The Last Straw

Article originally published by Earth Federation News & Views

In the past several weeks, the Trump reelection committee has sold approximately $800,000 worth of plastic straws (“$15 for a package of 10”). Never mind that plastic straws —  like all plastics  — add to the enormous contamination of the environment and that they are particularly harmful to birds and sea creatures. The majority of the 200 to 300 million straws used each day by Americans  “end up in our oceans, polluting the water and killing marine life,” some of which, like sea turtles, suffer slow agonizing deaths from ingesting them.

In a typical unsympathetic response, Trump said, “You know, it’s interesting about plastic straws: so, you have a little straw, but what about the plates, the wrappers, and everything else that is much bigger and they’re made of the same material? Everybody focuses on the straws. There’s a lot of other things to focus on.

Yes, like the all-out war he has been waging on the environment almost from the first day of his administration.

Taking away environmental protections

That includes canceling, reversing or rolling back nearly all of the environmental protections enacted during the Obama and earlier administrations, including cutting carbon emissions,  regulating pollution from sewage plants, protecting rivers and oceans from pollution, limiting methane and coal production emissions, banning the use of hydro-fluorocarbons (ultra-potent greenhouse gases), establishing stricter automobile efficiency standards, and ending or restricting drilling in the Arctic and on federally-protected national monuments. Trump seems personally threatened by every step Obama took to protect the environment. In doing so, has taken on the mantle of Dr. No, or more accurately, Dr. Death.  Yes, there are a lot of other things to focus on besides straws, but Trump focuses on none of them.

Plastic straws may be a small part of plastic contamination, but they are difficult to recycle, and therefore make their way into rivers and oceans more easily. Rather than dissolve or biodegrade, they break down into what is known as “microplastics,” which makes them much easier for animals to ingest. StrawlessOcean.org estimates that by midcentury “99% of all sea bird species will have ingested plastic, causing a dramatic increase in mortality.” 

Indifference to suffering

Trump’s indifference to the suffering of animals – seemingly exceeded only by his indifference to the suffering of human beings — lacks any empathy whatsoever. Whether it’s damage to the planet or the national debt, his response likely comes out the same: “I don’t care. I won’t be here.”

The Trump reelection committee promotes its straws as “BPA free” and “reusable and recyclable,” but new evidence suggests that “BPA-replacement chemicals may be just as harmful” as regular plastic, and who believes that people who don’t seem to give a damn about environmental protections are actually going to care enough to reuse and  recycle?

Consider the irony of the Make America Great Again Committee raising money to re-elect Trump by selling plastic straws so that if he is re-elected he can wreak more havoc not only on America but on the entire planet. Perhaps using paper straws is a liberal idea, but it is linked to the more liberal idea of saving this small, fragile planet, and with it humankind.

National Geographic warns, “For Animals, plastic is turning the ocean Into a minefield.” Lest we forget, we too are animals and our history shows that what we sow in terms of nature and the environment, we will reap.” Ultimately, our indifference to something as small and seemingly insignificant as plastic straws, could be the last straw.