could purchase a reusable one for $1, a skinny silver metal one. I declined but expressed my disappointment. I should’ve taken them up on the offer because it got worse.
The second restaurant was a seafood place called Sharky’s. It wasn’t until I was seated and getting ready to order that I saw the notice on the table:
“Straw free,” but they would sell me one for $2. Ouch. Twice as much as the pizzeria.
Notice a couple of things about the advert. First, the image is of a turtle with a straw through its nose. You know what that’s a reference to? A video that went viral in 2015 after a graduate student at Texas A&M University went to Costa Rica to study Ridley sea turtles for her doctoral dissertation. While there, she and her colleagues came across a male sea turtle that had a straw embedded up its nostril. Here’s what they filmed:
That video went viral, initially racking up 5.5 million views. The shortened version above has 86 million views. A longer version has 110 million views. It got so much air time that there was an international outcry and an effort to ban single-use plastic straws that had already started (the link is to BBC.com, so know that a click gives support to a progressive site) was given a much-needed boost.
I had questions after being denied my straws. How many sea turtles have had the misfortune of getting a plastic straw up their nose? Is there an epidemic of sea turtles or other sea creatures being harmed by plastic straws?
And after watching the video I wondered, Is that even a straw? I mean, look at it:
Yes, it’s long and skinny, but it’s also flat and twisted and bent and doesn’t even look like a straw. I had assumed that it was a straw because I was told it was a straw.
But is it?
I found someone else who had the same question and did more research than I have. Here’s what he said.
What is clear from this conversation is that they were not at all sure what the object was and eventually decided it was plastic. What test did they perform to come to that conclusion? They bit on it. That is the only “evidence” they used to come to their conclusion. What do you think about that? How strong would you say that evidence is?
As a scientist, I can tell you that biting materials is not a valid test. In order to be sure what a material is we do proper scientific tests like infrared spectroscopy. These people never did any analysis even when the samples were taken back to land. That means that there is zero evidence that the object was plastic. If this video were presented in court, it would the thrown out as “hearsay”, i.e. gossip.
The other conclusion they came to was that the object was a straw. What did they base that on when moments earlier they thought it was a worm? A friend of mine wrote and asked them how they knew it was a straw and this is their reply.
“Thank you kindly for reaching out. I can confirm that we did not run any chemical tests to 100% confirm the nature of the “straw”. I doubt that it is surgical PVC or anything similar, although I think there is a slim possibility that it could be electrical wire insulation..”
So, there we have it. They confirm that they have zero evidence that it was plastic and they are not sure that it was a straw either. Over 100 million people think that there was a turtle with a plastic straw up it’s nose when in fact there’s no evidence that it ever happened.
OK, it was something in the turtle’s nose and they postulate that it was a straw. What about the rate of incidents of sea turtles with straws up their noses?
Two very large studies have looked at the effect of human activity on turtle deaths and the results are presented in the table. [I did not include table here. DLO] It is evident that plastic straws are not a threat to turtles. In fact, there was not a single mention of straws, bags or other household plastic items in the list.
If our goal is to protect turtles, then focusing on straws is nothing but a distraction. There are clear actions that can be taken that would actually help turtles but no-one thought to check the evidence to see what they are.
Scientific studies on mortalities of whales and birds show the real threats to those animals and the words “plastic” “straw” or “bag” do not appear even once.
In addition to that, you know who the biggest polluters are when it comes to plastics in the oceans? Asia, which includes India and the Philippines and China.
81% of ocean plastics are emitted from Asia. The fact that a disproportionate amount of plastic pollution comes from Asia is consistent with previous research. Earlier studies estimated its share in 2010 was 86%.5
This should also not surprise us given the fact that Asia is the world’s most populous region (home to 60% of the world population); plus all of the top ten emitting rivers were in Asia (Philippines, India, and Malaysia), and most of the top 50. Africa was responsible for 8%; South America for 5.5%; North America for 4.5%; and Europe and Oceania combined were less than 1%.
North America emits 4.5 percent of ocean plastics and the United States contributes just a quarter of 1 percent of the ocean’s plastics.
Not even half a percent.
So, here I am, sitting in two different restaurants, being denied a plastic straw because of an isolated incident alleging a turtle had a straw up its nose that isn’t even proven to have happened and, even if it did, it is highly unlikely that straw came from the U.S.
ARE WE OUT OF OUR MINDS?!?
To add insult to injury, while both restaurants proudly claimed to be “straw free,” they would gladly sell me a “reuseable” straw. I see. So you won’t give me a straw, but you’ll sell me a straw?
You capitalist pigs.
How can you claim to be “straw free” but sell so-called “reuseable” straws to your customers? You’re not “straw free.” You’re a virtue-signaling establishment denying a simple, customary service to your clients while making a moral judgment about them and embellishing your own superiority while charging them for the privilege of sipping their cold drink.
All to combat a non-existant problem.
I think what irks me most about the “straw free” people is that it’s based on nothing but a video that drives an emotional—not a rational—over-the-top response. I’m not opposed to taking care of the environment, but I am opposed to nonsensical decisions that force me to comply with idiotic dictates that achieve nothing.
See you tomorrow after the debate.