I'm halfway through the video, and trying to cut through this guy's epic zingers and punchlines, he's really bad at delivering arguments. I'm not going to say that removing plastic straws from public consumption is going to stop ocean pollution, but removing them is one step closer to getting rid of our reliance on disposable plastics. The uproar when California removed free plastic bags from being given at checkout was palpable in the air. People love to sensationalize things like this. Nobody is denying that ocean pollution is a multi-faceted issue. The problem is you can't just go "fuck all disposable plastic" at a federal level. The public outcry would be deafening, and you'd lose your place in office.
The problem is people don't see the bigger picture in shrinking our reliance on disposable plastics. Yes, he does point out that ghost nets and agricultural run-off account for a major source of ocean pollution, but so did microplastics and microbeads. But you're not seeing anyone crying because we're removing microbeads from facial scrubs, are you? This is literally manufactured outrage at it's finest.
He's also trying to take the moral high ground by saying that disabled people require plastic straws. Yes, some disabled people with fine motor disabilities do. But 98% of the population doesn't. I would see no reason why either the disabled person themselves or the restaurant wouldn't be able to have washable stainless steel straws. If the disabled person doesn't have the fine motor skills to wash their reusable straw, odds are they have a care taker as well.
As for his final words, "vote for people that can change the policy"... that's literally what they're doing? The government... is changing the policy... I don't get it.
National governments are literally offloading themselves of the issue of waste by shipping our garbage to places like China, India, and Africa to be disposed of/"recycled", but we have no checks or assurances that that's taking place. As a matter of fact, we know that China is an incredibly large polluter. National governments need to start taking responsibility for their own waste and recycling management, and censuring governments that shirk the responsibility onto others. You can have your millions of plastic straws, but just remember, we only get one planet.
Single-use plastics aren't the only source of pollution and Republicans are enormous pieces of shit. What a hot take.
I believe the point he's trying to make is, overall, that the corporations are trying to use this to claim they're actually doing something about pollution. This is, very likely, a classic case of "if we do this 1 good thing, we can deflect all criticism by pointing to the one good thing and having the Republicans scream about how we're totally doing the good thing here". The Elon Musk comparison seems to be out of the blue here, but when taking this into account, it explains it and makes a lot of sense.
Is it really partisan to go after such a tiny percentage of the waste?
This wouldn't cause so many problems if paper straws weren't so terrible to use.
Corporations will only do what society wants of them, and right now society wants to only ban plastic straws instead of doing things that would actually help the environment. So I don't solely blame corporations for their weak actions.
It’s not that simple. Grass roots organizations are often quickly coopted by corporations seeking to mobilize on a sociopolitical issue. They pay lip service to concerns, get let off the hook, and are seen as doing something. It’s part of what makes environmentalism a harder issue than it should be.
Focusing on plastics instead of larger issues such as climate change is a definite cop out by corporations.
Corporations will only do what turns them a profit. They don't care what society wants of them, only what impact that society's wants have on their bottom line.
Yeah I agree, which is why societal pressure is so important. Corporations have directed this at plastic straws and bags etc. and people have eaten it up so easily it's disgusting to watch.
All this is stupid, just like the ban on plastic bags. What is the point of banning plastic bags if the things you put IN the bag are not regulated as well ? There are so many examples of oversized packaging that are intentionally made bigger just to take up more shelf space and be more visible in the store. Others are also constantly reducing the amount of product you get; yoghurt went from 200g per packaging to 180g, cheese too, chocolate bars are 80g instead of 100g, etc... This all forces people to buy more items to get the original amount, which produces more packaging waste. Why do I get few cents for returning a half liter water bottle which gets recycled, but you get nothing for a large 5 liter bottle of detergent which then ends up on a land fill ? Why isn't milk in glass bottles anymore ? The list goes on...
Reduce your use of plastic period.
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