cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/38497604
Don't mind this glaring bastion of land use mismanagement
I don't think the same people are saying those two things...
this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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Dunno, some write their emails using ChatGPT and still have "think before printing this" in the signature.
Also plastic straws are about environmental pollution not about climate change.
Fishing nets are about environmental pollution.
Plastic straws are completely irrelevant.
It's about microplastics
So, this depends a lot on where you are. But in most places, plastic straws are pretty irrelevant. The main sources of microplastics are things like road markings, worn tires, synthetic textiles, etc.
Yep. We changed our home lightbulbs to LED, we got more efficient heating/cooling systems and appliances installed in our homes. (My gov provided incentives for these things). I thought it was to reduce our energy consumption and save us some cash on bills. But nup, turns out it just freed up energy to burn on LLM data centres.
Efficiency is never a bad thing unless you're paid by the hour
Paper straws need more energy to produce than plastic straws. The paper straws were introduced to reduce plastic contamination in the oceans, an entirely separate issue.
The "let's get rid of plastic straws" thing took off specifically because it's insignificant. They can all just order a crate of paper straws and pat themselves on the back and it's business as usual. Doing something meaningful about climate change and/or plastic pollution would actually require some effort, and might even make line go down for a minute, and we can't have that!
slurps mushy paper straw
I live in California and have never had a paper straw. Where are they using these things?
Back in 2020 they were all over San Francisco. Haven't lived there since then though.
I go to SF pretty often but haven't seen them. But I've only been here since 2024