Remember when people lost it because disabled people wouldn’t be able to drink again and then they all died of dehydration after these draconian straw laws severely impacted my day
I remember when disability rights groups pointed out that these laws were placing extra burden on disabled people that weren’t being put on everyone else.
These laws accomplish nothing except make liberals feel good that they actually passed some kind of environmental rules. Meanwhile, conservatives are making sure they can legally torture gay kids, let billionaires get away with pedophilia, and burn lots and lots of coal. But we passed straw bans in a couple of cities. Yay us.
Yay!! 🙌
You know that governments can focus on multiple problems at once, right?
Yes, and they surround themselves with enough menial nothing-problems to convince you they’re too busy to focus on frivolous things like “human rights” and “the fascist problem.”
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This does not convince me that we should redirect all effort away from environmental legislation. In my view human rights are very much intertwined with environmental stewardship.
I agree. So why are we stagnating between fascism and neoliberalism? Neither of those are stewards of either human rights, nor environmentalism. One of the two works very hard to convince you otherwise while stuffing their pockets full of petroldollars.
You know that US liberals have shitty success stories about anything anywhere in the last two decades, right?
That doesn’t have any relevance to my point.
Sure it does. If government can focus on more than one thing, but there are limited success stories, what does that tell us?
Well yeah, their base keeps alienating themselves from their own party and not voting for anything outside of clicking with each other in parks.
Modern leftist are historically one of the most ineffective head up their own ass groups that ever existed.
Anyone remember that time they convinced millions to stand in a street. Nothing came of it. But they did it. They are so proud they did it. Good times. Maybe they’ll do it again in a year or two. That’s what progress is all about
Right, so you also don’t know how peaceful protest works as a strategy.
The color red stops cars.
This would be a type of peaceful protest. Doesn’t mean it’s the most effective or useful form of peaceful protests. A 100 year old unchanged protest isn’t really effecting in modern times. Maybe before television was a thing.
Laws related to plastic straws are like the only environmental legislation that’s been passed recently (aside from the Inflation Reduction Act’s various environmental policies which hell yeah) which is what they’re getting at. Democrats are only able to pass the tiniest of laws to reduce environmental impact and Republicans are out here actively trying to genocide queer and brown people.
If democrats were just 20% as aggressive as republicans at actually passing policy to advance their agendas this country would be in a far different place. There’s a reason prominent democratic representatives have been talking about how much their constituents are demanding they actually take action and do something, it’s because they haven’t been doing much for the last 20+ years.
The Fight For 15 has been going on so long that the $15 minimum wage they’ve been demanding is now worth the same as the current federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr) was when The Fight For 15 first started! The fact that they couldn’t even raise the federal minimum wage to match inflation when they had a majority in all branches of government 5 years ago speaks volumes
If we had politicians in power who actually cared about the environment, we’d have personal vehicle weight limits, all EV new car sales, remote work incentives, ebike and public transit incentives, solar panels on every roof, single use plastic ban, strict emissions limits for industries, a carbon trading system to further financially encourage lower carbon business practices, strict ewaste controls to route working systems back into service that otherwise get junked, etc. Etc. instead all we have is gestures at everything
The right took every small victory they can get and used that momentum to catapult to the next until there was enough momentum to make large changes.
The left had lots of victory’s that they then spent the following weeks arguing why those were actually losses
What do you call a “victory” that took a lot of political capital and then accomplished basically nothing?
What did the straw ban do? It’s certainly not reducing waste on its own in any significant way; if every single plastic straw was banned worldwide, its impact would still be tiny in comparison to the overall problem. There was a argument that it would get people to start thinking about how much waste is in their lives. That was six or seven years ago. None of that has come to pass, and I’d argue that it was obviously speculative even before anything took effect.
You can’t change anything that matters with this nickel and dime policy shit. It is not even worth the effort to push it.
Just to point out tho, liberals have had a trifecta for two 2-year periods out of the last 25, while I do think they could have been a lot more aggressive during that time (especially “let’s compromise on that Obama”) but it’s not like they’ve had 12 years of real control and did nothing.
How often did Republicans get a trifecta in the same time period? How does their policy agenda successes compare?
That is however assuming they need a trifecta to pass legislation, and that they can only pass effective climate legislation at the federal level. Again this is something republicans have mastered, they take every boring race at every state they can and dig in and try to fuck shit up to advance their shitty agenda. Some states and cities have been relatively aggressive about this, such as California, Oregon and New York, but ultimately they could go further
Democrats aren’t dreaming big. They aren’t rallying around a noble but difficult to achieve cause like Republicans rallied around banning abortion for the last half century. Like I get it, they also aren’t doing as much blatant saying one thing publicly then passing legislation to do the opposite, and their causes aren’t about making everything more expensive for consumers and enriching large businesses, but god damnit I want to see people start trying to actually make a better world and dream big and make big changes to achieve that
They kind of did need a trifecta because the GOP made their #1 priority to stop literally everything Dems wanted to do, whether they agreed with it or not.
That’s true, I kinda blocked that period out of my memory
I dare them to try it. Even just one would be nice.
I mean it would actually impact my ability to hydrate certain patients under certain circumstances if there really ever 0 plastic straws anywhere ever.
Just hang their drink on the IV pole, spike it with a line, and put the other end in their mouth!
the only “straws” i use now are the built-in straws on my water bottles. when dad was dying, he had drop-neck and bendy straws let him drink on his own. something about both being a straw and at whatever angle he needed for his mouth, since he rarely stood or sat entirely upright. he could not drink directly from a glass without burying his nose in it or spilling half of it. for me it’s not one of those “hey, now that this effects me” bullshits, it’s more “hey, now that i understand how necessary they are in specific contexts” bullshits.
if they can make a corn or paper bendy straw that functions properly, i’m all for it. until then, there are much bigger and better things to worry about than straws.
It might sound silly, but sippy cups are also an option. You can lift and drink from the cup without spilling that way
No, no they aren’t.
I hate that restaurants will give me (non bendy) straws even when I specifically ask to not get a straw.
Thank you for this perspective because I’m one of those who never saw the appeal to straws.
I just wanna say that paper straws are lined with PFAS and similar substances, I would NOT use them at all. Mark my words they’ll be banned in the EU in 20 years.
I’d rather try a pasta straw, if the metal ones are not viable. If using plastic, prefer a more rigid plastic if possible, Policarbonate (like in a Nalgene bottle) is safer than Polyethylene; or at least I would avoid them with hot drinks.
Am I the only one still cupping my hand under the tap?
Diogenes would be proud.
You mean hose right?
You mean prehistoric mountain stream, right?
No, I do that a lot. Lol
I don’t even cup it just drink straight from the stream.
May not be the most practical, but I do find this the most satisfying way to drink water
I usually swallow a lot air doing this
Oh yeah, with an aerated faucet I end up having to burp after, but feeling the cool water run down both my throat and chin is very satisfying
SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP SLORP
Don’t you need to use the metal straws some ridiculous amount of times before it saves more carbon than the plastic single use?
Also, plastic multi use is probably better.
Please enlighten me, why do u even need a straw, can’t you just drink from the cup, like in the bottom pic?
*Im genuinly wondering.
When your drink cup has a bunch of ice, it’s easier to drink from with a straw.
One extremely far-fetched reason for using straws I’ve heard is that it’s somehow more hygienic than putting your mouth on restaurant cups.
it’s somehow more hygienic than putting your mouth on restaurant cups.
That is why i only get food in places with disposable plates and cutlery ;)
Using a straw when drinking sugary/ acidic drinks is supposed to be better for your teeth since it limits the exposure of sugar or acid to your teeth. Not sure how true that is, but I have had dentists suggest it as a way of lowering the chance of getting cavities.
Sure, you could, absolutely. There are times when it is convenient to have one. For example, most fast food establishments will provide you a drink cup with a lid and straw. You could just rip the lid off and drink it normally, but if you are driving (which you probably are if you are getting fast food) and want a sip of your drink, it’s a lot easier to just grab the cup and take a sip through a straw than it is to grab the open container and tilt it. Not to mention the chance you might hit a bump or brake hard and have it spill, either while you are trying to drink from it or even just when it’s sitting in the cupholder if partially full.
Some people can’t hold objects with any dexterity due to disabilities etc. So they use straws.
Many fast food cups lack the structural integrity to hold the quantity of liquid that they’re supposed to without a lid, and using a lid necessitates using a straw
Some people have disabilities
Fair point, but this is presumably about the 99.9998% other straw users.
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Everyone replying to you so far seems to be forgetting how you can just put a tiny hole on one edge of the lid to drink through without big ice chunks coming through
$20 metal straw? I think all the metal ones I have were about .25
The lead ones are more expensive but improve the flavor of most beverages.
Great tip, I love sweetened drinks!
I only accept Uranium straws :3
Ahh, a true man (or woman) of culture.
Reusable straws are gross. Unless you are taking a brush to the inside every time you’re kidding yourself.
Pssh, my straw is reusable AND probiotic
I guess you could say I use a reusable straw
Mmm I can still taste the metal.
Found the Gen X-er. Good day to you, my fellow hose-water connoisseur.
Please don’t do that. A lot of garden hoses are made of junk plastic, which leaches along with metals into the water.
Those are flavor crystals
Could that be mostly alleviated by running it for half a minute before drinking?
Earwigs came out of mine once, so I always wait for those to stop coming out.
The brand on that hose is more expensive. https://www.eleyhosereels.com/collections/garden-hoses/products/5-8-polyurethane-garden-hose
After reading about that lady who died because she fell on a metal straw and impaled her eye and brain I threw away my metal straws.
Understandable, but thats a bit of an overreaction don’t you think?
Yeah that could happen with a fork, or a toothbrush, or really anything that size if you land on it hard enough
You don’t typically walk around with those in your mouth, especially outside your home
You typically walk around with a straw in your mouth?
Yeah if I’m drinking something on the go
I normally just use a reusable metal waterbottle, no straw required. Although sometimes I just drink it enough that it has less risk of spilling in an open cup, even in a vehicle
I also carry a water bottle with me but I can’t exactly go to the coffee shop and ask them to pour my latte into my bottle
As a kid I had to go to hospital because I ran around with a toothbrush in my mouth and fell on it
Iced drink tend to taste better with straw tbh, sipping from the cup mean you’re taking in watered down stuff, and also tiny ice or ice blocking the flow of the drinks.
You need a fucking glass for you water? Pussy.
Lol wat
Real men dunk their entire head in a lake and drink enough water for the next week in 15 seconds.
I get it but its rather ableist.
Also you never tried drinking from a fast food drink cup full of ice. Freezes your damn lips.
Or a milkshake.
Drink slower.
i don’t think most people use straws because they have no other way of drinking lol
Some do, sure…
That’s the whole problem. You’re considering what most people do, but not a minority who already have extra burdens in their life.
I reckon that’s alright when making a meme about straws
Don’t get me wrong. I love me a nuanced conversation about the intersections of sustainability and accessibility. If you want to, we can have that.
But this is a shitpost community. Posts here aren’t really expected to conform to reality, let alone provide exhaustive coverage of all cases. This stupid shitpost also neglects to consider folks who need to have fluids introduced intravenously and the plastic waste created by single use saline bags, or the material/lifetime of the cup in which a straw is used. This is a dumb meme about the choices that some people make with the options that they have. It is not an indictment against the people to which those options may not be available.
You could have posted this exact message to other replies in this thread, but you choose this one. That’s rather telling.
How’s it ableist? Genuinely asking.
(I have moderate cerebral palsy/spastic hemiplegia)
I don’t need one but i know plenty of old/disabled people for who a straw is a necessity.
I am happy we moved away from plastic straws being mainstream but i also feel like there should have been possible exceptions for medical use. The paper and aluminium alternatives are really not that good.
Oh, yeah. That is a good point. This post was certainly not meant to discriminate or disparage any group of people.
Don’t worry, i still get trapped in the same biases at times.
I used to make fun of bottled egg liquids till someone accurately pointed out that for some cracking an egg is a real obstacle.
“Sir, this is a sperm bank”
I see. So you’re telling me this is not a straw and those are not boba balls?
I actually like paper straws. No texture concerns, and once you’re done? Crinkle up into a ball and chew. Like edible, paper-flavoured gum.
I bought a 4-pk of glass straws for €5 and they are awesome. The rounded edge feels smooth on the tongue/lips and drinks taste better through glass than metal.
I’d be worried about breaking them if I take them places. Do they hold up well?
The ones I’ve handled and bought are more robust than most other glassware. They can break if dropped on hard floor, but that’s normal for anything out of glass.
Funny enough, the same day I asked, my wife got one in a cool jar cup she bought. Guess I get to try one out.
Can confirm, they are durable. For clumsiness context, I broke some similarly sized vaporizer glassware the other day. Yet these straws have held up being thrown around in a sink full of dirty dishes.
Of the 4, only one has gotten scratched to the point that I recycled it (manufacturing error methinks), but the other 3 are holding up well. I’ve had them for a little over a year. They seem durable enough.
I would probably break them in a way or another
