Activity 3.3.3.1- Current Events In Plastic Pollution

 

 

Plastic Straws Banned in Various States 

1. Exploratory 

Probe basic facts and knowledge found in the readings. (What research evidence supports _________? Type up several facts and basic knowledge from the readings. Relate this to what you find in other resources, prior activities for stronger scores.)) 

• I decided to choose the article, “Plastic Straws Now Officially Banned in D.C. '' by Jacob Fenston because It allows us as readers to acknowledge how urgent and decisive the state was by providing actions to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment. According to the article, “D.C. banned plastic straws in restaurants and other businesses effective Jan. 1, 2019, becoming the second major U.S. city to do so” (Fenston 1). The information allowed me as a reader to know what states are taking considerate action in our environment, which allows me to know what I can do as an individual to act as well. Most of the decision based on using plastic straws was made by customers and too many food businesses were spoken out to make better decisions when getting supplies for restaurants. Many owners acknowledged how much plastic they were consuming for their business and decided to make a change voluntarily. The change then led to having the entire state of Washington D.C. ban plastic straws. The Department of Energy and Environment shows a more positive outcome when using hay straws because they hold up longer when being put into a drink. Many business owners know whether it be at a bar, restaurant, or fast-food place, find it more enjoyable for customers to see that they do care about bettering the environment and want to make it not only better for their business, but for people around them, especially customers. 

2. Diagnostic 

Probe motives or causes. (Why? (Tell your reader why this occurs. Explain the causes in detail.)) 

• The reason as to why this occurs in many states is because most business owned restaurants are acknowledged for tending to the environment and its needs. If you really think about it, there is plastic everywhere around us and decreasing the percentage of used plastic daily is a baby step to finding out more ways to cut out plastic completely. According to Fenston, “Anti-straw activists say consumers in the U.S. use (and toss) as many as 500 million straws a day. Researchers say the number is between 170 million and 390 million, but either way, it is a lot of straws. In Washington, volunteers taking part in a recent trash cleanup of the Anacostia River collected more than 4,000 straws” (Fenston 1). Now that you are provided with more information, it now comes down to the causes as to why this should be an everyday thing now. The state of Washington takes it upon themselves to create more ways to reduce not only plastics straws but plastic in general. By having community clean-ups and gathering, the community allows them to really see for themselves how affected the environment has been for many years. It plays a significant role not only in certain states, but as a country in general to allow other people to view us as making a difference. 

3. Cause and Effect 

Causal relationships between ideas, actions, or events. (If __________ occurs, what happens?) 

• By reducing the use of plastic straws and plastic in general, it allows the environment to know it is being taken care of. It also occurs in the community to take it upon themselves to change a few daily routines in their lives and make it more environmentally friendly. Ideas being spoken and addressed to the community also allows change to be reprimanded by the government to look more on environmental issues in our country. The matters of reducing plastic in our country and overall, in the world will keep going throughout many years. There can be a possibility of completely getting rid of plastic but who knows when that will be. By taking considerate and small actions day by day can make an enormous difference and allow you to feel better about yourself and how you are taking care of the environment for the people around you. There are many events and actions like community clean-ups that do take place, it is the matter of if you are willing to volunteer to make a difference and view our environment in depth. It not only starts with yourself but being knowledgeable and providing information that you have learned to the people around you. 

4. Priority 

Seek to identify the most important. (What is the most important issue?) 

• When reading this article, I thought it was only going to focus on broad topics about removing plastic straws. This article went beyond that and allowed us to view how more impactful a state can be to be able to provide for the environment. Another critical issue that can be easily touched upon by many business owners is listening to their customers and looking up many more other ways to provide their business in an easy environmental way. Listening to a customer and their basic needs for the benefits of your own business will not only allow you to grow closer with that customer, but more with the community and environment. Word does spread fast in effects of business management through social media, yelp, and other resources that allows people to talk and give feedback. The feedback then becomes acknowledged throughout media resources and allows you to get praise for what you do as a business and for the overall environment. Social media and technology nowadays allow those critical issues to be heard and spoken amongst people, which then allows them to really know what is going on in the world, especially with the effects of the environment and what we can do to make it better. 

5. Application 

Probe for relationships and connect theory to practice. (How does this apply to you? How is this related to culture as we have studied so far?) 

• Throughout this entire Environmental Science course, it allowed me to broaden my perspective and view environmental issues in many ways. It has led me to be accountable for the actions I take against our environment and making it a better place. I view it as so; many humans have feelings and I view Earth as a person who has feelings. Once your feelings are hurt, you try to make them feel better and that is what I try to do every day. I think of more positive and efficient environmental ways to use less plastic and recycle. Many things I find myself doing more often is instead of using plastic water bottles I have my own sustained water jug, take an aluminum straw to restaurants instead of using plastic ones, and recycling majority of my trash at home instead of just throwing it all away. Many of the things we have studied so far in this class have made many impactful changes in my life, making the environment a better place. I not only praise the course but the professor because giving us assignments about many different environmental topics allows us to learn and even include/introduce it in our everyday lives. 

6. Critical 

Analyze how this challenges your thinking/assumptions. (How did this change your thinking? Did it? Why?) 

• The assignment in general allowed me to view statistics about the use of plastic straws. In a way, it did not change my thinking because I already know how to do my part in taking care of the environment. I have been acknowledged early in this course to change a few things about my own personal plastic use. It broadened my thinking at a higher level to do more for the environment and to instruct other people around me a little goes a long way in taking care of the environment. Now that I have become more acknowledged and concerned about taking care of the environment, learning new things is always a plus when doing each of these assignments. I find this enjoyable being able to learn new things by tending to our environment in many more positive ways and I cannot wait to be able to continue this further into the future. 

 

 

 

Work Cited: 

Fenston, Jacob. “Plastic Straws Now Officially Banned in D.C.” WAMU, American University Radio, 2 Jan. 2019, https://wamu.org/story/19/01/02/plastic-straws-now-officially-banned-in-d-c/