While plastic products do contribute to CO2 emissions, and billionaires do contribute a significant amount of their own CO2 emissions, plastic straws are terrible for wildlife and the environment altogether and should have been banned long ago for reasons completely separate from the CO2 emissions.
I know you write that to debunk the blame-shifting BS from the person above you and thank you for that. I would like to make a different point though: Plastic straws would have never become an issue if companies like McDonald’s hadn’t started to hand them out with every single drink for absolutely no reason. If they’d instead been used to allow disabled people to drink more comfortably, all would have been good. But consumers want, and in some cases, expect certain conveniences and companies are more than happy to feed our overconsumption.
While plastic products do contribute to CO2 emissions, and billionaires do contribute a significant amount of their own CO2 emissions, plastic straws are terrible for wildlife and the environment altogether and should have been banned long ago for reasons completely separate from the CO2 emissions.
I know you write that to debunk the blame-shifting BS from the person above you and thank you for that. I would like to make a different point though: Plastic straws would have never become an issue if companies like McDonald’s hadn’t started to hand them out with every single drink for absolutely no reason. If they’d instead been used to allow disabled people to drink more comfortably, all would have been good. But consumers want, and in some cases, expect certain conveniences and companies are more than happy to feed our overconsumption.